Signed

A couple of years ago I found one that took into consideration all of the factors of owning a car, depreciation, payments, repairs, etc. As I remember it concluded that as long as the car was costing less than $3,000 / year in repair costs you should keep it. I lost my bookmark to it and now I can't find it again. So now I'm looking for a dollars and sense analysis. I can find plenty of emotion based, sell it when it has a problem, sell it before it has a problem, etc, but I can't seem to find a fact based decision process.

The water heater is about 14 years old and seems to work fine. There are no obvious leaks, rust stains and plenty of hot water. But the water where I live is very hard and I've heard the average life on a heater is about 10 years. I don't like to wait for emergencies to happen on the other hand there isn't any point in replacing something that is working.

The water temperature in the shower of my 14-year-old house changes to nearly pure cold whenever someone uses another faucet. The pressure is fine and when the other faucet is turned on there is no noticeable change in pressure in the shower. The main supply to the house is 1” and gradually reduces as the various cold water lines are split off. The water heater lines are ¾” and gradually reduce as the various hot water lines split off. All of the lines are copper.

I don’t remember this problem when the house was new, but my memory could be fading, or is it the water heater? I know there are temperature controlled shower valves, but would a pressure tank be a better solution. I would really like to take a comfortable shower while the rest of the house continues to function as well.