Posted on 06/19/2013 4:27:16 AM PDT by djf
You’re so right. When I cut the old tank open for a flower planter the anode was completely gone and probably had been since I moved into the house.
For most people if hot water comes out, that’s enough.
the cold water tripped the gas heat on and result was the house filled with steam....and water condensation everywhere.....took a week with air blowers on to get everything dry.
Lowes carries a water heater timer made by intermatic - cost is about $50. I installed one, it runs from 5am to 9am and again from 4pm to 9pm. I don’t need to have hot-hot water available 24/7 so I don’t pay for it. The weekend settings are different from the weekday settings.
I agree about going tankless it has been over ten years since we went that route and the wife and I love it. However I’m not sure it is something the OP could DIY.
But that includes a woman, right?
In Ohio here. I rent an electric heater from AEP, pay 18.00 p/month. I have nothing to do with the heater. They hook it up, free repairs when needed. When the heater needed replaced they did it all. Hauling in, hauling out. 105 gallons of hot water. Don’t need that now, but it sure came in handy when we did. If I had to do it over, I would do the same thing. Great deal for me. Good luck
In the past I’ve had trouble getting a good seal sweating copper— most of the time I was using butane. Lately I use MAP gas, but— would you recommend oxygen with it?
Another thing— some of the new solders are more difficult to use— they don’t seem to flow as readily.
If you’ve got any tips, I’m all ears.
Thanks. This is a great thread.
Just a thought-- some of those boards might have air pockets that would expand and possibly explode under heat. "Wonderboard" has styrofoam bulking particles. A sheet of galvanized sheet metal may work better, but I'll defer to your experience.
Drip Pan,what, 10 bucks, why not?
It has a port allowing it to be plumbed to a drain.
If you don’t utilize that feature and cap it only holds a few gallons and if the heater goes and you aint around for days or weeks its the same as not having one. If its a slowwww leak, the port is capped and you look at it daily you’ll be ok.
Its good if you are in a mobile home(particleboard sub floor)or an apt/condo 2nd floor,but ya still need a place for it to go so no floor drain,cap it and keep an eye on it.Condos and apts usually have the h2o htr in the same closet as the ac and maybe plumbed to the AC condesate drain,Maybe.
Mine is in the cellar and I still dont want water playing out on the floor so I put the heater on 3 bricks in the plastic pan,keeps it up and you can see under,plus the unit will displaces quit a bit of water in the pan.Its plumbed over to the floor drain. It can leak all day and I don’t care. I do shut it off when out of town,power and H2O
Be sure to make the pressure relief valve come over the top and down the side into the pan.
H2O heaters usually start to go slowly as the leak through the rusted out portion so monitoring a capped drain pan will do the trick.If the relief vale goes its a different story.
I once saw a mobile home in Melbourne Bch Fl that the heater leaked while the were up N for the summer.The entire floor swelled up to twice its thickness and need to be removed.All the funtirure and appliances were damaged at the base.
The next day I went to the folks winter mobile home and drilled a 3 inch hole in the floor next to the heater for drainage.That was a quick fix and easier than uninstalling and reinstalling to place the pan.
Your probably done by now.
Psssst...dont tell the building inspector what yer up to
my last one ate up the rod in 5 years.I cant get this rod out,thinkong about hiring a plumber,let him break something,Any thoughts?
Quite correct about it being a slow leak... started out slow, 2 days ago.
It was slow enough I could still pressurize the tank (years ago I learned from experience to have a cold-water shutoff before the tank!) and turn on the breaker, could still take a shower.
Last day it has sped up quite a bit, so now the water is off and the 240 is disconnected.
With any luck by noon or so the new one should be in. As long as I can get a good drain on the current one...
I’m just a ham and egger. I’ve replaced a water heater or two, plumbed a new bathroom, and done misc repairs.
To bad you can’t grab a scrap asbestos shingle any more. That would be perfect.
Sorry, I’m not a plumber, I’m a finish carpenter, so definitely can’t help with the oxygen question, but as far as the soldering, purchase your solder and flux as a ‘package’ if you can, these days they need to coincide . . .
I think you should record the entire event and post the clip here..
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