How old is the tank? I'd be leery of putting much work into a tank that's older than 12 years? Maybe? My hot water tank is going on 16 years and I've been led to believe I'm, (it's?) living on borrowed time. I often wonder when in the shower and it's sub-freezing out side if THAT is when it will spring a leak!
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How old is the tank? I'd be leery of putting much work into a tank that's older than 12 years? Maybe? My hot water tank is going on 16 years and I've been led to believe I'm, (it's?) living on borrowed time. I often wonder when in the shower and it's sub-freezing out side if THAT is when it will spring a leak!
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It's 24 years old, ancient. Figured I would give a $30 fix a shot over replacing it for close to $1000. I haven't tried fixing mine yet because of the weather! Images of being snowed in and it freezing outside and no hot water at all did not sound good!
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You seem capable. If you find you need a hand or some tools, give me a ring. PM'ing my cell #.
WOW!!!!
Buy some lottery tickets Glock Girl! 
I really wish you the best. Is there anyway you could get someone to help you replace it? I'd been looking to do mine. It's in the garage on a stand. I might need just a bit of help to get it into place, but the water hook-up look pretty straight forward. You have to use new flex hoses, washers, gaskets etc. A new 50gal was priced just short of $400.00 to $499.00 for a basic eletric at Home Depot.
Hope you turn out OK in any case G Girl.
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Thanks, and we actually got it used from someone! I looked at Home Depot for a new one, as well as George Morlan. Least expensive tanks are around $400, but the killer is the installation, etc.WOW!!!!
I really wish you the best. Is there anyway you could get someone to help you replace it? I'd been looking to do mine. It's in the garage on a stand. I might need just a bit of help to get it into place, but the water hook-up look pretty straight forward. You have to use new flex hoses, washers, gaskets etc. A new 50gal was priced just short of $400.00 to $499.00 for a basic eletric at Home Depot.
Hope you turn out OK in any case G Girl.
HD quoted around $1000 and GM around $900. Wouldn't be possible for me to wrestle it into place on my own. Plus it's in the basement so it would either have to be taken down the stairs or around the side of the house. I've actually been putting up with it for the last three months, hoping it doesn't die altogether while I save up money to replace it. Then I thought about replacing the thermostats/heating coils but that apprently isn't the issue.
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I spent 20 years as a power plant technician in steam turbine plants that ran on steam at 2000 degrees and 2500 psi. We had rotating equipment that weighed up to 30 tons rotating at 3600 rpm. We worked with chemicals from concentrated sulphuric acid to concentrated sodium hydroxide. Hazardous materials like asbestos and chromium were everywhere. Most equipment ran on three phase 480VAC, but some of our pumps and fan motors ran on 4160VAC. Transmission voltages were 12KV and 13.8KV. Much of the work involved being as much as 150' up on a steel ladder with constant 20 mph winds. In all that time I never had a serious injury at work that required any emergency or urgent care.
But then I go to put in a steel T-post fence post to hold up a leaning apple seedling at home on our small farm. I made the mistake of buying a cheap fence post driver that didn't have enough 3" pipe length below the handles because I couldn't find my longer one that I'd had for years. Using the new driver I began to pound the new post into the ground. These drivers are basically a length of 3" pipe that fits over the fence post, with handles on each side and a 4# block of steel at the top end for weight. You fit the pipe over the post and raise it up using the handles and slam it down on the top of the steel post. Because the post is inside the pipe it's impossible to miss it...unless the pipe is too short and you can raise the pipe high enough to snag the back lower edge of the pipe on the top of the post you're trying to drive. What happens in that case is that when you yank downward as hard as you can to drive the fence post, the length of pipe with the heavy weight at the top pivots on its bottom rear edge which is caught on the top of the fence post, and comes crashing down in an arc right on your unprotected forehead. The result will be roughly 5 stitches after you wake up and are driven to the emergency room. The ignominy is multiplied by the fact that you have basically hit yourself in the forehead as hard as you can with a 4# sledge hammer voluntarily.
