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frigilux

Well-known member
Platinum Member
Joined
Mar 3, 2007
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12,662
Location
The Minnesota Prairie
Pulled into the driveway, pressed the magic button to raise the garage door and....water rushed out onto the driveway. Water was running out the bottom of the gas water heater. This shouldn't have been a problem because there's a floor drain in the garage.

Called the local plumbing/heating business and 15 minutes later their van pulled up with a new Reliance 40-gallon water heater in tow. I mentioned the non-functioning floor drain, so one of the guys unscrewed the grate over the drain, reached in and said, "Your trap is installed upside down!" He pulled the thing out, turned it over and water began rushing down the drain. Turns out a plumber (not local) installed it upside down after Roto-Rooting the drain last year.

Again, I have to extol the virtues of mom/pop local businesses in tiny towns. They provide outstanding service. Three hours later, hot water is flowing out of the taps.

Interesting paragraph from the user guide: "The HOT setting sets the water temperature to approximately 120 degrees F., reducing the risk of scald injury. You may wish to set a higher temperature...to reduce bacterial growth. Higher tank temperatures (140 degrees F) kill bacteria that cause a condition known as "smelly water" and can reduce the levels of bacteria that cause water-borne diseases."

Guess where the temp will be set on my water heater.

At any rate, I guess that exciting new robotic clothes folder (see Jetcone's OMG thread in this forum) will have to wait, LOL.[this post was last edited: 6/9/2016-19:07]

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Glad to hear there was no damage, and you got the issue sorted.

Back where I lived previously, you'd get the "Oh, well the next truck isn't til.... Dot. And we're pretty busy at the moments, and uhhh, it won't be done till the next Transit of Venus, but we'll gladly take $5500 right now!"
 
Yes, surprise!

But I bet winning a million dollars would have been a happier surprise!

Glad you got such good service and that the new water heater is working out.

I, too, would be inclined to have the temperature set higher. It also could kill germs that might cause problems, I believe. Some frugality expert, in fact, was convinced by that argument, and said even though it would cost more, he'd keep his tank set higher than 120.

UPDATE: Googled the germ issue, and this item turns up. Note it talks about Canada recommendations, and it seems to me that rural MN is pretty darn close to Canada:

 
Thermostatic mixing valve.

I own and live in a historic 4-family monster of a building. I am rehabing in accordance with historic preservation practices. Unfortunately, the house came with 3 water heaters, only one of which was functional, a 50 gallon gas tank. I plumbed the whole house into the only water heater. 4 apartments sharing a 50 gallon water heater!

In order to increase capacity, I installed a thermostatic mixing valve on the water heater's output. I cranked up the water heater to 160 degrees, as high as it will go. The thermostatic mixing valve mixes in cold water to temper the 160 degree liquid fire down to 120. There is 120 going to every tap and shower in the house, the water heater is too hot to grow bacteria, nobody gets burned, and I can get another 2 or 3 showers out of the tank. As an added bonus, I tapped the line between the water heater and the thermostatic mixing valve so I have un-tempered 160 degrees of liquid fire going to my laundry room. When I want to wash in hot water, I want to wash in HOT water!

Things are better when they work,
Dave
 
Well done for getting it sorted so quickly, Frig!

 

DADoES: yes interesting points there.  I have no gas in my apartment, so I have an electric water heater. 

I keep the tank set to 60 <span class="st">ºC (US hot) the minimum recommended temperature to avoid bacteria such as Legionella.</span>

<span class="st">Then I keep the mixing valve set at 50 </span><span class="st"><span class="st">ºC (US very warm) which is the recommended temperature to avoid burns, while still being perfectly sufficient for all needs.  This is basically what Dave (Volvoguy87) is doing, except he is doing it mostly to increase capacity.  </span> </span>

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I am glad you got the water heater so fast. I live in a rural community and if I need something done, they (former students) are right there ready to help. I have an electric water heater which was replaced last Sept. He took the old one away and had it all up and running in 3o min. Have fun. Gary
 
 
No gas here (would have to be propane).  I have an electric tankless for 11 years.  Set at 102°F to 104°F for showering and general use.  DishDrawer has onboard heating.  Raise it temporarily to various higher temps for some laundry loads and the occasional hand-wash of non-stick skillet or other stray dishware.  I imagine the elements/heating chamber surface gets to well over the "safe"-target temps as the water flows through to pick up heat but the household plumbing structure surely doesn't get that high.  Do I have Legionaire's Disease?  Doesn't seem so but what do I know ...
 
I have a gas heater and keep it set as hot as it will go.  I also plan on running a return line to the tank to keep that hot water at almost all the taps withing seconds.  My summer gas bills range $20-$25 for gas, and I have a gas cooktop, and a NAT. gas grill.  I see little point in reducing the temp to save a few cents.
 
I keep ours set around 140° as well. During the winter I get it up to around 150°. It's an old tank, the thermostat is worn out, so it's very inaccurate, so I have to set it higher then I want it to get what I want.

My dads building is a 3 unit building (2 residential 1 commercial) that had a 50 gallon tank when he first got it. It ran out pretty easily. When it finally started leaking I put in a 50 gallon high recovery WH (bigger burner) and that almost never runs out. Would've liked to have gone to at least a 75 gallon but the ceiling was too low for it.
 
When I had apartment buildings the water heaters seemed to always die and make a mess in the basements. When a replacement electric went in I had a timer installed too. Tenants always said their bill went down. I have an oil hot water boiler with on demand hot water now. There is no settings other than < hot and > cold. I keep it on the hot side, so I have scald and freeze out of the faucets and you just find the right temp.
 
I had this same rude awakening experience 3 months ago!  Tony awakened me to say the house is flooding and the water heater is making strange noises.  I politely asked if he turned the water off?  So I jump out of bed, shut off the water, hook the tank up to drain while I run to Home Depot for a new heater.  Supplies and all $500 total with me doing the work. 

Frig, my new one has the same gas control as yours with the flashing blue light.  My cats didn't like that light at first but now they don't pay it any attention.
 
We have a 10 year old Whirlpool gas water heater, and the thermostat is so far off, turned up all the way, you could cook with water out of the faucets! We keep it just above "warm" which I would guess to equal about 130 degrees. Somewhere below "hot" it starts whistling like a tea kettle and boiling... As long as it produces hot water,I'm not going to worry about it... it's a noisy thing though, you can hear the burner roaring all through the basement and upstairs in the bathroom (just above the water heater). When it dies I'd personally rather have electric, but that would require 220v to the basement which we don't currently have.
 
Ten Year Mark

When my water heater hits the 10 year mark, I always plan to replace it. A neighbor in the same age home thought I was crazy. Until his burst and ruined his hardwood floors to boot. Not worth the risk in my book.

Malcolm
 

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