Sometimes the universe wants you to take a cold shower

ID:14846
 
Jul 4 2006, 5:44 pm
Part 2 of our series on home improvement examines the myriad of ways that a water heater installation can go awry. Just 40 easy steps!

Step 1: Wait for the old water heater to start leaking. If you replace it too soon, you might not run into so many problems, so be sure to wait. If you want to have a lot of fun, try to wait for it to flood the garage. This part is optional.

Original water heater!


Step 2: Try unsuccessfully to drain the water heater. Realize that it hasn't been drained in years (probably decades), so the drain spout is filled with hardened sediment. Also realize that the cold water inlet valve is broken, so you'll have to turn off water to the whole house.

Clogged drain spout!


Step 3: Using a screwdriver, break up enough of the sediment to unclog the spout and slowly drain the water heater through a hose. Meanwhile, shop for a new heater and installation kit.

Step 4: Remove the now drained water heater from its old, crumbling, water-soaked stand. Using a pry bar and sledge hammer, destroy the stand and remove it from the wall. Notice the missing drywall behind and around the stand, and curse your home's previous owners. Remove enough existing drywall to make a large rectangle that will be replaced.

30x40 drywall hole


Step 5: Install a new valve on the cold water inlet pipe (forget about removing the old one, just install the new one past it) so you can turn on the house water and at least have cold.

New inlet valve


It is now the end of day one. Now that you're all sweaty from working, go inside the house and take a cold shower before bed. Rejoice in the extreme cold.

Step 6: On day two, go to the store and get yourself an 8x4 foot section of fire-safe and humidity-resistant drywall. Also pick up the tools and materials necessary to patch the drywall (drywall nails, drywall hammer, wall joint compound, mesh tape). Cut out a 30x40 piece of drywall to fit exactly in the opening.

New drywall cut to fit


Now take another luxurious cold shower and go to work for a few hours.

Step 7: Back home from work, set the new drywall next to the wall and get your tools ready to nail it to the studs.

New drywall next to wall


Step 8: Nail the drywall into place, making sure all nails go below the surface of the drywall.

New drywall nailed to wall


Step 9: Apply mesh tape to the seams between the new drywall and the existing wall.

Mesh tape in drywall seams


Step 10: Apply generous amounts of joint compound over the mesh tape and over all drywall nails.

Applied joint compound


Step 11: Assemble a new water heater stand according to instructions. Drill holes in the wall studs and screw the stand into the wall for earthquake safety.

New water heater stand in place


Here ends day two. Enjoy yet another ice-cold shower, sucker!

Step 12: With a helper, lift the new water heater onto the new stand and prepare to make connections. Shouldn't be long before you have hot water now!

Step 13: Start reattaching the earthquake straps. Notice that the old straps are too short to wrap around the new, wider heater. Run to the store for new straps.

Step 14: Install the new earthquake straps. After anchoring them to the wall studs using the same holes as the previous straps, tighten the straps. Notice that the water heater pulls to the right because that side of each strap was anchored to the wrong stud. Curse the previous homeowner.

Step 15: Re-anchor the straps to the correct wall studs, centering the heater on the stand. Tighten the straps.

Step 16: Notice that the new cold water inlet valve has a hose outlet fitting with slightly different threading than the connection hoses in the water heater kit. Run to the store to get an adapter.

Step 17: Notice that the old exhaust vent no longer fits because the new heater and stand are both shorter than their old counterparts. Run to the store to get a longer vent piece.

Step 18: At the store, notice that they don't have any vent pieces like the old one. Buy some pieces that may work. Maybe. Run to the store's competitor and check out their stock. Same story.

Step 19: Back home, try to fit the new vent pieces into place. Notice that it won't possibly work. Run back to the store and this time find a flexible vent tube that should work better.

Step 20: Notice that the water line for the pressure relief valve is too short due to the shorter new heater. Run to the store to get a second connection line and an adapter to fit them together.

Step 21: Continue hooking up water lines, using approved pipe joint compound for all threaded connections. Should be getting close now!

Water connection


Jump for joy as you take another freezing cold shower and get ready for a few hours at work.

Step 22: Notice that the exhaust vent still needs an adapter piece. Also notice that this post is monstrous and you're still reading it. Bored much? Run to the store to get an adapter on the way to work. While at the store, notice the water heater drain pans. Hey, that sounds like a good idea! Go for the cheaper, plastic one.

