Willowpix/Getty ImagesNothing will wake you up faster than turning on the shower and discovering theres no hot water. It could be an indication that its time to replace your water heater.

The cost of a water heater depends on several factors, such as the type of tank and the labor to install the unit. Storage water tanks average between $650 and $850. Tankless water heaters, which do not store water but use special coils to heat water when you need it, cost between $160 and $1,500.

The nationwide average cost of a water heater is $1,005, including installation.

With such an array of options, shopping for a new water heater overwhelms some people. They have to pick a unit with the capacity to handle the volume of hot water used in the home and one that fits in the designated space in the house.

The obvious difference between traditional storage water heaters and tankless heaters is the size of the units. But the way they heat the water also differs.

Storage water heaters generally cost less and handle large volumes of water better than tankless water heaters, making them a popular choice for families. However, tankless water heaters tend to be more energy-efficient and have a longer life span.

It is possible for a homeowner to install a water heater on his own, but most people hire a professional and need to consider the installation cost when shopping for a system. Installation costs vary depending on the price of labor, the type of water heater, the condition of the existing plumbing, and the permits required.

On average, a 40-gallon water heater and installation will run you $950. The average cost of a tankless water heater and installation is $1,700.

The power source for water heaters can come from gas, electricity or solar energy. Gas water heaters are less energy-efficient than electric ones, but gas heats up water quicker and often costs less. Solar-powered water heaters use energy from the sun and can be up to 50 percent more efficient than gas and electric heaters. But they may not provide enough energy to heat the water on cloudy days, especially during peak use.

Homeowners wondering whether its time to replace the water heater can look for certain signs that indicate the unit is failing. These include leaks coming from the tank, water pooling on the floor around the unit, and rust-tainted water. Failing water heaters also make rumbling or banging sounds and stop heating as efficiently as they once did.

Even if the water heater doesnt show these signs, it may be time to replace the unit if its past its life expectancy. Storage water heaters last 10 years on average, and tankless systems last between 10 and 20 years.

Before shopping for a water heater, evaluate your water usage. This information will help you select a water heater that has the capacity you need, especially during peak morning and evening hours.

When selecting a water heater, its also important to consider the available space for the unit, as well as the existing plumbing hookups and power supply. Switching from a storage tank water heater to a tankless unit or replacing an electric system with a gas one may require additional work to make the area compatible with the new system.

Use Bankrates calculator to figure out what the monthly payment will be on your new mortgage.

Read more here:
Don't let a new water heater burn your budget - Bankrate.com

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Two Parts:Flushing the HeaterFinishing UpCommunity Q&A

Water heaters should be flushed every one to three years depending on the model and water source. This helps to control the buildup of mineral deposits. Your water heater will operate more efficiently and this will usually extend the life of the heater. Use this guide to flush your water heater.

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Are any additives such as distilled vinegar ever used in the flushing/draining process?

wikiHow Contributor

Acid is used but it is a professional task and the acid used will depend on the construction of the heater.

Can I turn off the cold water valve at the tank and take a shower to drain some of the hot water from the tank before I attach the hose to the drain valve? I just hate to waste all that hot water drown the drain!

wikiHow Contributor

That will not work. When you turn off the cold water valve at the top, then no hot water will flow. The best bet is to turn off the heater (gas or electric) and take a shower. The water will slowly get colder as the hot water is used up and replaced by cold.

I cannot get hot water out of my bathroom sink after going through all of the procedures of draining the gas hot water tank. What can I do to get the hot water back in the bathroom sink?

wikiHow Contributor

Check the line from the water heater to the sink. There maybe something blocking the line, a piece of rust if the water heater has a bit of age on it.

What do I do if the water is hot, but gets cold after a few minutes?

wikiHow Contributor

There are many things it could possibly be. 90% of the time, one of the elements have to be replaced (normally the lower one). Then there is the thermostat, the dip tube, sediment, etc.

Does it harm an electric water heater to run it out of hot water when taking a shower?

wikiHow Contributor

No. The tank automatically refills with cold water as the hot is used, so there is no loss in water volume during this time.

Will flushing the water heater help with low water pressure?

wikiHow Contributor

Probably not. Your hot water pipes are probably obstructed, most likely from the plastic stand pipe inside the heater disintegrating and leaving particles in the pipes. You will either need to replace or repair the water heater and flush out the pipes.

