The Water Heater Situation

Well, yesterday started with the mission of determining just how dead the old water heater was. You see my father used to design water heaters and the design has changed little since so around 9am I got a call from him and we talked over the possibilities. There was a couple of possible problem spots but both the coils were fine so I had to find and try to remove the anode rod. That required a run to the farm store for a couple of sockets which I surprisingly did not have. Once home with the 1 1/16 socket I tried to get the rod removed with a breaker bar but the heater was empty of water. So I hooked the cold water line back up and filled the thing most of the way to have the extra weight. That still didn't do it so I went and wheeled the air compressor to the kitchen door and used the impact wrench to get it unscrewed. The anode was just a wire with no rod.

I found a 2"x3/4" galv nipple and a plug which got screwed into the anode hole. I then hooked things up and kept filling the tank. As it continued to fill air was blowing out from between the cold water port and the anode port. It seems that the anode was gone for long enough that it allowed the hole to be corroded in the tank.

All of that took me until after noon and so I had to wait for the boys to be off school. So I picked them up and we went to the Home Depot in north Spokane. I figured I should try here first and it was well worth it. It seems that as per the norm government regulations outpaced the industry. There are ZERO water heaters that are approved for WA or OR in stock ANYWHERE. So Home Depot is still selling all the regular ones. I ended up getting an almost direct replacement with a 50 gallon 4500 watt unit but a medium instead of a tall like the old one.

The law apparently is that the new water heaters have to have a port on the side that cities can plug in and monitor your usage and also meter your usage. Well they can go FUCK themselves. I am paying for the electricity I use so they can get stuffed. The joys of continued governmental intrusion on our lives.

I had let the tank drain while waiting to go get the boys and once back it was ready to remove. Thankfully the basement doesn't have a complete concrete floor, there is a quarter of the floor that is dirt and since our soil is so porous the water all drained down through the soil. I got the dolly and drug the thing up the basement stairs and dropped it in the yard.

The new one is a couple inches wider and 10 inches shorter but it still fit easily in the corner. I now have a tray beneath it instead of a black plastic bag like the old one. I got the water lines hooked up and got it filling while I hooked up the electrical.

I had the kitchen sink faucet on to burp the air from the line and it also told me when the tank was full as the water started to flow once again. The boys had taken the box as soon as I had it off the water heater outside and they spent much of the afternoon in the box in R's room. After a while the water started to flow in the sink so I got it turned off and the breaker turned on to the heater.

I got the version with a 9 year warranty on the tank an parts and Home Depot did another 5 years for $50 so it puts us at the same time frame as our old one. This time though I am aware of the anode rod and will make a note to check it in 5 or so years. With how shitty our water is I am sure it will be eaten away quite a bit in that time.

It didn't take long before we had hot water again and this morning Hive account@stryeyz will test it out with the shower.

Today I have a boat load of cleanup to do after the fiasco yesterday. Mud through the house from the dolly, tools and parts to put away, dead insulation to the garbage, air compressor put away, etc. The boys hopefully will go to practice tonight as they haven't the past two nights, I have my lessons to get through, and I want to get the old water heater set somewhere out of the way until I can take it apart.