Step 23: Back home and with a helper, install the new drain pan by tilting the water heater and slipping the pan underneath, gradually working it into place. Also fully install the flexible vent tubing. Hey, it's gonna work!

Water connection


Step 24: Once the drain pan is in place, notice that it says it's only for electric water heaters. Presumably because it could be dangerous to have the plastic close to the flame of a gas heater. Oops! Remove the drain pan.

Here ends day three. Take another cold shower and like it, punk!

Step 25: Run to the store and buy a metal, gas-approved, drain pan. Install it with the assistance of a helper.

Step 26: Complete water and gas hookups. Not long now!

Step 27: Open the cold water inlet valve and allow water to fill the tank. Open a nearby hot water faucet to purge air from the lines.

Step 28: Notice that as soon as the tank fills, water slowly leaks out the top of the tank at the hot water outlet. Tighten the hot water outlet connector and try again. Water still leaks out.

Step 29: Run to the store and get a different type of connector. Maybe this one was faulty. Install the new connector and try again. Water still leaks.

Step 30: Call the support line for the water heater. After listening to the explanation, they amazingly give a return authorization to take the heater back to the store for exchange. Begin draining the heater.

Step 31: After the heater has drained, turn off water and gas, disconnect all hoses, and remove the earthquake straps. Carefully remove the heater from the stand and pack it back up for return.

Step 32: Spend the next 45 minutes trying to call your wife at work, who has the water heater receipt in her purse.

Step 33: Give up and bring the water heater back without the receipt, but with the return authorization number. The store takes awhile to complete the exchange, but it goes without a hitch. Return home with the third water heater in four days.

Step 34: Without a helper, struggle mightily to get the new water heater on the stand and in the drain pan. Swear up and down that you'll never do that again.

Step 35: Replace the earthquake straps, connect all water lines, connect the gas line, and fill the water tank. Check for leaks. None found. Huzzah! Finally getting close.

Step 36: After verifying no leaks in the gas line, turn on the gas and attempt to light the pilot. Observe no flame, no matter how many times you repeat the lighting procedure.

Step 37: Check gas at all connection points. It flows from the house piping, through the connection line, and through all connector pieces. Curse as you realize this water heater might have a bad thermostat.

Step 38: Call the water heater support line and report this latest problem. The guy walks you through the same procedure you followed multiple times earlier. Half-heartedly follow the steps, knowing it won't work. Yep, no pilot light!

Step 39: After taking your warranty information, the support rep instructs you to turn the thermostat to 120 degrees. The burner will now light. What? Wasn't the pilot light off? The support rep informs you that you need to look up and to the left in order to see the pilot light, something that's not mentioned in the manual. Simply looking straight won't find any flame. Aha.

Step 40: Thank the support rep for his time and wait for the water to heat up. In about an hour, take your first hot shower in days!

Finally installed!


Finally installed!
Jul 4 2006, 5:50 pm
I enjoy cold showers.
Jul 4 2006, 6:08 pm
The previous owners of your house knew exactly what they were doing.
Jul 4 2006, 6:29 pm
You should of just patched the leak and waited for it to stop really working! (Unless of course you couldn't find the leak, but that was also along the lines of sarcasm/crazy ass idea.)
Jul 4 2006, 6:51 pm
And here we are hoping to own a house someday...

As it happens, one of the most influential books in my life, The Millionaire Next Door (or perhaps it was in the sequel The Millionaire Mind), specifically explains why it's not worth your time to replace a water heater yourself, rather than hiring a professional to do it.

Thank you for helping prove the point!
Jul 4 2006, 7:00 pm
I tend to enjoy trying to fix my own problems. It takes more time and effort, but it's cheaper, for one, and damned if it doesn't feel better when you're done.
Jul 4 2006, 7:06 pm
The point of the book was that it's frequently not cheaper when you take into account:

- Your time.
- The cost of paying someone who does it all the time to fix your mistakes.
Jul 4 2006, 7:23 pm
We recently had a similar problem. The drain pipe to our washer was getting backed up...for like 2 years.

The water heater was right next to the washer, so the floor below it was close to breaking (We where not certain if it was on a stud or not).