How long should it take to completely drain a water heater?

wikiHow Contributor

Probably around 30 minutes.

Why would a water tank not drain?

wikiHow Contributor

You have closed the cold water intake valve and not opened a hot water sink tap to allow the pressure to drain off and allow air into the top of the tank.Like holding the top of a straw filled with water.

Will flushing a hot water heater get rid of the rotten egg smell?

wikiHow Contributor

You may want to check for sulphur in your water if you are on a well-based system.

What can cause only a trickle of water to come out of agarden hose?

wikiHow Contributor

Sediment may be blocking the drain. Mine was so plugged no water would come out at all, so I used a portable air tank to blow air into the drain hose. Always make sure you have a hot water valve open somewhere.

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How to Flush a Water Heater: 13 Steps (with Pictures ...

Earlier this week, Home Depot announced its Q2 earnings, beating Wall Street expectations on all the important metrics. How was the home improvement retailer rewarded? Shares dipped over 3% that same day.

At this point, not even a stellar earnings report can slow down the Amazon effect. Home Depot is currently riding a bubble and Amazon is poised to burst it, as it's been historically keen to do. The e-commerce platform did it before to Circuit City, leading to its bankruptcy 3 years after peak sales, and is doing it again in a number of verticals, like food and industrial supply.

Home Depot will prove to be no exception.

In order to emerge the victor, Amazon doesn't need to replicate all of Home Depot's product catalog to steal away huge chunks of its revenue. Amazon will only need to target the smaller inventory, the pack-and-ship stuff like batteries and bulbs, and offer it at lower prices.

As well, Amazon's deal with Sears to sell Kenmore appliances should send shivers down Home Depot executives' spines, as it's clear Amazon can move further upstream, spreading the disruption.

Alas, Amazon isn't the end of Home Depot's woes. Another reason for the lack of investor confidence is many believe that Home Depot's gross margins have plateaued. It's also suspected that Home Depot's stock has been buoyed for a while by a robust buyback program.

The sustainability of Home Depot's success has been called into question, causing this stock dip in the face of the company's strongest quarter ever. That's the power of the Amazon effect and the fallibility of linear retail growth - it can all be sent toppling.

Home Depot is a home improvement supplies retailer headquartered in Atlanta. Compared to Amazon, it does have a more robust product lineup and a growing focus on professional customers.

The retailer also offers a range of services, from water heater installation to bathroom remodeling, in which customers will be connected with trusted home improvement professionals to fulfill their needs.

Having been in this industry for decades, Home Depot developed a strong sense of brand loyalty with its customers, which has served it well. Unfortunately, that loyalty won't last long if Amazon can successfully duplicates the Home Depot's product and service offerings at a substantially lower price.

If Amazon wanted, it could replicate Home Depot's services, much like it did with Best Buy. In July, Amazon tanked Best Buy's shares over 7.5% (see below) on the news that it would launch its own Geek Squad competitor to help customers set up and fix gadgets, particularly the Alexa-enabled ones.

Amazon already has a division for selling professional services, where individuals can register to perform handyman services and more, akin to Handy and TaskRabbit. While not heavily marketed, a little bit of branding can easily bill it as a top source for home improvement sources and erode one of Home Depot's key defensive moats.

Amazon's size and scope enable it to scale virtually any new business unit it wants, so it wouldn't take much for Home Depot to completely lose this advantage.

Others cite Home Depot's ability to sell large products another competitive advantage over Amazon, but the aforementioned deal with Sears and Amazon's growing furniture delivery logistics will eventually render that moat moot.

Aside from the direct competition, Home Depot's margins wouldn't survive an indirect Amazon assault. If Amazon really targets the smaller products, like light bulbs, tools, and anything else on Home Depot's shelves, the big box retailer's margins will evaporate, forcing it to shrink to stay alive.

The Amazon threat is real and existential. Home Depot can't merely rest on its laurels - it needs to innovate fast.

Amazon shouldn't be the only headache for Home Depot. Housing starts are experiencing a sharp decline, which will send the whole market into a slump, which will necessarily decrease Home Depot's sales.

