Imoutgoodbye Posted November 3, 2013 Report Share Posted November 3, 2013 On October 31st, I shall tell thee, what could go wrong did go wrong, including a power surge induced death of a newly rolled character. However, the worst thing that could go wrong did not reveal itself until the next day at approximately 7 a.m. the 1st of November. There I was curled up soundly in my bed attempting to recover from a cold when the ear piercing screams of the five year old penetrated my finally restful mind. The disruption of my laconic state brought to bear all my wakefulness for the day, so, with a sigh I heaved myself upright and put on my knee brace to stumble towards the bathroom. The water coming from the shower was ice cold. Hot water simply was non-existent from any tap in the house. My son just had no idea how lucky he was that he had most of what was left in the tank. Finally finding time for a proper inspection, I gathered my tools today and ventured into the crawl space (more like a basement since I can almost stand up in it, but, it's technically a crawl space still) with a screwdriver and a flashlight. The previous day I had gone down in there and reset the circuit breaker, to no avail. So it went also with the reset button on the water heater once I located it. My inspection today consisted of examining the heating elements. Me looking at a heating element is much like a warrior using lore at 1% in an attempt to do what a mage does with identify at 100%: Useless. I could stare at it all day and glean nothing more than a "Yep, that's a heating element". Tomorrow I'll be calling a professional to see what this is all going to end up costing me. While the water heater has a manufacture date of 2007, it's a cheap one (too bad it isn't like my furnace). In the mean time, I'll be heading to Home Depot to set up a personal account with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crackwilly21 Posted November 3, 2013 Report Share Posted November 3, 2013 TL;DR : His water heater died. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
f0xx Posted November 3, 2013 Report Share Posted November 3, 2013 Hahaa +1 Crackwily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imoutgoodbye Posted November 3, 2013 Author Report Share Posted November 3, 2013 Posers. Real mudders read. However, I spent almost 4 hours in Home Depot...it was amazing! Got a crash course in water heater hookups. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inscribed Posted November 4, 2013 Report Share Posted November 4, 2013 Water heaters are pretty easy to install yourself. The most complicated part is pulling a permit (if following the law is something you're concerned with). Buy the heater itself on Amazon for cheap, get it shipped to your door step for free, then plug and play. When I had to change mine, it cost me $399 for the unit itself (on sale) with free shipping, and $35+tax to pull the permit. I dropped the old heater off at the salvage yard to make around $10 back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crackwilly21 Posted November 4, 2013 Report Share Posted November 4, 2013 lol permit... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imoutgoodbye Posted November 4, 2013 Author Report Share Posted November 4, 2013 Technically, I need the permit. There's a 30 gallon down there and I'm going to adjust the fittings so I can put in a 40 gallon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
f0xx Posted November 4, 2013 Report Share Posted November 4, 2013 Wtf do you need 40 gallons for? Thats 150 liters of water. The water heater we have at home is half that. And why the hell do you need a permit for a water heater? By the way, there is not much that can break in a water heater. It's most probably the heater thing (I don't know how it's called in english) itself. Changing it is a simple procedure that takes less than an hour (if you have the tools). It should look something like this (but in much worse shape): Something like this: or this: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enethier Posted November 4, 2013 Report Share Posted November 4, 2013 Silly wasteful Americans, amirite? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
f0xx Posted November 4, 2013 Report Share Posted November 4, 2013 Dunno what you mean, repairing it ain't hard, and if he can't do, some kind of technician will have no problem with it. He'll save money and time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imoutgoodbye Posted November 4, 2013 Author Report Share Posted November 4, 2013 If I had the money for a volt meter, I would gladly do it. I'm simply not comfortable playing with the water heater when I don't know for 100% sure the power is disconnected. I just figure out yesterday I wasn't looking at a heating element when I thought I was. Home Depot was quite helpful in showing me the tools and the process for examining/replacing a heating element. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
