Hot Water Heater Question

[mrj]

HP, what type of fuel does it use? Is it possible that a new one would be more fuel efficient? I know it is hard to spend the money if an old appliance isn't actually broken, but sometimes it works out better....and maybe saves the hassle of an emergency situation when the old one dies.

We just went through that with a frige/freezer combination and do NOT want to repeat it anytime soon! For sure not in the hottest week of summer and no chance to go for a new one immediately!

mrj

[Mike]

Gas heaters have legs. Electric ones do not need clearance.

[High Plains]

MRJ, this is a natural gas setup. You are probably right, I'll likely be better off just replacing it so I don't have to worry with it any more.

Mike, thanks for the information. Exactly what I was needing to know. I'll need to travel to a "city" soon and find out more in person. I like to do some research ahead of time so I'm not blind-sided with something I hadn't considered and have to go home and measure something else or head back to the store for parts that I forgot.

HP

[Cowpuncher]

HP

We had a water heater with a small leak and didn't worry. Should have. Came home from work and the thing had a MAJOR leak and water was running our the front door. It wasn't in a basement, but I'll bet it never happens again!!

The first sign of a leak and it outta here.

[John SD]

I agree, you are on running on borrowed time if the water heater is already leaking. New water heater is first thing on your list next time you go to town.

The first sign my gas water heater was leaking was I didn't have hot water. It was cold. Went down in the basement to check and the leaking water had put out the pilot light. Fortunately, the basement floor drain was keeping up pretty well.

I would suggest if you don't already have one, put a shutoff valve in the incoming water supply line to the new water heater. Then when this water heater develops a leak, you can shut off the valve and still have running water to the cold side in your house.

I must admit I have done just that over a year ago in my house and still haven't replaced the old water heater yet. I have a bunkhouse with a full bathroom and wash machine that has an electric water heater in it. So I go over there for a shower. It's somewhat inconvenient to only have cold running water in my house, but I get by washing dishes by using the teakettle.

I have always liked having a water heater up off the floor. Both of my water heaters gas and electric are sitting on a concrete chimney block. The chimney block is quite sturdy and gets the water heater up off the floor enough to get an ice cream bucket under the water heater drain.

[High Plains]

Yeah, John, I will be putting in a new valve on the incoming supply. Seems that it should have already been there, but it's not. Also, the outgoing hot water line is only 1/2 inch and it then feeds into a 1 inch line. I was thinking about changing the outgoing line to 3/4, so that it's not so resricted. I don't know what the specs are for sure so I'll have to look that up somewhere before I go getting smart.

With all of the time it must be taking you to shower in the bunkhouse and heat water on the stove for dishes, I'd sure think that it'd be a huge time saver to fix that water heater in the main house. Gosh man, take some time away from the board here and get that done!

Now that I think about it, maybe a guy shouldn't have that valve on the incoming line. If you didn't have the valve you would already have a new heater!

HP

[Big Muddy rancher]

Just think how well behaved you'd be if you were taking cold showers.

[HAY MAKER]

[jamespipers]

No need to worry. New models of water heaters are easy to install. There are also some that would install it for free. Choose which model will fit your place, there are a lot to choose from.

plumbing los angeles

[OldDog/NewTricks]

[OldDog/NewTricks]

In the 72 my wife died - I just wanted to GET OUT OF TOWN. 2 of my friend and I went to South Shore Lake Tahoe to work - Motel Room was costing us $70 pen night for the 3 of us - I met an Old Cowboy in a Genoa Bar that had a cabin 1/2 way up the mountain behind the Clubs in Tahoe - he let us Kick the Raccoons Out and we starched a tarp over the roof and hung some Solar Water heaters up to heat the Creek water with - we also brought our Horses up - We called it out Cowboy Camp - The women Never Complained!