In the face of this slump and a falling stock, Home Depot's gains mean little. Amazon has never been better poised to cause painful disruption, so the home improvement chain needs to strategize and innovate to survive.

Of course, the only way to defend against or beat a marketplace is to build one of its own. Home Depot needs to create a network of hardware stores nationwide, everything from solo mom-and-pops to regional chains, and facilitate sales through this network.

As well, investing heavily in growing its base of service providers would serve the company well in staving off Amazon's own services offering. That's a low-cost source of revenue that also yields strong loyalty. Upgrading the offerings and making the process less frictional on both sides is key to bolstering that strategy.

Finally, Home Depot needs to evaluate a long-term reorganization. Ralph Whitworth will probably roll in his grave at this notion, but Home Depot should explore reuniting with HD Supply, which was a business-facing unit sold off a decade ago for over $10 billion.

HD Supply's been having a rough summer since its board sold off the Waterworks division, which had the best margins in the whole company. Since then, the stock has taken a beating, cratering around 25%, and the company's struggled to meet earnings expectations.

A newly restored Home Depot would be a big customer, allowing it to negotiate better prices from its suppliers and help margins. It already has the logistics network for moving large quantities of large products to stock its stores, so moving them to fill business orders wouldn't be too much of a strain.

Finally, it can serve any kind of customer that needs nails, bulbs, lumber, or any building material at scale, from weekend warriors and homeowners to massive construction firms and factories.

Serving as both a retailer and a distributor would give Home Depot more room to breathe in the wake of the Amazon effect and, ideally, more time to build its marketplace.

Read the original post:
Not Even Home Depot Is Safe From Amazon - Inc.com

Prime Heaters, a water-Heaters Information source, has launched a new website. The company announced earlier today they have launched a new website to cover information regarding tankless water heaters.

Prime Heaters, which is a popular information source for people who need water heaters, announced that the creation of a special website was the best decision for their customers. Felix Wood, the companys CEO, earlier in the morning said that the high growth for tankless water heaters demands special attention. Felix announced that his companys dedication providing rich and informative news about the fast-growing types of water heaters pushed them to launch a new website.

In the recent past, weve seen tankless water heaters hit the market at a fast rate. Well-known brands are now venturing into the business of tankless water heaters. Unfortunately, few brands explain to customers the in depths of tankless water heaters. We want to fill this void by providing consumers with resourceful bits of information about tankless water heaters. Felix explained.

Created to enhance the user experience, Prime Heater new website, http://www.primeheaters.com, holds multiple features to enable easy filtering of useful content, contacts to the companys writers and easily sort for reviews related to specific types of tankless water heaters. According to Anne Taylor, writer and the spokesperson for the new site, customers no longer have to sort through dozens of review sites to get useful information about tankless water heaters. Anne adds that writers dedicated for the new website are all highly qualified and experienced enough to find in depth and helpful information to customers.

People who will be visiting our new site will be able to sort through articles to find the exact information about tankless water heaters. We have included a sort feature to help visitors sort through articles for the specific information about tankless water heaters they want, Anne notes. Again, we have not just created an attractive website. Its assigned to writes with a deep understanding about tankless water heaters. Anne added.

Prime Heaters has been actively providing information about water heaters for the past five years through private forum. The sites information ranges from news about all types of water heaters to reviews about conventional water heaters. With the launch of the new website, Felix, the CEO hopes to expand their information reach to the huge consumer market interested in the new type of water heaters.

About Prime Heaters

We keep you up-to-date with the latest information about water heaters and your water heating needs through our blog primeheaters.com.

Read the original here:
Prime Heaters Launches New Site Dedicated to Tankless Water Heaters - PRUnderground (press release)

BENICIA >> Tuesdays City Council meeting covered so much ground, that the cannabis legalization discussion had to be moved to September. But there was plenty of time left for the city to get feedback on the new master fee schedule for services.

The city recently audited all the fees it charges for everything from permits to install a water heater, to building a condominium, to the police responding to a false alarm at a house.

The city had been running deficits and under-recovering for years, which is a way of saying they were spending more on services than they recouped in fees.

The overall costs for services is a macro number that takes into account labor, overhead, and anything else that requires city staff oversight.

