(Home) Water Heater Question

Just a tip....even though a impact makes removing the anode rod a breeze When new and tank is empty, take the rod out and put some PTFE goop on it to make it easier to service down the road. If it comes with a plastic drain bib, change it to metal. Or just don`t buy a tank bib, put a 3/4 short nipple and a regular ball shut off valve. Easy peasy drains as well



Re: auto shutoff and what not....
After Sandy....I`ve got 1 gas trash pump, 2 sump pumps, 2 low level (up to 1/2 or 1/4") surface pumps and 300 feet of 3" Hose.
Life has it`s ways of making us change out POV after a crazy event...
 
Oneheadlight- Oh man, you`re really getting your share of grief on this, huh?!? Hope it starts going better.

Yes indeed, having shutoffs on the washer/etc. is very, very smart. Heh heh, that`s one thing our builder`s people got right.

Your decision to just stick with the conventional style sounds just like how it went with us.
 
I forgot to add that "just" moving the air exchange inlet 5 feet over is going to require cutting holes into the basement bathroom and bedroom, another other reason the project got put on hold. Even if only changing the exhaust piping for the water heater, that`s gonna be holes in the bathroom ceiling.

Who loves house stuff?! :lmfao
 
Oneheadlite- Gee, is the water heater in the bathroom? I had that in my first house, and when it suffered a catastrophic failure, well...you can guess :o

Will they have to cut new penetrations in an exterior wall, or just tie in after going through the ceiling? Either way, I sure sympathize with you! Some things that oughta be *so* simply...just aren`t :(
 
Accumulator said:
Oneheadlite- Gee, is the water heater in the bathroom? I had that in my first house, and when it suffered a catastrophic failure, well...you can guess :o

Will they have to cut new penetrations in an exterior wall, or just tie in after going through the ceiling? Either way, I sure sympathize with you! Some things that oughta be *so* simply...just aren`t :(
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The water heater is in a utility room with the softener, furnace, and air exchange unit. The exhaust piping that needs to get changed out runs straight over the finished bathroom, and from the plumber`s description will have to have fittings to join pipe lengths together to complete the run out of the house. (Straight horizontal run from the utility room to the exterior wall).

If we have the air exchange inlet moved, that will require the bedroom ceiling to be cut up for working room to relocate the inlet ducting. That will require a new penetration in the exterior wall for the new "vent" location.

Thanks for the kind words. It`s just so frustrating when you work hard and want your things to be nice, but you run into it so often where people just don`t care enough to do a quality (or in this case, correct) job.

I think I`ve vented about this already here, but I see it all to often in car repair - You can clearly see what work other people have done. Yes: they have completed a repair of what was broken, but have taken no extra care to restore the car to it`s original condition. Best way I can put it is that you run into people where they complete the bare minimum of effort to do the agreed upon job, with no focus on doing a good job.

Same goes for level of service - I`ve seen plenty of receipts from other places that charged more for a job than we would have (we`re a "specialist" shop that focuses on only 2 brands) because they pay no mind to labor savings with jobs that overlap. The other one that drives me insane is when they use clearly inferior parts, yet mark them up beyond Manufacturer Specified Retail Pricing. Yet people`s impression is we`re more expensive than that corner garage because we`re specialists... Sorry - I`ll stop ranting!

Like I joke to my wife when I see stuff like this with house stuff (or the car repair examples) - This is why I have trust issues! (In regards to letting other people work on our "stuff"). :lol:
 
I installed a tankless water heater at the beginning of 2019 and have been generally happy with it. A lot of people call them instant heaters when the should be called endless hot water. Obviously there is a delay to some of the farthest taps that need all the water pushed out. This is the only minor convenience and only a concern if you`re in a hurry during the winter. Mine is electric since it the breaker was just a few feet away from the existing tank system. For the GPM needs and ground water temp I went with a system that required x3 40 amp breakers, YIKES! Despite that I have no doubt seen a drop in my power bill. To be fair, the tank heater was likely overdue on replacement not that it was leaking or had shown signs of failure.

As for the OP question, I already have a home automation hub and they have water sensors you can add. Come to think of them they`re likely overdue for some fresh batteries.
 
