Water heater replacements

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Terry

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Everyone at some point needs to replace a water heater. If you replace at 10 years like some condo associations like, you are fairly safe. It does depend on the water you are using though. In some parts, six to seven years is a long time. Master Plumber Mark has some nice pictures of water heaters that he has cut into that are filled with Lime.
I had a job last week where there was so much crud from the water heater that is was going downstream and clogging things up.

reinke_wh_1.jpg


A replacement I did last week. Something look funny here? Maybe the shutoff on the left instead of on the right? I ran the kitchen sink and determined that yes, the line with the shutoff was the cold, but in this case plumbed to the top of the tank hot outlet. The hot water had to go though the dip tube at the bottom of the tank.

reinke_wh_2.jpg


We crossed the water back and added an expansion tank. Now the water is running the correct direction.

andrea_wh_1.jpg


I looked at this tank, and may be trading web site work for this replacement.

andrea_wh_2.jpg


I shot some video of his band last night too. Good times.
This is in the high crawl. It's going to be little tight in there.

patail_07.jpg


A pretty standard 50 install

rheem_dual_50.jpg


water_heater_deposits.jpg


Draining an old tank filled with deposits. It was so clogged I had to pull the drain and poke the opening with a screwdriver to clear it.
 
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hj

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Hopefully, when they connected the cold inlet to the left side, they didn't also change the dip tube over, (I would have if I didn't criss cross the supply lines), otherwise you "undid" their work.
 

hj

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even "B" vent should have 1" clea4ance to surrounding wood surfaces. In the other picture, with that much corrosion around the "lid" how much longer do you think it will last?
 

JerryR

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Hopefully, when they connected the cold inlet to the left side, they didn't also change the dip tube over, (I would have if I didn't criss cross the supply lines), otherwise you "undid" their work.

Not to worry. If you look at the 2nd picture he replaced the old tank and crossed the supply lines.
 

Terry

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Not to worry. If you look at the 2nd picture he replaced the old tank and crossed the supply lines.

Different jobs. The water heater where I crossed the lines back had a high ceiling in a closet.
The rusting tank is in a high crawl space. It is going to have issues. I'm looking at getting something shorter, maybe even going tankless because of space. If I can drop the angle down it could fix the problem with the venting. It's rare to see something like that.
 

Master Plumber Mark

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Terry,

I see that you use Rheem water heaters...and the copper flex connectors,
the copper flex connectors have been arounnd a long time and still seem to work
very well in most applications....... I like to use the brass craft black braided hoses on most of my change outs because of the flexibility...


something most folks are not aware of is after april of 2015 the size of these heaters is gonna
grow about 3 inches wider when the new energy laws take affect...... All of the pictures you posted are basically easy wide open installs that wont be a problem with but we have lots and lots of extremely tight water heaters crammed into closets with the furnaces ....... with no room to spare


this larger size is going to be a problem because we are gonna run into troubles with them, and its only a matter of time before someone is gonna have to move their heaters to another location
or go with a shitty tankless heater for 5 times the cost....


I am considering buying a large shipment of heaters from Rheem in a few months to get me through for a year or so... on average , we install probably 10 heaters a week and I willl haev to go out and inspect the situation on every damn one of them.... just wondering if you have considered buying a direct shipment of heaters from Rheem or do you install that many water heater...

have you thought about what you are gonna do when the change over happens??s



Terry, only positive criticism here,
but the only thing I see wrong with you intalls is the fact that you are not installing your Company NAME and STICKER on any of them.....which is ok if you dont care or think you or your sons will want to do the next round in 10 years from now....


You really should be doing that for the advertisemts. and name recognition
because even though you are an internet celebrity in Seattle there are people that might move into town and not know of your greatness and call someone else....



its only cost about 3 cents a sticker and its the gift that just keeps on giveing and giving,
decades from now.





s
 
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