Water heater - gone!

"Out with the old, in with the new!"

At least that's how the cliche goes. I got half of it right.

"What?!", you say. "Still not done with your water heater?!"

"Nope."

This project is taking far longer than I expected. Part of it is my fault as I lingered to chat with Amy, then later Bob. And partly the replacement is taking longer as this is not your typical hot water heater switch. I am finding out more things about my 42 year old hot water heater. This water heater is unlike any that you or I have ever seen.

First thing this morning was to finish draining the tank. The water siphoning quit last night before I went to bed. I figured I had 18 inches to two feet of water left in the tank. My hose was too short, and after searching for more hose that would fit inside the tanking opening, I gave up and called Bob to see if he had any hose. He did.

On my way over to Bob's house I decided (remembered) to take a container back to Grant and Amy. They had used it to drop off my share of the honey last Saturday while I was hiking up the Dragon's Tail. My share this year was 25 lbs of honey, half of the 50 lbs collected on my land this year. The 25 pounds is much more than the agreed upon share for me, but Grant insisted as the 50 lbs total was far less that the 300 lbs collected last year. The lower amount was due to two and not three hives, the one hive's queen not producing brood to expand the hive, and other factors.

After chatting with Amy about her writing, horses, and Sharon's move back to Rochester, MN, I got the hose from Bob. After a short chat, I went back home.

In the past I was a "task oriented" person and didn't take time for social interaction. I remember some personality profile exercise our department went through back when I worked at IBM. There was a scenario of asking a co-worker a question. There was more than a couple ways to approach the situation, but the main two were:

• socialize, then ask the question
• ask the question, then socialize

I fell into the second pattern. Though with the interruptions and demands on our time the second part (socializing) wasn't always done. Now-a-days I try to make sure I get the socializing part in - even if my nature is still to 'ask the question' first.

I couldn't siphon water using Bob's hose. Maybe it was too long as it was pretty long. Bob did say I could cut it shorter. I did so. Even with the shorter piece I couldn't siphon the remaining water.

Time's a wasting. I got out an electric drill and drilled a hole in the tank near the bottom. I caught most of the 15 gallons of water in pails.

I still had several inches of water in the tank with no way to drill lower and still catch the water. I got out a hacksaw and cut through the galvanized cold water pipe. After I "struck" water I used some small containers to catch the final two gallons. Some of it "escaped" and the floor got wet.

It was a quite the job to finish the hacksaw through the pipe. Not much room, and I am a lefty in a right handed world. Also I didn't want to have to later solder the copper pipe section so I cut through the larger galvanized pipe.

The tank is heavy and I couldn't lift it. I had to tip it on the bottom's edge and turn it back and forth to get it outside the house. While all the water that came out was clear, I could hear sediment move as I tipped and turned the tank.

By the time I took the rest of the water heater parts apart, got the remaining pipe connections apart, searched for more pipe and connections from dad's stash, and cleaned 42 years of dirt and dust in the closet that held the water heater, it was late afternoon.

Between the water "escaping" onto the floor earlier, and my scrubbing of the closet and floor, the closet's floor was pretty wet. I used an electric heater to dry the floor somewhat but decided as it was late enough in the day I would put the new water heater in tomorrow. I decided I want the water heater to sit on some short bricks I have and not on the floor. No particular reason. So I want the floor completely dry before I put the bricks down.

Besides I have to go back to Home Depot for more stuff. The electrical wire is not long enough to reach the top of the new tank. The old tank's wiring connection was at the bottom of the tank. Also, dad doesn't have any pipes I can use to lengthen the cold water pipe. Again, the old tank's connection was at the bottom and the new tank's connection is at the top.

I also found out what the old tank's heating elements were. Ceramic pieces strung together by wire. That's how old my water heater is! All the water heater elements I see today are metal rods. Ceramic for heating is ancient! I doubt I could even find anything to replace these elements. I plan to keep them as antiques, or maybe later sell them on eBay.

The ceramic pieces went all the way through the tank in holes/tubes that went all the way though the tank. The pieces were never actually in the water. Neither were the thermostats as they were inside short tubes that extended into the tank. No wonder the tank lasted so long. The only openings were for the cold water entrance and the hot water exit.

So. Hopefully tomorrow I will have hot water.

Here are a few photos of the water heater closet after I cleaned it. Note the electric cord doesn't even reach the same height as the hot water pipe.