For the past couple of months the water coming out of my water heater has been getting colder and colder. It’s to the level now that I can turn the shower on full-hot, do (only) what I have to in there, and get out to a mirror that hasn’t seen steam in weeks. The water heater is a rental, so I called the company to come and fix it.

Today a contractor came out to have a look. To start with, he ignored both the puppy and the cute kitty, so that was one strike against him already.

He felt the pipes coming out of the water heater and asked me to turn on the tap. I did. Then he asked me to compare the temperature of  the pipe going out to the wash basin compared to the pipe coming directly out of the hot water tank. After being told it was too hot for him to touch, I held it. And held it. I had to admit it was a bit hotter than the other one, but not nearly as hot as he claimed it to be. Strike two.

Next, he told me it’s definitely the “mixer pipe” at the top of the tank, where the cold and the hot mix to regulate how much goes out so no one scalds themselves. “We only put these regulators on for the very young, the handicapped, and the elderly,” he said. “Everyone else has the sense to turn the cold on if the water’s too hot.” With a young son, a handicapped son, and an elderly mother that comes to visit, my thought was “Strike Three.”

You’d think that would be enough, but he got one more strike in before he left. “Do you have cash? Because, I don’t like to paint everyone with the same brush but people who’ve given me cheques in the past have ended up bouncing them and not paying. I can fix your mixer pipe for $200. Cash. It’s not covered under the rental of the water tank.”

Would you trust someone who doesn’t trust you? Or is he just a poor plumber who can’t get paid? Sounds fishy to me.