f0xx Posted November 4, 2013 Report Share Posted November 4, 2013 I've never used a voltmeter (or a multimeter) when replacing the heat element. In my country, usually, there is switchboard in the apartment and switches on it. One switch for each room, so you just turn off the switch for the room. Even if you are not sure, you can use a tester (is that how it's called?) to test if there is electricity running. This is what I mean by tester (dunno how it's actually called): Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imoutgoodbye Posted November 4, 2013 Author Report Share Posted November 4, 2013 I'm going to buy a volt meter and do this myself...every heating/cooling place is booked solid for the next 3 weeks is the earliest. Plus the cheapest one charges $75/hr plus parts. Found a way to do this without draining the tank, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mali Posted November 5, 2013 Report Share Posted November 5, 2013 Wtf do you need 40 gallons for? Thats 150 liters of water. The water heater we have at home is half that. And the GDP of your entire country is over 294 times smaller than ours. That doesn't mean that either statement is relevant to this conversation. I burn over 40 gallons of water just brushing my teeth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
f0xx Posted November 5, 2013 Report Share Posted November 5, 2013 Wtf does the GDP of my country have to do with how big my water heater is? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atticus Posted November 5, 2013 Report Share Posted November 5, 2013 Lmao Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mya Posted November 5, 2013 Report Share Posted November 5, 2013 Remember F0xx, the average American is a a bit larger than the rest of Europeans, so some need more water for bath. Valek, watch out. This is a simple operation but water heaters are potentially dangerous. Not because of electricity, but due to their tendency to explode if their thermostat breaks. Try to recruit someone who had done this before to give you some tips or find some decent online DIU video to guide you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister E Posted November 5, 2013 Report Share Posted November 5, 2013 Wtf does the GDP of my country have to do with how big my water heater is? Why would you take anything Mali says at face value, ever. He is a notorious **** disturber Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imoutgoodbye Posted November 5, 2013 Author Report Share Posted November 5, 2013 Mali is my hero, and by default, through his objectivism, Atlas is my favorite mythological hero because Ayn Rand said so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crackwilly21 Posted November 5, 2013 Report Share Posted November 5, 2013 Valek, watch out. This is a simple operation but water heaters are potentially dangerous. Not because of electricity, but due to their tendency to explode if their thermostat breaks. WRONG. It's not the thermostat that is the problem, its the pressure release valve. If that thing freezes up you essentially have a ticking time bomb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyzarius Posted November 5, 2013 Report Share Posted November 5, 2013 WRONG. It's not the thermostat that is the problem' date=' its the pressure release valve. If that thing freezes up you essentially have a ticking time bomb.[/quote'] yeah, I have seen one go through the roof of a house because the pressure release valve was broken. Otherwise though, they are easy sauce. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pali Posted November 5, 2013 Report Share Posted November 5, 2013 Remember F0xx' date=' the average American is a a bit larger than the rest of Europeans, so some need more water for bath.[/quote'] Some large enough that you wonder how they even can fit into a bath... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mya Posted November 5, 2013 Report Share Posted November 5, 2013 WRONG. It's not the thermostat that is the problem' date=' its the pressure release valve. If that thing freezes up you essentially have a ticking time bomb.[/quote'] If your thermostat is working, you would not need the valve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imoutgoodbye Posted November 6, 2013 Author Report Share Posted November 6, 2013 If your thermostat is working' date=' you would not need the valve.[/quote'] This is why you are the Queen of Misinformation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inscribed Posted November 6, 2013 Report Share Posted November 6, 2013 To be fair, I see what mya is saying, and in a controlled environment, she might be technically correct. But ultimately, its the relief valve the directly prevents the heater from building up too much pressure. When I had to replace my heater, it was actually the reverse problem. The relief valve was stuck in the open position due to corrosion from the poor quality of Las Vegas water. Water would run continuously and drain out the relief valve instead of triggering the water shutoff, so if I wanted even mildly warm water, I'd have to deal with a flood in the yard around the exterior drain. Water in a desert is expensive! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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