Not firing on all cylinders

*augh!*

Ever have one of those days...

This day wasn't even close to firing on all 8 cylinders. Nothing went smoothly.

Yes, that's right. I still do not have hot water. How many days has it been? Too long! I think I am looking like a homeless person as the Home Depot cashier asked to see my id when I used my credit card to buy yet another item tonight. She claimed my signature didn't match my card. I think it was my scruffier than normal looks.

Hey! Try signing one of those electronic pads left handed with a name with lots of upper and lower letters, and after days and days working on installing a water heater and having no shower since who knows when!

Okay.. I didn't bark at her. But I thought it. I merely looked at my card's signature and the signature I just made and said, "Strange. That looks like my signature."

That's right. I was back to Home Depot - my home away from home (tm) - for the ..third? time since I bought my water heater.

The day seemed to get off to a decent start. I woke up at my normal time. A sunny, but cool and frosty morning. I had caught one pocket gopher. Another gopher who kept putting dirt into another trap has seemed to picked up and moved. "Hmmm... I'm still willing to play 'tag you're dead'. Where did you go?"

I should have gotten a clue as to how day would be when I went to fix my rear bicycle wheel. The wheel was out of true and I thought I had broken another spoke. No I hadn't, but one spoke wasn't screwed in its nipple. Strange. Usually they break. The spoke wouldn't screw into its nipple. I remember having trouble with one nipple that had gotten its threads stripped. I thought I replaced it. I took the tire and tube off and replaced the nipple with another one. The new nipple wasn't screwing either. In the end I discovered my mind was elsewhere as I had been turning the nipple the wrong way. No wonder the spoke wouldn't screw!

My bicycle wheel now fixed and fairly true, I assembled my water heater's hot water pipe using the galvanized pipes and connectors and not the steel flex hose. I also wired the water heater.

Everything assembled I spent 20 minutes or more staring at the water heater trying to see the forest and not the trees. That is, I had been so focused on the individual steps I wanted to look to see if there was anything I missed before I opened the water faucet and filled the tank.

I couldn't think of anything else to do. I opened the faucet and filled the tank. I opened the hot water faucets to release the air stored in the tank. No signs of water leaks in my new pipes. I put some tools away and did a few other things before flipping the circuit breaker on. Inside I thought I heard the water heater quietly humming when I was near it. But then I saw the connection between the hot water's galvanized pipe and copper pipe was leaking. Darn!

I turned the circuit breaker off, opened the hot water faucet to drain the water from the pipe, then disassembled the pipe. I put more plumber's putty on the connection and reassembled it.

No leaks when I turned the water on again.

I flipped the circuit breaker back on. Nothing. I swear I heard the water heater hum quietly before.

No matter what I did - nothing. Now the circuit breaker looked suspect as sometimes it didn't seem fully engaged when on, and sometimes seemed hard to flip off. I have no ground wire but the old water heater worked without a ground wire. The color wires seem to be attached to the correct (same) color wires.

The circuit breakers with-and-without covering panel. Notice in the first photo how the one breaker wants to remain in a partially on position.



I don't know.

I got a couple of testers dad had. I didn't know how to use them other than the clip must be for the ground and the pointy thing touches the wire. Nothing on the water heater wires. I tried the circuit breaker. Nothing.

I touched a circuit breaker that wasn't a double breaker. Flash. Okay... what does that mean other than 'don't do that again!' I tried the other tester. Nothing on the double breaker. Single breaker - flash.

Well... that doesn't tell me much other than the single breaker has power, and don't do that again.

I went to Home Depot and talked to their electrician. This time Rick was on duty. I hadn't spoken with him before. I had taken a photo of my breaker box and circuit breakers and brought my camera with me to show him. The image on the camera was too small to show the detail. His suggestion was to buy a multi-tester box and check for power along my wiring and at the circuit breaker. The testers I had been using are not for this type of electrical wiring.

Naturally by the time I got home it was too dark to be touching pointy things on live wires. Oh, joy. I have something to look forward to doing tomorrow.

If the circuit breaker is bad that is trouble. First off I don't see how to remove the circuit breaker. The Home Depot guy tried to show me how by using their model setup but my breakers and box are very old and look different. Years ago when caring for dad I had to call an electrician as the dryer's circuit breaker was bad. It took him four or five days to fix it as he had to special order the circuit breaker. He was near retirement age and commented he remembered that company whose name was stamped on the box's cover. He said I had an old box.

Some day I'll have hot water. Yeah, and someday my princess will come. Fairy tales. All are fairy tales.