Not as hard as I thought

I can be a real procrastinator.  As a matter-of-fact I'm procrastinating on many chores right now but today I decided I should tackle one that has been staring me in the face for many months.  It was my hot water heater.
The copper lines leading into and out of the water heater had pin holes in them so I taped them with some stuff that usually stops the leaks for a time.  Unfortunately the one where the hot water came out didn't cooperate and the tape kept bursting so I'd add more towels around the base so it would catch the drips.  I know, that's pitiful, but what's a woman to do who's too lazy or perhaps too incompetent to figure out a solution?  She waits a few months till the leak gets worse.

I thought the lines had to be copper and went to Lowes looking for replacements.  I found what I thought I needed but was hesitant to buy them because I wasn't sure if I needed to buy or rent a tool to attach these lines to my Pex lines.  You see, we replaced all (or almost all) our copper plumbing with PEX (kind of a PVC) and it requires a special tool and collars.  The tool is very expensive and you need a different one for each size pipe.  I own the 1/2 inch size but this connection would require a 3/4 inch tool.  I didn't want to have to buy that because I couldn't see where I'd have a need for it again.  The nice man at Lowes told me I could rent one from a nearby rental company.  The Lowes man's name tag said "plumbing expert" so I gave him my full attention and told him my problems, not all my problems, just my plumbing ones.  He was very attentive and helpful.  I had a 20 minute lesson in hot water tank line repairs and came home with stainless steel lines instead of copper.  I won't go into the details of how we decided what would work but it was a much easier fix than I thought and I didn't need the 3/4 PEX tool. 

I should mention I called 2 plumbers and the one I use is no longer working for this company and the other one I called couln't come for almost a week so I figured I needed to get on the ball myself.  So, to make a long story a little shorter I fixed the cold water line but the other one I got wasn't long enough so I need to go back to Lowes to get a longer one.  Oh well, at least I know it's an easy fix.

I love the shiny look of newly replaced plumbing.  Actually I like seeing no drips coming from the repaired line.  Plumbing can be one of my least favorite jobs.