So Depot convinced Rheem, a division of Japan's Paloma Industries and the biggest water-heater maker, to slap GE's name on a line of water heaters.

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He could run a hose down from the house, and, yes, he had put a hot-water line through the basement out to the back, and, in the dead of winter, with his 50 amp heater running and a drain in the middle of the concrete floor, he could wash his MG convertible, dreaming of tomorrow and his escape.

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