Oneheadlite said:
I think I`ve vented about this already here, but I see it all to often in car repair - You can clearly see what work other people have done. Yes: they have completed a repair of what was broken, but have taken no extra care to restore the car to it`s original condition. Best way I can put it is that you run into people where they complete the bare minimum of effort to do the agreed upon job, with no focus on doing a good job.
Click to expand...

The one I always wonder about is the catalyst or other exhaust heat shields, that even the dealers seem all too happy to rip out when they start rattling...seemingly without bothering to think why they were in there in the first place. Which reminds me of a boring story back when I was a kid and there were carburetors and the cardboard gasket between the bottom of the air cleaner and the carb split, and I went to the auto parts store and asked for one and the counter guy said "why would you want to replace that, you don`t need that" to which I replied "then why did they put it in there in the first place?". I was elated some years later when I had to rebuild the carb that the rebuild kit came with that gasket!

Ok, back to water heaters. Except I can`t seem to upload any photos to the gallery.
 
Oneheadlite said:
The "fun" part come in when the subcontractor came out to install the water heater. He confirmed my suspicion that the previous water heater was probably installed by the previous homeowner (natural gas line not secured to tank, pressure relief drain too far from the ground - both don`t meet code). He wasn`t happy with something about the exhaust ducting, which started him investigating. Come to find out, the water heater exhaust pipe is too close to the house`s air exchange inlet, thus violating code so he can`t install the new heater. He then proceeded to offer various ways to continue forward, but I put the brakes on as I wanted to educate myself on the situation so I could feel comfortable with whatever ends up taking place.
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Somehow reassuring to know that mine isn`t the only house that ellicits contractor comments like "Well, I`ve never seen it done like *that* before..." when replacing things.
 
Have you thought about reconsidering a tankless heater? Sounds like you have a ton of work needed to properly vent the current unit. A tankless heater is typically vented with PVC pipe and ran straight out the side the the house (won’t tie into your current vent at all)

all things considered it may be cheaper to just go with tankless since you’re having to redo all your venting anyway. I would think that when you take into account the cost of the labor (which sounds like a lot) to bring what you have up to code you might be comparable in cost if not cheaper to go tankless
 
Tanksless is not a universal answer. Those need more maintenance annually. Gas line large enough or will it need to be upsized from the meter. Circulating pump, etc.
 
ShaneB said:
Have you thought about reconsidering a tankless heater? Sounds like you have a ton of work needed to properly vent the current unit. A tankless heater is typically vented with PVC pipe and ran straight out the side the the house (won’t tie into your current vent at all)

all things considered it may be cheaper to just go with tankless since you’re having to redo all your venting anyway. I would think that when you take into account the cost of the labor (which sounds like a lot) to bring what you have up to code you might be comparable in cost if not cheaper to go tankless
Click to expand...

From talking to the plumber when he was at the house, a tankless heater uses a 4" exhaust in place of the 2" used on a standard water heater due to the drastically higher BTU`s. The problem is still that the exhaust (straight out the side of the house) is against building code in that it`s too close to the air exchange inlet. If I went electric tankless, then I`d be paying to have an electrician run the mega circuit to power it.

mobiledynamics said:
Tanksless is not a universal answer. Those need more maintenance annually. Gas line large enough or will it need to be upsized from the meter. Circulating pump, etc.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I`m not gonna lie, it feels like it would be "easier" to go electric tankless and be done with the whole thing. But, given our water quality I worry about what annual life would be like. I think I mentioned earlier - at this point it feels like tankless is a good option if you`re building new, but not ideal if retrofitting an existing system.

The most recent development is now I can`t find someone to move the ducting. Everyone`s so consumed with building new houses and whatnot, anyone worth a dang is booked out months. (My wife`s folks had an appointment a few weeks ago to have someone come out to estimate replacing their deck; the guy later called to cancel their appointment because their entire summer is booked already. :blink: )


I`ve got a great guy I`ve used in the past that can help with the ceiling work, but he`s not HVAC licensed and doesn`t want to touch the ducting. I may talk to him about opening up the ceiling and doing the duct work myself and have him do the button up.

Hooray, more to research...
 
Maybe others don`t need such work done often enough to bother with it, but FWIW I`ve found that, as with the guys who work on my vehicles, it pays to be on a first name-basis with Plumbers/etc. It seems to really make a diff, from scheduling, to the quality of work, to even the price ("..I have a spare one in the truck, lemme just install it now while I`m here..no need for the Boss to know and make me redo the paperwork..").
 
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