The Water Heater Workbook: A Hands-On Guide to Water Heaters [Spiral-bound]

Suzanne Weingarten (Author), Larry Weingarten (Author)

Product Details

• Spiral-bound: 151 pages
• Publisher: Elemental Enterprises; Workbook edition (March 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0963034405
• ISBN-13: 978-0963034403
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,407,996 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An extremely useful book on a highly overlooked subject, January 28, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Elk River, MN, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Water Heater Workbook: A Hands-On Guide to Water Heaters (Spiral-bound)

After stumbling across the subject of water heaters in another book (that author had read Larry and Susan's book), I decided to go to the source, "The Water Heater Workbook".

It seems that there is a great deal of ignorance out there by both homeowners and plumbers on residential water heaters. Maybe its just that the plumbers would rather get the $$ to replace your water heater than make sure you know how to make it last for decades.

This book fills that knowledge gap quite well. It should come included with every home purchase!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible amount of information on water heaters, November 6, 2001

By 

Edward Pinder Trenholme "blot0" (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Water Heater Workbook: A Hands-On Guide to Water Heaters (Spiral-bound)

This is a great reference book - entertaining to read and tons of valuable information. You will never get this information at a hardware store, from a friendly plumber or another do-it-yourselfer. The breadth of information on water heaters and their operation and installation is amazing. I enjoyed the writing/layout style which is akin to that found in the old reference book, "Idiots Guide to Volkswagen Repair"

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Let ignorance have no say in it!, July 15, 2009

By 

Jake Smithers "The Five Ws and H." (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Water Heater Workbook: A Hands-On Guide to Water Heaters (Spiral-bound)

A nice warm shower is such a relief, don't you think? Oh! Oh, the water heater! What a magnificent machine it is. What a wonder it is when it gushes out hot water through the pipe work seemly by magic, and would seem to be a treasure to us. Like most treasures, however, it is often forgotten, whether that would be in the garage, basement, attic, or wherever. Unlike other treasures from the past, though, this one does not stay hidden forever, and we are the first to notice it when it acts up. When it starts to act up severely, or fails to work, we look upon the machine as a problem, or almost immediately, as a piece of junk, as if the failing of the machine is its fault. Truth being told, it should not be so much of a wonder that problems do occur, and we should expect it, and if we do nothing to intervene, we deserve the consequences. We have, when it comes down to it, only two choices: to neglect or protect our assets. Let's take action and protect our assets!

This was a valuable book to me, in that, it was informative, opened up options, and the instructions for adding improvements and engaging in other projects were detailed enough to make getting the job done easier and make the operation of a water heating unit more efficient and safer. The writing of the book was concise and had a slight amount of humor mingled in with it. The quotes in the book (Yes, there are quotes) of various people from the past, and the accounts of real-life situations (some of which are hilarious) are, for the most part, a nice touch. One of the downsides of the book is that it is rather old (1992). Not that that is an overwhelming factor, but some of the information is a bit aged, and this isn't cheese, so that is not a good thing. As an example, there is a portion of the book that discusses various options for the purchase of new water heating units should your existing heater bite the dust (which probably won't be the case). That sounds good in all, but some of the information, like with the on-demand and wood fired waters heaters, are dated somewhat, which would probably affect your opinion of purchasing that particular unit, so, in that case, extra research would need to be done by you to make sure you get the straight scoop.

Overall, this is a very good book. It is informative, and will help lead you into the right direction to, not only knowing the possible problems and responsibilities as a homeowner, but also help you to take action to add many more years of life onto your unit. Instead, though, of jumping on the band wagon and purchasing the book immediately, I would suggest instead that, if possible, that you take it out of your local library first before purchasing it.

This review comes to an end now.

-Jake Smithers