We have a pilot light that won’t stay lit in hotwater heater. A friend is recommending replacement as it’s at least 7 years old, (as long as we’ve owned the house) as he claims it’ll just nickel and dime in repairs; Upright 40 gallon, natural gas. So, I went to the Home Depot site and found the tankless and trad. tanks. Any recommendations? I’d like to try the install myself.
Or, is there something simple on the old unit, a basic part swap, I could look into now, instead of replacement. Getting ready to hang new storms when they come in, and just finishing a brick sidewalk-why does this stuff always happen in unplanned 3s? Thanks for any help. Todd
Replies
If you need to ask the question, you shouldn't install a tankless by yourself. They need larger flue pipe (bigger hole in wall and roof) and possibly larger natural gas supply piping.
While a tankless does give you longer showers, they aren't as good for low flowrates or for running two fixtures (e.g. shower + dishwasher) at the same time). You may save a bit on standby losses but likely less than advertised. And you do recover a bit of floor space in your utility room.
Replacing a tanked HWH with another tanked unit it a better DIY job. The existing flue should be adequate and the water and gas connections are largely already in place.
I agree that a new unit ($150 to 230) is probably better than buying $70 service calls repeatedly.
>>We have a pilot light that won't stay lit in hotwater heater.
Bad thermocoupler??
$30.00??
Eric
I Love A Hand That Meets My Own,
With A Hold That Causes Some Sensation.
More like $3, but that was a few years ago. And they should be available from most hardware and big box stores.
And that is about the only servicable part on a "basic" standing pilot WH. Does not make sense not to try it first.
Yeah,
I was thinking some real low #, but I didn't want to look like an idjit!I Love A Hand That Meets My Own,
With A Hold That Causes Some Sensation.
Thanks guys, bought the $15 plumbing book from HD, $4.96 for 36" thermocoupler, and voila. At $70, for a service guy that really didn't wanna do it, I should look into this plumbing license thing?! Just kidding. Howdy up there in Kenai. Got to visit the peninsula in '93. Thanks again. Todd
What the service guy wanted............was to sell you the whole rig.
EricI Love A Hand That Meets My Own,
With A Hold That Causes Some Sensation.
If you feel comfortable working on the water heater yourself, you've probably got a bad thermopile. A good appliance dealer can get you a replacement. Seven years is not old at all for a water heater.
By the way it's not a hot water heater, it's a water heater. If the water was hot you wouldn't need to heat it.
....it's not a hot water heater...
Thankyou.....major pet peeve of mine.J. D. Reynolds
Home Improvements
"DO IT RIGHT, DO IT ONCE"
Water in heater cools to 120, burners come on, water heats to 135, burners go off.
Cycle repeats.
Sounds like a hot water heater to me. :)
Actually, it seems to me that in almost all cases the water heater actually is heating hot water.
How often to you run your water heater down to ambient?
You run the hot water tap, pulling off some water at, say, 120 degrees.
That water is replaced with cold water, say at 50 degrees, which mixes in with the hot water in the tank, bringing the temp down a a certain measure to, say, 115 degrees.
The burner or element comes on, heating the remaining hot water back to 120 degrees.
The key to forgiving others is to quit focusing on what they did to you, and start focusing on what God did for you. Max Lucado
Sojourners: Christians for Justice and Peace
The purpose of the unit is to heat water that is entering the house (not hot) to a desired temperature....that it ends up heating the same supply more than once does not make it a Hot Water Reheater.
Leave my peeves be, thankyou. ; )J. D. Reynolds
Home Improvements
"DO IT RIGHT, DO IT ONCE"
With one minor laboratory exception, H2O below 32 deg is called ice. At 32 deg, it is called water or ice. Just above that temp is what I would call the coldest possible water, unless certain ingredients mixed into the water enable it to be colder and still liquid.
Progressing up the temp scale, water gets warmer. Hot is an individual perspective at some point between 32 and 212, where we get into another change of state.
We would probably all agree that 211.9 deg is hot for water. In the middle zone, I would argue that those who call it a water heater are most right; however, those who call it a hot water heater are not necessarily wrong.
Just another perspective.:)Les Barrett Quality Construction
"Most right"....thats all I ever wanted to be.