The city estimated that only 30 percent of costs were being recovered. With the new proposed schedule, the recovery rate will be 60 percent, with a 40 percent deficit that will most likely be made up by the general fund.

But all of that translates to some fees increasing by as high as 400 percent, a hefty number that hasnt gone over well with residents and business owners.

Gina Eleccion, management analyst and a main architect of the new fee schedule, spearheaded a long study examining existing rates and eventually proposing these latest adjustments.

Some are going up, some are going down, but overall, more revenue will be generated for the city provided people actually apply for permits and not blow them off due to cost.

City Manager Lorie Tinfow defended the fee increases by saying that the citys deficits havent just meant less money coming in than going out, but they have affected the citys ability to attract staff.

Retention issues (mean that) we cannot keep up with the market for salaries and benefits, she said at Tuesdays meeting. Weve lost people. Thats why we are really doing this. We cant keep up with the growing costs.

Beyond being able to offer competitive salaries, there are also contractual pension issues that will be ongoing.

One criticism lobbed at the council from unhappy constituents was the idea that a city should run itself like a business dont pay out more than you take in.

Councilmember Alan Schwartzman has tackled this criticism on more than one occasion, but he addressed it again on Tuesday. Numbers of people say, Why dont you run the city like a business? Well, here we are looking at the cost of doing business, and were not anywhere close in some of these different departments and areas, he said, referring to the under-recovery for services. If you are in business and your costs are going up, what do you do? At some particular point you may have to raise prices.

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So council and mayor unanimously agreed that fees had to go up. The question was, by how much?

Councilmembers focused in on line items in the fee schedule, zeroing in on things like bicycle licenses to taxi permits, and whether or not they are even needed.

Other council members like Mark Hughes wanted to see the most common fees for homeowners reduced.

None of this addressed any anger some constituents had with the overall state of affairs, a few of which spoke during the public comments section of the meeting.

A realtor addressed the council and offered that if fees are too high, people might have less incentive to pull permits in the first place. She also noted that when the proper channels are followed, home improvements are officially noted and property taxes can go up, which is good for the city.

Other residents spoke out about excessive fees and overregulation in government in general.

Resident Wayne Fisher took to the podium and said he was renovating his house and he saw that some fees will be increasing by more than 300 percent. The reality is, you dont know the impact this will have, he said. We heard earlier today from people with their water bills. That was a big increase with unintended consequences. You are facing a similar situation with these increases. If you dont know what [the impact is] you shouldnt increase it. I urge the council to vote no, he said.

Others have taken to social media to decry the new fees, arguing that the permit structure wasnt examined thoroughly and that there was no examination of past permits and their individual rates.

Eleccion did indeed look at old permits and their impacts and rates, but in some cases its an apples to oranges comparison since some fees have switched from a valuation model to piecemeal. For example, if a homeowner was applying for a permit to put in a new kitchen estimated at $50,000, a flat rate wouldve be applied. With the new fee schedule, homeowners will now in some instances pay for each job involved with a project, such as new windows, a new floor, or a new water heater.

When the discussion moved back to council, the mayor asked how Benicia compares to neighboring areas and what they charge for fees.

Eleccion said that we did find ourselves much lower than those cities, though a side-by-side comparison is hard to make since all towns break their numbers down differently.

The mayor then asked what the consequences would be if the new fees were not enacted.

City Manager Lorie Tinfow said the budget would stay as-is, and the reserves would be down below 20 percent. She mentioned that some Measure C funds are unprogrammed and could be an option, and that there were other options that she could look into.

Councilmember Mark Hughes agreed to an increase in fees, but said hed like to re-examine the higher permit fees for the things homeowners will most often need, like new water heaters, roofs, or furnaces.

Schwartzman concurred and said it was a fact of life that prices have to be raised at times. Were trying to run a city here, and everybody in this room counts on services. When the costs go up, what do we do? If we dont have enough money to cover it weve got to get it from some place. We can raise taxes or we can raise fees. We dont have a choice.

Cutting services is an option, he said, but no one wants to do that.

Each councilmember had quibbles with particular fees, but it was determined that they could be changed on down the line after the fees are adopted.

Ultimately, the fee increases were approved, with some reductions in proposed permit charges for new water heaters, furnaces, windows, kitchens, and bathrooms.