I cut up the cheap driver with a torch so that nobody can ever repeat the incident. And now when using any similar fence post driver I wear one of my old hard hats.
But then I go to put in a steel T-post fence post to hold up a leaning apple seedling at home on our small farm. I made the mistake of buying a cheap fence post driver that didn't have enough 3" pipe length below the handles because I couldn't find my longer one that I'd had for years. Using the new driver I began to pound the new post into the ground. These drivers are basically a length of 3" pipe that fits over the fence post, with handles on each side and a 4# block of steel at the top end for weight. You fit the pipe over the post and raise it up using the handles and slam it down on the top of the steel post. Because the post is inside the pipe it's impossible to miss it...unless the pipe is too short and you can raise the pipe high enough to snag the back lower edge of the pipe on the top of the post you're trying to drive. What happens in that case is that when you yank downward as hard as you can to drive the fence post, the length of pipe with the heavy weight at the top pivots on its bottom rear edge which is caught on the top of the fence post, and comes crashing down in an arc right on your unprotected forehead. The result will be roughly 5 stitches after you wake up and are driven to the emergency room. The ignominy is multiplied by the fact that you have basically hit yourself in the forehead as hard as you can with a 4# sledge hammer voluntarily.
I cut up the cheap driver with a torch so that nobody can ever repeat the incident. And now when using any similar fence post driver I wear one of my old hard hats.
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This one is from 1992. Pretty good lifespan for something that was only supposed to last 7 years!
That doesn't sound too difficult after all, maybe I'll try doing that before trying the thermostat/heating element exchange.
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So I bought this old trailer house for temp living whilst building our house. The trailer had louvered glass windows that could be opened for air flow and such, I went to turn off the pilot light for the water heater and other stuff and when I went to stand up, BAM, hit my forehead on the corner of one of those louvers! The Aluminum edge cut a huge gash right dead center of my forehead, and the blood ran hard and fast! After the initial shock of the "Oh Sh!T" moment, and all the U.S. Mil. Spec swearing, the wife comes out to investigate! She insists to drive me to the E.R. for treatment, and 16 STAPLES later, I was all set! Staples suck! Almost as painful to remove as to install, despite the pain mitigation and an eppy shot on site! The wife made sure to kid me about wearing a hardhat any time I went out side the trailer after that!
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Perhaps I should tell the story about being whacked in the head with a SUBMARINE? lol
Touring USS Bowfin over at Pearl and came up for air too soon... Pinball's Revenge. As soon as we were up topside, our guide had me park it in one of the old flak-gunner seats so I didn't go for a swim... said he'd had his bell rung a few times like that while serving on the old boats too.
No stitches, but burned a lotta Advil on that one...
Touring USS Bowfin over at Pearl and came up for air too soon... Pinball's Revenge.
As soon as we were up topside, our guide had me park it in one of the old flak-gunner seats so I didn't go for a swim... said he'd had his bell rung a few times like that while serving on the old boats too.No stitches, but burned a lotta Advil on that one...
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Scale modelers joke occasionally about the Modeling Gods demanding blood sacrifice to secure their blessing for a project...I filleted my thumb just like that when a folding knife i was pushing hard with collapsed. That's gonna leave a scar!!!!
Had an old boss that used to tell me that no job is finished until you've left some blood on it.
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Perhaps I should tell the story about being whacked in the head with a SUBMARINE? lol
Touring USS Bowfin over at Pearl and came up for air too soon... Pinball's Revenge.
No stitches, but burned a lotta Advil on that one...
We did the same tour in 2010. Inspiring to say the least as I am clostraphobic.....
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I'm told a few years after my visit they ripped all the bulkheads and knee-knockers out... after having been on a drydocked Ohio (one of Mom's old bosses was a sub skipper, and he arranged it his last weekend in the Reserves) it was a shock at just how far the Silent Service has come since the war years.
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My mum is a seamstress and says her best projects, including my wedding dress, were made by blood, sweat, and tears literally.
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It's just not your best work until you invest a little of yourself as part of it...
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I'd be all..
Do you have an OHM meter by any chance?
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