Yes, I said Hot water heater. Yes, I know it's redundant. So sue me.
Anywho,
As I may have mentioned here elsewhere, the 50 gallon gas water heater in this dump is about 39 years old. Yup, and still going strong. I've replaced the anode rod twice already in the past 19 years. It's a Montgomery ward and apparently they don't make them like this any more. It's got double insulation blankets, and I also replaced the drain spigot with a nice new brass one, as well as the pressure/temp relief valve.
But... it's in the patio that shares a wall with the living room, and when hot water is drawn elsewhere the thing has been bumping loudly. So much so it's disconcerting and detracts from the Donald Trump Comedy Hour, otherwise known as the GOP presidential nomination debates. Not that I watch them, mind you. It's just the thought that a near 40 year old HOT water heater could steal Trump's thunder. It's disgusting. I don't want to talk about it. No, it's disgusting. I don't want to talk about it.
But I digress. Today I had two honey do's that turned into "Do It NOW's". I live alone so you can imagine the consternation at these nagging voices. One, was to replace the ballast in the failing F96-T12 lights in the workshop. The other one was to drain and flush the water heater to try to address all the commotion it's been making.
So, I MULTITASKED. What a concept. First, shut off the water heater. That part is sort of important. Not a good idea to try to heat an empty tank. Got out a spare old 100 foot garden hose, attached to water heater, ran it out to the courtyard, and turn it on full blast for bit. Except full blast wasn't all that full. Then I shut off the cold water intake to the water heater, and opened a couple of hot water taps elsewhere in the house. While that was going on, I tackled the first of many failed 8' fluorescent light fixtures in the workshop. The first failed ballast was apparently one of the last magnetic ballasts sold in the USA. Maybe 15 years old now. It still looked good from the outside, but obviously not so good on the inside. I've had others that have overheated and leaked black tarry stuff inside the fixtures. But this one didn't do that. Might have a thermal protection fuse or something. In any case I chased down some replacement ballasts, the newer electronic kind, at Home Depot. Man, these are tiny compared to the big heavy magnetic ones. I hope they last longer. Had to do some minor rewiring of the fixture internally to accept the new type ballast, but that was pretty easy. The hardest part is taking off the heavy white enameled steel reflectors to get at the wiring. They don't make them like that, any more, either. Suffice to say the new tiny ballast works just fine. And it will reduce the inductive load on the wiring, which makes the public utility happy.
Back to the HOT water heater. It drained completely and left some white sediment in an old wire strainer I put at the end of the hose. Shut off the house taps and turned on the cold inlet to the water heater. More white sediment, some were chunks about the size of, oh, I don't know, couscous (look it up). OK, that wasn't quite enough, I knew there had to be more in the tank. So I closed up the drain and let water pressure build up again in the tank. Put a valve on the end of the hose. Then opened both spigots and enjoyed the full flow and more white chunks in the strainer. One was pretty big, the size of, I don't know. a lentil. I guess they are calcium or magnesium carbonate, or maybe some aluminum from the anode rods combining with same. Not much if any rusty stuff, which is good, and means the tank innards still have their glass lining intact. What rust smidgens there were, were probably from the galvanized steel cold water inlet pipe leading to the heater.
After opening and closing the hose end valve to try to encourage more cleansing of the tank innards, shut the drain valve and opened up a hot water spigot in the house, to let the tank fill up again. For good measure, once it was filled up again, drained again through the hose a bit, and then also drained through the heater spigot into a bucket. Sure enough, the valve would close completely, but a few more buckets of water blasting at various valve openings flushed out whatever was interfering with the valve seat. And yes, it was more white sediment. Not a lot, but enough.
So now the heater is all buttoned up again, turned back on, burbling gently. We'll see if the concerning banging and knocking is diminished if not gone. I hope so. Otherwise it might be time to say good bye to an old friend and make a pilgrimage to the local home improvement store (if they still sell water heaters, that is) and replace it entirely.
