Well, last week was Emergency Preparedness Week in Canada. I "was" going to check the anode rod in the water heater. Turns out I did not have to. The water heater cracked and sprung a leak in the middle of the night. Luckily, the water heater is right next to the floor drain so clean up was minimal.

After my cold morning shower, I called up the plumber and he arrived a few hours later with my brand new water heater. During installation he had to solder a couple of pipes. Solder? Heat? Smoke? Smoke detector 5 feet away. It doesn't take much to figure out what happened. On the upside, all 3 of my interconnected detectors work exactly like they are supposed to!

And I now have a fixed reminder date for checking the anode on a yearly basis!