You are probably standing at the sink wondering why the hot water comes out lukewarm, or why there is a damp spot by the tank in the basement, and your father has told you it is fine. He may be right. He may also be the kind of man who has been hearing a water heater tick for six months and calling it character. Either way, the water heater is the one appliance that was never on anybody's list, because hot water simply came out of the tap. Mom knew the house, and the house ran on her knowing it.
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What to do tonight
Find the tank. It is usually in the basement, a utility room, or a closet off the garage. Look at it before you touch anything. Write down three things: whether it runs on gas or electricity, the capacity printed on the label, and the manufacture date on the tank or label, which tells you how old it is. Keep that paper in the kitchen drawer with the other house papers, because the next person who comes out will ask.
Next, look at the floor under and around the tank. Dry is what you want. A faint old rust ring can be harmless. Fresh water, a wet patch, or drips from the bottom of the tank mean you stop, do not try to fix it, and call a plumber this week rather than waiting for the weekend.
Then follow the thin pipe that runs down from the valve on the side or top of the tank. That is the pressure relief pipe. It should end a few inches above the floor or over a drain, open, not capped and not running up toward the ceiling. A little drip when the water is hot can happen, but a steady drip or a capped pipe is a call.
If the tank has a temperature dial, write down the number. Many tanks are set higher than they need to be. Around 120 degrees is a common setting that is comfortable and lowers the risk of scalding, and the label may give its own recommendation. If the dial is set well above that and someone in the house could be scalded by a hot tap, turn it down tonight and tell him you did it. If the tank is gas and you smell rotten eggs or gas near it, leave the house, and call the gas company from outside.
Why it needs a name
The water heater does not announce itself. It works until it does not, and then it is a cold shower at six in the morning or water across the floor at midnight. So it needs a name on it. Ask your father who he wants to call when it goes, and write that name beside the number. Ask who will let the plumber in, and who looks at the floor around the tank once a month, especially in the cold months when nobody goes down to the basement. Often the answer is you, because you are the one who will see it on a visit.
He will tell you he knows exactly where the shutoff is. Ask him to show you. A man who says he knows is usually right, and it costs you nothing to see it with him standing there. Find the cold water shutoff for the whole house and the one on the cold water line going into the tank. Mom probably knew both. Learn them yourself too.
What to ask the plumber
When you call, ask four things and write down the answers. Whether the tank looks worth repairing or whether it is near the end of its life, using the manufacture date as your starting point. When the pressure relief valve was last tested or replaced. Whether they flush the tank, since sediment builds up at the bottom and a flush is worth asking about on the schedule the manufacturer lists. And whether the quote includes removing the old unit, the drain pan, and new fittings. If you get two quotes, compare what each one names, not only the total at the bottom. A quote that leaves out the removal or the pan is not the same job.
When this is not a doctor question
The water heater is a house question, and most of it stays with the house. But if your father has stopped showering for days, or starts saying the water is cold when you know the heater is fine, that is a change worth telling his doctor about, along with what you noticed. You are not diagnosing him. You are just giving the doctor the observations you were in a position to make.
The good-week card
A good week looks like this: the floor under the tank is dry, the relief pipe still ends near the floor, and the name and number are on the paper in the kitchen drawer.