Staff will come back later with recommendations for more adjustments, the mayor said.

We need to hold ourselves to the promise of being more effective and efficient, said Patterson. The alternative is really reducing services, and none of us want to do that.

So buckle up, Benicia: fees are going to rise starting Oct. 16.

Continued here:
Benicia City Council approves revamped fee rates for services - Vallejo Times Herald

Custom Solar's Houston Sherer works to install solar panels on a home on in Boulder last year. (Jeremy Papasso / Staff Photographer)

Whether you support or oppose Boulder's effort to municipalize electricity, it will be years before Boulder or Xcel substantially increase renewable energy sources. The Trump administration seems to think that limiting carbon emissions causes leprosy. Neither of those prevents you from reducing your own carbon footprint right now.

First and easiest, consider subscribing to Xcel's WindSource program. The additional cost is now less than a penny per kilowatt-hour (kWh). If you use 800 kWh/month, that's about $7.00. Sure, you could refuse to sign up, protesting that Xcel shouldn't be charging extra for cheap wind power. We agree, they shouldn't. But you might feel better if you get up smiling every morning, knowing that for a whopping 25 cents, your electricity that day won't consume an ounce of fossil fuel.

You might install solar panels ours provide almost all our electricity, including charging two cars. Prices have plummeted with increased manufacturing volume, federal tax credits knock another 30 percent off, and most installers offer leases or loans. Your actions may encourage others, as research shows that solar panels tend to blossom in a neighborhood. Evidently, neighbors look up and think "Hey, why don't we do that?"

If you have the space, you can install solar water heating. These systems heat water with panels on your roof, then return it to a storage tank that feeds your hot water heater. Our installation lowers our propane use substantially in winter, and provides nearly all our hot water in summer.

If you're buying a new car, consider going electric. We bought a Tesla nearly four years ago, and our only regret is that we didn't buy a bunch of Tesla stock at the same time. We've taken it as far as Steamboat, with a quick stop to charge in Silverthorne. If you drive far every day, you'll want a Tesla or a Chevrolet Bolt; both go over 200 miles on a charge. Electric vehicles qualify for a federal tax credit of $7,500, and a Colorado state credit of $5,000. In the past, Nissan and Xcel have offered additional incentives on Leafs, which explains why they seem to be the "new Prius" in Boulder.

Even Tesla's supercharging isn't as fast as a gas station, so you may want to own or rent another car for long trips. Alternatively, a plug-in hybrid gives you some electric operation before switching over to gasoline. We just replaced our ailing 17-year-old Toyota Prius with a new Prius Prime. It gets about 25 miles on a charge, then over 50 mpg on gas. Our younger son sometimes drives as far as Denver for work, yet went 1,700 miles on the first tank of gas. A friend loves his Chevy Volt plug-in, which has twice the electric range. The Prius Prime qualifies for a $4,500 federal credit; the Volt, with its larger battery, gets $7,500. Both qualify for the $5,000 state credit. That makes it cheaper to buy a Prius Prime than an ordinary Prius hybrid!

Finally, a hybrid can keep you from descending all the way to the consumption of an all-gasoline car. We've averaged 31 mpg with an all-wheel-drive Toyota RAV4 hybrid, even after a winter with snow tires and ski rack, and a summer with our older son blasting the air conditioning. Toyota charges just $700 over the non-hybrid. At $2.50 per gallon of gas, and 12,000 miles/year, that pays for itself in under four years, which is a far better return than the 0.000005 percent or so interest most banks will pay you.

In short, whatever your thoughts about municipalization, you can personally move faster and farther toward a carbonless future, just by changing a few purchasing decisions.

Joel and Jean McCormack live in Boulder.

Continue reading here:
Joel and Jean McCormack: Just do it! - Boulder Daily Camera

Ben Franklin Plumbing, a plumbing company & service offering Haysville Plumbers, has announced an upgrade to the local page for suburban Kansas residents. Haysville, Kansas, is firmly in the company's service area for plumbing services.

