Hot Water Tank Woes

Discussion in 'Home Improvement' started by Yvonne Smith, Jan 28, 2018.

  1. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    This has been an interesting week for us.
    First the car tire was flat, then Bobby had the colonoscopy (and all that this entails), and when we got back home from the doctor’s office, (Bobby still in the anesthetic daze) we discovered that the hot water tank had quit working right and was now spouting out hot water.
    Bobby turned off the hot water tank breaker, went to bed and slept off the drugs, and then took a look at the hot water tank.
    Hoping that it was repairable, we went to the hardware store early Thursday morning for parts. However, it turned out not to be repairable, and in fact had a split down the side that has probably been there for some time.
    To complicate everything, someone had installed a 24” wide hot water tank and then built an exit wall in the hot water closet with a door that was only 15” wide !
    In order to replace the old tank, Bobby would have to completely tear down that wall, get the old tank out, new tank in, and then make a new doorway.
    So....... we started considering getting one of the tankless hot water heaters instead, and this is what we ended up doing.

    By Friday afternoon, Bobby had the new water heater hooked up and running and we had hot water once again, and the new system seems to be working fine for us.
    It does take some getting used to, because if you run too much water pressure, then the heater can’t keep it hot enough; so we have to keep the pressure a little lower than we did with the old hot water tank.
    They had the tankless heaters that would be able to accommodate more water flow; but we had to get one of the low-end priced ones to even fit it into our budget at all.
    The old hot water tank can just sit in the closet (disconnected, of course) until Bobby wants to tear out the wall and remove the old tank, which will probably be when the weather is better in the spring.

    The tankless heaters are supposed to be more economical also, because they only heat water when you are actually running hot water somewhere, and do not have to keep a whole tank of water hot.
    Over all, we are pleased with this solution, and it was as cheap (or maybe cheaper) than replacing the hot water tank would have been, and a lot less hassle, too.
     
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  2. Patsy Faye

    Patsy Faye Supreme Member
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    Phew !
     
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  3. Babs Hunt

    Babs Hunt Supreme Member
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    When it rains it pours! Hope this new week coming up goes much smoother for you and Bobby @Yvonne Smith. :)
     
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  4. Bobby Cole

    Bobby Cole Supreme Member
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    Nope. Not going to tear down any door ways or walls just to have to rebuild them.
    It's far more fun to tear apart the old water heater. I will enjoy seeing what happens when a saws-all meets with a cranky water heater. There will be pieces in the valley..........................
    "Vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord" only applies to people. not old money grabbing machinery that costs more than I make and dies before I do!
     
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  5. Bobby Cole

    Bobby Cole Supreme Member
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    Yup, it's been raining and or cold all week too..................................
     
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  6. Kitty Carmel

    Kitty Carmel Veteran Member
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    Sounds like a great solution and upgrade. Sorry about the hassle when it sounds like you really didn't need it.
     
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  7. Chrissy Cross

    Chrissy Cross Supreme Member
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    I'm going to be needing a new one soon. :(

    Ive already been getting estimates....also, think @Sheldon Scott made a post about this and that's where I posted about my problem.

    Glad you are past the worst of it!
     
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  8. Cody Fousnaugh

    Cody Fousnaugh Supreme Member
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    One of the good things about renting, in our opinion, these things are taken care of (cost/install) by Maintenance and Management. We do like living in a house, but the upkeep cost can be high. Thing is, we also like owning a descent boat where the upkeep can be high as well. Guess it's a "no win" situation type thing.
     
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  9. Bobby Cole

    Bobby Cole Supreme Member
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    I know we could have lived without the expense and the hassle but to tell the truth, the experience and added knowledge kind of negates all of the bad stuff. I wish we had changed over years ago not only for the future savings but because the hot water even smells differently. It's a totally different but absolutely desirable upgrade.
     
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  10. Bobby Cole

    Bobby Cole Supreme Member
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    I am a kind of different type of duck. I really do not like people doing what I know I can do nor do I like strangers in my abode. I have tried apartment living and not only do I not like to know what the neighboring unit is doing but the monthly fee costs more. I like maintaining the house and it does give me a lot of freedom to do as I choose without worrying about the lease agreements.

    And yeah, I used to own a boat. A couple of them as a matter of fact. My last one was a 47' steel V-hull. I used to load it up with beer and make sandwiches and cater to a couple of islands where people partied during the summer. It was a tad shady when it came to the legalities but the rangers liked the hamburgers enough to leave me alone.
     
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  11. Kitty Carmel

    Kitty Carmel Veteran Member
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    I rent now and there are advantages. I like my apartment, I can have my cats, it's non smoking here only and they have a strict noise rule. I don't mind some apartment noise, when it's just regular noise it's kind of comforting. But I don't know if I want someone to have the key to my home for the rest of my life and I'm not crazy about the manager and the last one was psycho.

    I'm not DIY and have no talent for doing things myself so I would have to put out the expense. I think it's great that Bobby Cole could fix this himself and I wish more homes were going to the tankless water heaters as they are being built or upgraded. I think some are. I wouldn't even know how start doing something like this.
     
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  12. Bobby Cole

    Bobby Cole Supreme Member
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    Aw now, you ladies are much too smart to let some lack of knowledge get into your purse. A younger neighbor, a smile, a hot home made apple pie w/ice cream and a cup of coffee will get just about anything accomplished. :)
     
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  13. Holly Saunders

    Holly Saunders Supreme Member
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    or a very handy Husband like mine... plumbing, electrics, household D-I-Y... car maintenance, gardening, and computer repairs.. ... everything.. yeah...

    sometimes when I hear certain people are struggling who can't afford to fix stuff up..I want to lend him out but he works over 60 hours a week most weeks in his job , so our house is enough for him to maintain..
     
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  14. Frank Sanoica

    Frank Sanoica Supreme Member
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    @Bobby Cole
    You have presented the perfect place for me to interject a question plaguing me for many years now, but not worth starting a new thread for.

    Every gas-fired hot water heater requires that it's flue be vented to the outside air. Every gas-fired kitchen stove I have ever seen "vents" to the surrounding air within the house. My Mother's baking every day produced those very-familiar acrid fumes from burning natural gas we all became accustomed to.

    The burner in a kitchen stove's oven is twice the size of that in a water heater. Both use the same fuel. What "gives" with burning gas within the house, unvented?
    Frank
     
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  15. Bobby Cole

    Bobby Cole Supreme Member
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    Without doing the necessary research in order to come up with a valid answer, I imagine it has something to do with the enclosure often used by gas fired water heaters. Ovens and interior gas heaters are in larger areas whereas most water heaters are in an enclosure just a little larger than the unit.
    The toxic bi-products of burning fuel and unburned gas buildup would be much more dangerous in a smaller enclosed area.

    You brought up a great point @Frank Sanoica, and one well fit for a bit of good research.
     
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