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New water heater.

Started by FinsnFur, November 30, 2021, 08:15:15 PM

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FinsnFur

I dont run a water softener, so I burn up water heaters in just a few years verses the standard 6-to 10 years.
I can buy a 40 gallon electric for a couple hundred bucks. I can tell mine is getting full of Lime again and I thought about replacing it before winter sets in full force since it's actually in the crawl space under the house.
I just looked up the prices of them for this year. ALMOST $600 BUCKS  :shock2: :waiting: :sick2:
Holy ballz!!
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nastygunz


Hawks Feather

It is probably sitting on a ship on the west coast.   :innocentwhistle:

Okanagan

Ouch!

What does lime do in the system?  I have cleaned out calcium from a hot water tank.  No idea if below is useful to you but FWIW.

We used to live where calcium would build up on the heating element till it got about 3/16" thick and would crack off and fall to the bottom of the hot water tank.  When those chunks built up to the outlet level it clogged the hot water pipes with calcium gravel throughout the house.  I filled the hot water pipes with extra strength 7% acid vinegar, let it set 24 hours and it dissolved the calcium till it could be flushed out.

Then I pulled the heating elements from the hot water tank and fashioned a long skinny "spoon" to scoop out the gravel from the tank.  Got most of it.

Then I plumbed an upside down goose neck outlet pipe that went up to above tank level, then back down and out the normal hot water pipe running away from the tank.  That way the calcium gravel would have to go straight up about 4 feet to get over the top of the goose neck and into the hot water outlet system.  None ever made it.

Plus, about once a year after that I would pull the heating element and spoon out gravel build up. 


nastygunz

Take cold showers like a real man  :innocentwhistle:

FinsnFur

Yah the lime builds up to the level of the element and then the element shorts out and arcs it's self in half. I used to drain the water heater and scoop as much lime as I possibly could through the 1 1/4 inch element hole and replace the element.
If you've ever done that, you already know what a  crippling tedious job that is. There's roughly enough lime to fill a 1 gallon ice cream pail by the time its gets to the element, and the only things that fit through the element hole to allow scooping and cleaning is smaller then a spoon. A spoon will not fit. So whatever you can manufacture to stick in the hole and drag lime back out with, allows you to get approx a teaspoon at a time. AND that is only productive until you get a half inch below the actual opening your raking it out of, because after that you not going to get any lime up to the hole to come out with each drag of your tool.  :doh2: It flat out sucks.
My house dont really have a basement. It's more of a cellar, outside access with and it's not full height. So draining the water heater is usually a sloppy muddy mess with only partial concrete down there. And siphoning the tank dry itself is usually a 2 or 3 hour job.
I'm not paying $600 bucks for a water heater though.
I dont know if a drill pump will pump water through 40 feet of garden hose and up and out of the cellar or not but I'm going to buy one and try. :shrug:
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FinsnFur

Well the drill pump work like a charm!
O'Reilly's Auto had one for $9 but the reviews sucked, said it leaked all over the place half of them didn't work. I found a $15 one.. Wells brand, at Ace hardware and it never dripped a drop. It pumped the 40 gallons out in about 30 minutes and up the cellar steps. I was pretty impressed.

Then I concocted a gizmo for my shop vac to stick in the element hole and suck out the lime gravel. I took the bulb off a turkey baster and then heated that end up so I could stretch it over the nozzle of my shop vac. Then I cut the pointy tip off the baster to about a half inch diameter. Then I was able to slide a piece of half inch conduit in through that end to extend it all.
That worked so good. It allowed me to dredge approximately 10 lbs of lime out if that thing.
I might start a side business recovering water heaters [emoji23]






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pitw

I say what I think not think what I say.

Hawks Feather

Way to go Mr. Fixit.  If you go door-to-door cleaning lime you will have enough to lime your yard in the spring.  Just saying - you might not want to.   :biggrin:

Okanagan

 :highclap:

Impressive.  ingenius and creative.  Bravo!

Ditto to all the misery of spooning gravel out, etc.  You made a quantum leap forward.   Kind of wonder why they don't put a clean out port near the bottom of the tank.   

nastygunz

Wowzer! That Jimbo is like a younger version of Red Green!

Hawks Feather

Quote from: Okanagan on December 05, 2021, 11:09:28 PM
:highclap:
Kind of wonder why they don't put a clean out port near the bottom of the tank.

Pretty simple - they would not be able to sell as many replacement water heaters.  I believe that it is referred to as 'built in obsolescence'.

FinsnFur

Quote from: Hawks Feather on December 05, 2021, 08:21:20 PM
Way to go Mr. Fixit.  If you go door-to-door cleaning lime you will have enough to lime your yard in the spring.  Just saying - you might not want to.   [emoji3]
Lime is good for the grass? If it is I definitely don't want to do that lol. I'd rather put round up on it so I didn't have to mow it so much [emoji23]

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Hawks Feather

Really?  It looks like you have a nice Troy Built mower. 


FinsnFur

Quote from: Hawks Feather on December 06, 2021, 02:30:27 PM
Really?  It looks like you have a nice Troy Built mower.
I do have a nice Troy-Built mower, lol. Almost brand new but I still hate mowing the grass. I actually bought that for pulling the wood splitter around out here. But you'd think I'd like mowing the yard with it since it's new. Everybody at work says the same thing. You got a brand new mower how come you hate mowing? I just hate taking the time out of my life to do it there's so many other things I'd rather been doing then driving around in circles cutting that God damn grass [emoji23]


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FinsnFur

Quote from: nastygunz on December 06, 2021, 02:38:00 PM
Your welcome... [emoji3]

Quote from: nastygunz on December 01, 2021, 03:21:16 AM
cant you just clean it?
Easier said than done. But I did manage to make it a little easier. [emoji16]

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Hawks Feather

I am on the other end of the spectrum and love to mow.  I just relax when mowing.  If I ever get up your way in the summer I will let you know when I will be there and you can have a drink and watch me mow.  We will both enjoy that.

nastygunz

Could we stream that live?  :innocentwhistle:

FinsnFur

Quote from: Hawks Feather on December 07, 2021, 10:57:33 AM
I am on the other end of the spectrum and love to mow.  I just relax when mowing.  If I ever get up your way in the summer I will let you know when I will be there and you can have a drink and watch me mow.  We will both enjoy that.
You are definitely on! I am all for that. You can play with the new Troy-Bilt and we'll put the GoPro on it for Nasty [emoji16]

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