Wichita, Kansas (PRWEB) July 29, 2017

Ben Franklin Plumbing, considered one of Central Kansas' top plumbing companies, is proud to announce an upgrade to its informational page on Haysville, Kansas, plumbers and plumbing services. Local Kansas residents living in suburban areas near Wichita may review custom-fit plumbing information and tips. If a professional plumber is required for a sewer line repair or water heater installation as well as other plumbing support, information can be found on the newly updated page for the city.

"Haysville, Kansas, may be outside of the city of Wichita's boundaries but we know suburban areas experience plumbing emergencies too," explained Jason Clark, Manager of Ben Franklin Plumbing of Wichita, Kansas. "Locals may still prefer local help and advice. We are a local Kansas business and offer the best plumbing service and information for all locals. That includes urban and suburban!"

While Ben Franklin Plumbing has been considered a top plumbing company in Wichita, Kansas residents may not realize that the company also serves suburbs such as Haysville. Accordingly, the local Kansas page for plumbing services and support has been updated. To review the newly revised page please visit http://www.benfranklinwichita.com/haysville-kansas. Local suburban areas such as Haysville, Roseville, Clearwater and Mulvane can receive support for drain cleaning services, toilet installation and other plumbing issues close by. Similarly, those who are residents of Derby, Kansas, can visit that plumbing information page at http://www.benfranklinwichita.com/derby-kansas.

It's common knowledge that residents of Central Kansas prefer local businesses. For example, local Farmer's Markets in Kansas can provide residents an opportunity to experience top-rate products right at home. People enjoying local fresh produce may also feel good about supporting hard working local farms. Suburban areas such as Haysville, Kansas may be close enough to farms for neighbors to visit and buy produce right away. Yet, locals searching for a local plumber may not believe a hard working local plumbing service could be just as easy to attain. It may be important to understand a nearby plumbing service in the urban city of Wichita also serves suburban Kansas neighborhoods. Even if the physical location of a service does not have a Haysville, Kansas mailing address, it could still be considered a local business.

For these reasons, Ben Franklin Plumbing has announced an upgraded to the Haysville, Kansas informational page. Kansas plumbers can include local service persons who are professionally trained to support the specific needs of suburban Kansas residents. Ben Franklin has been a locally established plumbing company with the goal to serve the Kansas community including the surrounding suburban areas. A plumbing expert servicing the local community can be contacted for 24/7 plumbing emergencies including weekends and holidays. Other emergency plumbing services can be managed such as drain cleaning, sewer line repairs and water heater repairs. The company reminds suburban residents that a local plumbing service may still be considered local when the physical location is in another Kansas community nearby.

About Ben Franklin Plumbing of Wichita, Kansas

Ben Franklin Plumbing is a top-rated plumbing service, serving greater Wichita, Kansas and located at 2825 E. Kellogg Avenue. The company offers drain cleaning, 24 hour, emergency plumbing service and sewer line repair not only to Wichita but to surrounding communities such as Derby, Andover, and Haysville, Kansas. Professionally licensed plumbers, including Haysville plumbers, are ready for plumbing problems such as: drain cleaning, installing pump systems and water heaters, sewer line clean-outs and faucet repair. The company also replaces and installs faucets, garbage disposals and toilets. When searching for sewer line repairs, sewer repair and unclogging drains in Derby, Andover, Haysville or Wichita, Kansas, Ben Franklin Plumbing is available.

Web. http://www.benfranklinwichita.com/Tel. 316-858-5985

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/wichita/drain-cleaning/prweb14553326.htm

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Ben Franklin Plumbing, a Top Haysville Kansas Plumbing Company & Service, Announces Upgraded Local Page - Benzinga

File photoFrom education to commerce, career technical education benefits the entire economy, say local business and education officials.

HANCOCK The Copper Country Intermediate School Districts career and technical education (CTE) program is important to the future economy of the area, according to many sources.

Ive heard from many local companies that are scared, George Stockero, CCISD superintendent said in an interview on Tuesday, because their workforce is getting to the retirement age, and they do not know who is going to replace them.

Tom Helminen, president of Moyle Construction of Houghton, agrees.

There is a shortage of skilled labor in the building trades, Moyle said, which will only worsen going forward, as much of the current labor force reaches retirement age over the next decade. It is vital to our community that we provide CTE classes in our schools for students who wish to pursue a career path in the building trades. Otherwise, it could be very expensive to, for example, have a house built, have a water heater changed, install an electrical service or any of the many other services that we need that require a skilled tradesperson to perform.

