Thanks! Yes, we did have to install a new water heater when we moved here four years ago (the house is only seven years old) because the builder managed to screw up the installation so that the original tank was rusted. It was only an extra $150.00 to put in a larger and MUCH more efficient tank, so I'm sure that's part of the savings. ******** *********** ************** **************** ********** ************** ************* *********** *** ********* ********** *********** **************** ***************** *********** ********* *************** **** As for the bacteria issue, a few years ago there was some environmental/"healer" guru who got a lot of press in Canada. One of the things he advocated was to turn the temperatures on hot water tanks down considerably below the recommended temperature. It took awhile, but a surprising number of people got sick because of it. Not only were there bacteria issues in the tanks themselves, dishwashers run at those low temperatures were not getting dishes clean. There were so many nasties inside those dishwashers and on those dishes that people literally got sick. The only real fix to the problem after that was to replace the appliances altogether. Expensive mistake....eh?