: )J. D. Reynolds
Home Improvements
"DO IT RIGHT, DO IT ONCE"
I think if we want to be pedagogically accurate we should be calling it a "mostly warm water rewarmer and sometime cold water heater-upper."
AKA a "MWWRSCWHU" pronounced 'mewrshu'
Calling it anything else will now engender yelps from the pet peeve police (the "PPP"). {G,D&R"}The key to forgiving others is to quit focusing on what they did to you, and start focusing on what God did for you. Max Lucado
Sojourners: Christians for Justice and Peace
How about a WTB - water temperature booster?
This doesn't sound quite right to me. I think we could use some discussion on the best terminology for this situation.
Les Barrett Quality Construction
P.S.
The edit was to change WT adjuster to WT booster (WTA vs WTB).
Edited 10/24/2004 11:29 pm ET by Les
You know, now that you bring it up, (I can't remember who brought it up), it would be a cold water heater, or just plain water heater, if anything. This board is much better than the moto bbs's where kids are still screaming at each other about POTUS. Thanks again guys.
where kids are still screaming at each other about POTUS
I take it you have not been in the Tavern yet!
Thats going on here as well.
Doug
>>I take it you have not been in the Tavern yet!
The kids are screaming, the adults are discussing .... {G,D&R}The key to forgiving others is to quit focusing on what they did to you, and start focusing on what God did for you. Max Lucado
Sojourners: Christians for Justice and Peace
>>You know, now that you bring it up, (I can't remember who brought it up), it would be a cold water heater, or just plain water heater, if anything.
Read msg's 13 & 18 {G}.
I submit that in most cases the cold water entering the tank is being warmed by the hot water which is already in there, thus reducing the temperature of the water in the tank, but in most cases leaving the tank filled with "hot" water, simply less hot than before, and the burner or element simply heats up the existing hot water {G}
While we're at it, I think 798 angels can dance on the head of a pin ....{G}
Actually, I agree with whoever, "hot water heater" comes from the Depatment of Redundancy Department.
The key to forgiving others is to quit focusing on what they did to you, and start focusing on what God did for you. Max Lucado
Sojourners: Christians for Justice and Peace
Edited 10/25/2004 9:48 am ET by Bob Walker
"... it's not a hot water heater, it's a water heater."
Well, it gets hot, and it heats water. So I think "hot" water heater makes sense.
(-:Did you hear about the guy that lost his left arm and leg in a car crash? He's all right now.
Glad to hear a new thermo coupler did it.
A few notes on water heaters and replacement:
1: flush the unit regularly (depending on your water quality - esp mineral content) 1/2" scale - lime - mineral build up on the bottom reduces efficiency 75%
2: when replacing the water heater, always use the "bonnet" (aka draft hood aka draft diverter) which comes with the new water heater - don't re-use the old bonnet or you increase the chances of backdrafting
3: be sure to use a proper, 3/4" P/T valve extension pipe
The key to forgiving others is to quit focusing on what they did to you, and start focusing on what God did for you. Max Lucado
Sojourners: Christians for Justice and Peace
First off <ahem!, the rest of you> Welcom to BT, Todd, good to hear from you. You may have noted the sorts of things that can happen around here by just asking a simple question. It's a BT thing, some of us don't notice it (even if I, er, "we" should).
Oh, and we can simplify this entire discussion by just all agreeing to call it DHW, Domestic Hot Water. This differentitates it from water heated for climate control, and from the "how much is 'heated' " argument.
Or not.
"DHW"
Geez, much to simple and sensible an answer!The key to forgiving others is to quit focusing on what they did to you, and start focusing on what God did for you. Max Lucado
Sojourners: Christians for Justice and Peace
simple and sensible an answer
Well, I'm not quite old enough to have had to crush and burn my own buffalo bones to make the graphite for the pencils we drafted with. But was trained by such folk. That training will "stick" to a person. That, and the piping class I took included "LS" (live steam) and "SR" (steam return) notations on all of our class examples. Few things as educational as (textbook) learning about steam heat in Texas . . . Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
"Geez, much to simple and sensible an answer!"
Tar and feather him.
Ban his from the forum.
Such goings on should not be allowed.
What would happen to this forum if only simple and senbile answers where posted.