We had to remove the water heater, then dig up all the pipe till we hit the place where the drain met the rest of the house drains. Which went under the water heater area, under the stone skirt to the house, and about 5 feet into the yard... about a foot down.

Then, when we finished replacing the pipes, we had to redo the floor. Which was about 6 inches thick thanks to the age of the house, looks like in its lifespan of over 100 years the floors had never been replaced, just covered.

Then there was the water damaged wall...which we decided not to fix yet. But it did work, you can now turn on the washer without having to stop it during draining.

Wow, recalling that, you had a much harder time. We have had to replace the hotwater pipe just off the hotwater heater like 3 times. Not sure why, but everything we put there breaks.
Jul 4 2006, 9:25 pm
Dark_Shadow_Ninja wrote:
You should of just patched the leak and waited for it to stop really working!

Well, when an old water heater starts leaking, it's usually because the inside of the tank has completely corroded. It's generally not repairable at that point, and all water heaters are expected to reach this state sometime after about a dozen years of service. Near as we can tell, our old one was about 20 years old, so it was overdue for replacement. The smart thing, of course, would have been to replace it before it started leaking.

Deadron wrote:
The Millionaire Next Door (or perhaps it was in the sequel The Millionaire Mind), specifically explains why it's not worth your time to replace a water heater yourself, rather than hiring a professional to do it.

Thank you for helping prove the point!

Au contraire! We called several plumbers, who all quoted around $1000 to do the job, including a new heater. This did not include any drywall repair, which would have run a handyman about $200. It also did not include the diagnosis and ultimate swap out of the first new heater, which we couldn't have foreseen.

Including the new heater and all tools and materials, we spent about $600. That's a minimum of about $600 saved on the job. If I charged the hourly rate that I earn at work, the labor cost may have just about evened out. However, my employer graciously permitted me to use "Personal Leave" for the time I missed from work, so no lost wages there. Since nobody pays me to sit around and do whatever I'd do when not at work, I don't buy the whole "your free time is worth whatever you earn at work" argument.

And far more valuable was the experience I gained. I'm glad I did it for that alone, even if the total out of pocket expense had been the same as paying someone else to do it. I figure I ran into just about every problem you could, short of an actual flood damaging things in the garage. So next time something little goes wrong, I can easily fix it myself instead of paying a plumber $100 just to come out and tighten a connection. I value that ability quite a bit. That whole "sense of accomplishment" thing is pretty cool, too. ;)

Of course, there are limits to how much I'll do myself. I pretty much let the professionals take care of my car. But even then I make sure I know how to do the most basic car troubleshooting and maintenance just in case I'm stranded in the middle of nowhere one day! It pretty much comes down to a few factors:

- How valuable is the experience gained?
- How much do I not want to mess with it?
- How much do I want to learn something new?
- How urgent is it? (no hot water is pretty urgent, but not as urgent as no water at all)
- How easy or difficult do I think it will be (including how long do I think it'll take)?

The same job without complications should take under 2 hours (and indeed, getting the final unit all hooked up was pretty quick). I'll take that over a $1000 plumber any day.
Jul 4 2006, 11:11 pm
Recently had to put a new water heater in my new trailer, ended up going from gas to electric, much easier to install and it seems to be running more efficently than the same model's gas version. We went through quite a few of the same kinds of issues, even had to replace the entire floor around the thing.

As for the leak you were experiencing you should have let it leak for a couple of hours assuming it was a slower leak, it usually leaks when you first turn it on until the metal contracts properly and fits itself on. We had both inlets leaking a little when we first turned the water on but within thirty minutes they had both stopped leaking and tightened themselves up (to a point you can't tighten them by hand).

The code here doesn't require the stand or straps (obviously because there's no Earthquake here), but they have all kinds of annoying venting codes that I've never experienced before in my life. You have to SEAL the water heater in a room barely large enough to hold it with a small floor vent and a small door vent. I think it's stupid keeping them in a small room, less oxygen makes the heating parts more violent.
Jul 12 2006, 3:17 am
That's a pretty small heater. How many people are living in that house? Mine is about twice as fat and a little taller and it heats five people :).
Jul 17 2006, 4:10 am
Looks like a 20/30 gallon, the common size is 40 gallons, and I think the largest residenial iss 60 gallons. Most people just use 40 gallons.