Fixing the Hot Water Heater...

Damocles

Damocles

Accedo!
Staff member
We've been without hot water for about a week and a half... At first we thought we had run out of propane, when that happens the pilot light won't stay lit and therefore.. no hot water.

However after waiting three days we found out that we were full and our gauge on the tank wasn't working right.

So, I figured out that the thermocouple was about a zillion years old like the water heater... So, I try to replace it. Try as I might I couldn't get the frickin' main feed off. The pilot feed, zoom, the thermocouple itself... No problem, but if I was going to get the thermocouple out and replaced I needed to get the whole thing off...

I broke two cheap wrenches, and just couldn't get the thing to move even a tiny bit...

So, I went and got a pipe wrench, something that wouldn't have one of those little twisty things (that's where those cheap wrenches kept breaking at) and got a decent couple of wrenches to replace the two I broke. I took the larger one of them (not the pipe wrench) fit it to the frickin' nut, and immediately turned it the opposite direction (the way you would think it was tightening it) and it loosened without even a grunt...

Apparently... My hands remembered what my brain didn't. The main feed is a right-turning thread. Duh. I fought this thing for a week... and I wouldn't have even broke a wrench if I could remember to turn it the right frickin' way...
 
No no no Damo! You were suppose to $300 worth of damage to replace a$3 part! That way the nex time your wife will insist you call a competant repair man.
 
Damocles said:
We've been without hot water for about a week and a half... At first we thought we had run out of propane, when that happens the pilot light won't stay lit and therefore.. no hot water.

However after waiting three days we found out that we were full and our gauge on the tank wasn't working right.

So, I figured out that the thermocouple was about a zillion years old like the water heater... So, I try to replace it. Try as I might I couldn't get the frickin' main feed off. The pilot feed, zoom, the thermocouple itself... No problem, but if I was going to get the thermocouple out and replaced I needed to get the whole thing off...

I broke two cheap wrenches, and just couldn't get the thing to move even a tiny bit...

So, I went and got a pipe wrench, something that wouldn't have one of those little twisty things (that's where those cheap wrenches kept breaking at) and got a decent couple of wrenches to replace the two I broke. I took the larger one of them (not the pipe wrench) fit it to the frickin' nut, and immediately turned it the opposite direction (the way you would think it was tightening it) and it loosened without even a grunt...

Apparently... My hands remembered what my brain didn't. The main feed is a right-turning thread. Duh. I fought this thing for a week... and I wouldn't have even broke a wrench if I could remember to turn it the right frickin' way...
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Hot water tank. That brought back memories.

Many years ago I had a building with a crawl space and the hot water tanks were down there for the three apartments. The tanks were rented from the hydro company and each tenant paid their monthly rental (about $10.00/mth) which was added on their hydro bill. Anyway, one of the tanks started to leak so it had to be changed. It was old.

Hydro subcontracted out the job to a local plumber. He arrived and told me he couldn't replace the tank until some earth was dug out around the tank and left to wait in his truck while I phoned Hydro. Hydro confirmed the plumber couldn't replace the tank unless I dug out some earth as the tank had settled into the ground a bit. They couldn't install a new tank as they couldn't remove the old one. He asked if I wanted the plumber to run new water lines to the third floor and install the new tank in the kitchen? Hmmmm. I told him I'd phone back in a few minutes after I checked out the situation.

I phoned Hydro back and asked if they were sure that was their tank I had I my basement. They said absolutely, it was their tank. "Great", I replied. "You're legally required to remove it from my property. I can not install a new tank with your tank there." :)

Well, Hydro phoned the plumber in his truck and the plumber was not a happy camper. The way I saw it if the tank was removed they would want to install a new one as the majority of the hard work would be done. If they didn't want to replace it I'd buy my own tank and install it.

About an hour or so of banging the plumber came out through the access hole in the floor with the old tank. Thankfully the access hole was right at the front door so he didn't have to go through the house. Then he installed the new tank.

After he was done I thanked him for a good job done. He started his rant. "How am I supposed to go to a condo in ------- (the classy part of town) looking like this?" His clothes and boots were caked with mud after being in the crawl space. I didn't say anything but I was wondering what he thought a plumber's job entails. It's not just changing a tap washer in a half million dollar condo.

I wonder how many other tri-plex owners believed they had no other option than to install new water lines to the third floor. They'd have to run a cold water line up to the third floor and then a hot water line back to the crawl space to hook up with the main line serving the apartment.

There's always a scam, somewhere. :(
 
christiefan915 said:
Your wife let you fool around with the tank for 10 days while everyone went without hot water? :whoa:

She's a better person than I am!
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My wife wants me to learn and save money so that our family can thrive... She's the best thing that ever happened to me really.

Seriously. We hire strangers to enter our house and charge us a ridiculous amount of money to fix something. However, if you speak with these people there's nothing special about them. They aren't smarter than I am, stronger or wiser... If I learn to do this myself I take what would be a $150 repair and turn it (if I had done it right the first time) into a $10 repair... Next time it will take me 10 minutes to do after I get the thermocouple. I get a lifetime of savings for spending a bit of time learning how to do it right.
 
Damocles said:
My wife wants me to learn and save money so that our family can thrive... She's the best thing that ever happened to me really.

Seriously. We hire strangers to enter our house and charge us a ridiculous amount of money to fix something. However, if you speak with these people there's nothing special about them. They aren't smarter than I am, stronger or wiser... If I learn to do this myself I take what would be a $150 repair and turn it (if I had done it right the first time) into a $10 repair... Next time it will take me 10 minutes to do after I get the thermocouple. I get a lifetime of savings for spending a bit of time learning how to do it right.
Click to expand...

Still haven't said how you survived for 10 days without hot water, lucky it wasn't the middle of January.
 
Aoxomoxoa said:
Still haven't said how you survived for 10 days without hot water, lucky it wasn't the middle of January.
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It sucked. I do, however, have a shower at work... For the kids we boiled water for their baths. Boiled water for dishes. We just went back in time for a bit while I read up and learned about water heaters.

Imagine what it was like when I learned how to fix our heater, and yes that was in the winter. On that one we spent money several times with no fix. I then learned everything I could about it and fixed it myself...
 
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