Haha, sounds familiar—I swear I've had to practically dislocate a shoulder just to reach a valve behind my washing machine. Makes me wonder, do plumbe...

Have you tried adding a leaf diverter or first-flush system to your setup? I get that pine needles are a special kind of evil (been there...), but a d...

Good catch on the water hardness thing—I overlooked that myself when I switched to tankless a few years back. Ever tried installing a water softener o...

Fair enough, but honestly, do you really need to flush that often? Mine's been fine for almost five years without touching it... maybe I'm just lucky ...