Let there be light.
Anywho,
As I may have mentioned here elsewhere, the 50 gallon gas water heater in this dump is about 39 years old. Yup, and still going strong. I've replaced the anode rod twice already in the past 19 years. It's a Montgomery ward and apparently they don't make them like this any more. It's got double insulation blankets, and I also replaced the drain spigot with a nice new brass one, as well as the pressure/temp relief valve.
But... it's in the patio that shares a wall with the living room, and when hot water is drawn elsewhere the thing has been bumping loudly. So much so it's disconcerting and detracts from the Donald Trump Comedy Hour, otherwise known as the GOP presidential nomination debates. Not that I watch them, mind you. It's just the thought that a near 40 year old HOT water heater could steal Trump's thunder. It's disgusting. I don't want to talk about it. No, it's disgusting. I don't want to talk about it.
But I digress. Today I had two honey do's that turned into "Do It NOW's". I live alone so you can imagine the consternation at these nagging voices. One, was to replace the ballast in the failing F96-T12 lights in the workshop. The other one was to drain and flush the water heater to try to address all the commotion it's been making.
So, I MULTITASKED. What a concept. First, shut off the water heater. That part is sort of important. Not a good idea to try to heat an empty tank. Got out a spare old 100 foot garden hose, attached to water heater, ran it out to the courtyard, and turn it on full blast for bit. Except full blast wasn't all that full. Then I shut off the cold water intake to the water heater, and opened a couple of hot water taps elsewhere in the house. While that was going on, I tackled the first of many failed 8' fluorescent light fixtures in the workshop. The first failed ballast was apparently one of the last magnetic ballasts sold in the USA. Maybe 15 years old now. It still looked good from the outside, but obviously not so good on the inside. I've had others that have overheated and leaked black tarry stuff inside the fixtures. But this one didn't do that. Might have a thermal protection fuse or something. In any case I chased down some replacement ballasts, the newer electronic kind, at Home Depot. Man, these are tiny compared to the big heavy magnetic ones. I hope they last longer. Had to do some minor rewiring of the fixture internally to accept the new type ballast, but that was pretty easy. The hardest part is taking off the heavy white enameled steel reflectors to get at the wiring. They don't make them like that, any more, either. Suffice to say the new tiny ballast works just fine. And it will reduce the inductive load on the wiring, which makes the public utility happy.
Back to the HOT water heater. It drained completely and left some white sediment in an old wire strainer I put at the end of the hose. Shut off the house taps and turned on the cold inlet to the water heater. More white sediment, some were chunks about the size of, oh, I don't know, couscous (look it up). OK, that wasn't quite enough, I knew there had to be more in the tank. So I closed up the drain and let water pressure build up again in the tank. Put a valve on the end of the hose. Then opened both spigots and enjoyed the full flow and more white chunks in the strainer. One was pretty big, the size of, I don't know. a lentil. I guess they are calcium or magnesium carbonate, or maybe some aluminum from the anode rods combining with same. Not much if any rusty stuff, which is good, and means the tank innards still have their glass lining intact. What rust smidgens there were, were probably from the galvanized steel cold water inlet pipe leading to the heater.
After opening and closing the hose end valve to try to encourage more cleansing of the tank innards, shut the drain valve and opened up a hot water spigot in the house, to let the tank fill up again. For good measure, once it was filled up again, drained again through the hose a bit, and then also drained through the heater spigot into a bucket. Sure enough, the valve would close completely, but a few more buckets of water blasting at various valve openings flushed out whatever was interfering with the valve seat. And yes, it was more white sediment. Not a lot, but enough.
So now the heater is all buttoned up again, turned back on, burbling gently. We'll see if the concerning banging and knocking is diminished if not gone. I hope so. Otherwise it might be time to say good bye to an old friend and make a pilgrimage to the local home improvement store (if they still sell water heaters, that is) and replace it entirely.
Let there be light.