Another instance of the extent of the skilled labor shortage in the Copper Country comes from one of Stockeros students.

We had our first young man who went through the machining class who did an internship, Stockero said, and he was offered four local jobs. Now. Were excited that well have six or seven young men doing internships next year, and hopefully with this millage, well start this pipeline.

Stockero said he wants to make sure people understand that CTE does three things:

Some students will graduate and go directly into the workforce.

There are those who will take CTE and will require one year of technical school and then enter the workforce.

There are some students, particularly in health care, who will take the CTE program, become excited as a result of it, and go on to college to obtain a four-year degree.

Corey Miller of Calumet is one such student who became passionate because of CTE. Miller said she took the nurses aid class in the 2015-16 school year, and could not wait to graduate, because the class enabled her to find immediate employment right out of high school.

I took an elder associate position at Portage Pointe (nursing home) in the summer of 2016, Miller said, and my life was forever changed. If I never took this class back in high school, I do not think I would have found my passion of medicine and helping others. I hope this class will be around for years to come, so others can find their passion, whether it be in medicine or something completely different.

HANCOCK Even as the Copper Country Intermediate School Districts career and technical education program ...

There are several organizations which do rankings of schools around the country, and some Copper Country schools ...

See the article here:
Local economy relies on CTE - Daily Mining Gazette

It is quite common for homeowners to rent their hot water heaters here in Ontario. The rentals cost anywhere between $15 for an old tank to $20 or more for a new one. Years ago, we stopped renting our old water heater and Ive been meaning to replace it for a while now. But, what with one thing or another, I never got around to it even though Michael James warned everyone on the mess that a leaking water heater makes in your basement.

Well, last weekend, I finally paid the price for keeping an old, rusted, water heater around a little too long. The bottom of the old water tank had rusted through and leaked water into the furnace room and to my basement office. After shutting down the valve, draining the heater and cleaning up the mess, I went shopping for a replacement. Home Depot carries water heaters and offers installation services (for some reason, Rona doesnt) and for a fee, is willing to do a rush job. Heres what installing a new tank will cost you:

GE 50 gallon gas water heater: $683.00 (60 gallon tank: $712.00)

Water heater measure: $40.00 Installation: $300.00 Weekend, evening & holiday fee: $165.00 Haul away & dispose: $40.00 Total Install Charges: $545.00

Grand total (including GST): $1,289.40

Weve stopped renting for more than 4 years now and the old rental was costing us $13.99 every month. Installing a new heater and then renting it costs about $20 per month in addition to certain one-time installation fees that are charged upfront. Netting out the savings of about $750 over four years from buying out the old water heater, the new tank cost us $540. If renting the same heater costs us $20 per month, the new tank will break even in just over two years. Plus we will be on hook for any maintenance or service calls.

It seems to me that owning a water heater is much cheaper over the long run than renting it as long as you are willing to absorb the expense of an unexpected maintenance call. Perhaps, thats why homeowners in most provinces do not bother with renting and it is time Ontarians wise up to how much renting our water heaters is costing us.

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Installing a new hot water heater | Canadian Capitalist

Tank vs. Tankless There are two different types of water heaters: tank and tankless. A tankless water heater produces water "on demand" by heating the water as you need it. A tank style water heater heats the water that is kept in a storage tank. The larger the water heater tank, the more hot water it can store. Financially, tankless water heaters have many advantages. Since they heat water as you need it they tend to save you money on energy bills.

A tank style water heater that is drawing from stored water can then require heating and reheating of the same tank of water as it cools. Tankless water heaters also tend to last longer than the tank variety. They can last as long as 20 years, where tank style water heaters have a life of closer to 12 years.

The drawback of a tankless water heater is that it can only heat so much water at any given time. So in households with many people, a tankless water heater can leave a lot of people with a cold shower in the morning. It is also virtually impossible to do two water heavy tasks at the same time such as running the washing machine and the dishwasher simultaneously. You can install two or more tankless water heaters or separate ones for your appliances so you have more hot water, but this may not help with energy efficiency in the home.

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Water Heater Installation Costs | Price to Replace a Hot ...