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I can report that the convective block seems to be working, at least by gross measurement - when the system has been idle a few hours, the "r" gets hot as the dickens, and the bottom of the curve on those flex lines is as cool as a cucumber. I can't swear that no heat is leaking past it...

Here's another reason, I'm not sure the polyethylene is going to make those tight bends I've got in those flex lines. This stuff says it's R3.1: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-3-4-in-x-6-ft-Foam-Self-Seal-Pipe-Insulation-ORS07812/204760815 And for $7, I can spring for one for the flex...

Okay, since I intend to run the tank at its max setting of 150, and stratification means there could be water north of 175 at the top of the tank, I'll use the expensive stuff between the tank and that tempering valve you can just see peeking out from behind a brass wye in the upper right, and...

It'll get it - actually, I think everything in that closet is within 5' of the cold inlet. I was going to insulate the entire apparatus once complete, including the cold feed all the way to the inlet, and the filter setup that's off to the left of the image, to prevent sweating in the summer...

Here it is, test-assembled (more work to go before everything the tank connects to, goes somewhere). This convective block is brought to you by the letter "r" and the fact that water is about as bad a heat conductor as PVC.

I just went to swap in a full-port drain valve, and found there's been maybe 5 gallons sitting there behind a plugged drain valve all this time. The water, at least I assume it was once water, was milky white and chunky-looking. I felt dirty just looking at it. Do I still probably have a...

Thank you, Terry.

What's causing the reports of issues, then? Are the parts necessarily so light they get banged up as the flow comes on? Another thing that bothers me is the flow restriction that a ball inside the pipe necessarily introduces... and it just feels like brute-force engineering. The way I read it...

No, I don't propose to buy a used tank off craigslist. I have a Whirlpool 30-gallon electric tank, dated 2012, that saw 1-2 years of hot standby in an empty house, and then was drained and disconnected. It's now been sitting in a closet for 3 years. Is there any reason to worry it won't still...

Dana, I had not heard of those; but from what I'm reading, it's not the right solution. A ball and spring is providing orders of magnitude more force than necessary, and introduces reliability problems, especially where pressure is marginal. To actually need that much force to stop natural...

Meaning the kind where hot water rises up through the otherwise-still pipe, reaches a cold pipe above, cools the water that just rose, making it fall, where it gets heated again; etc etc etc, slowly sapping energy out of the system. The little info sheets that come with ASSE1017 valves, like...

I'm redoing the supply-side in my mobile home from scratch. This question is about the hot circuit. I've planned for temp gauges, one right above the tank and one just after the 1017 mixing valve, and I've got some doubts about accuracy and performance depending on what size fitting I screw the...

My 42 year old Miller MOC-80 became a casualty of the recent cold snap. Emergency service guy said the heat exchanger was clogged with soot, and the last time he tried to clean one, he wasn't able to free it up. I think what happened is running low - 1/4 tank - on fuel during the snap, then...

Good question, Tom. Do they really make expansion tanks without bladders, or are you thinking some other type being misused? Wouldn't the air in the tank be absorbed by the water, just like in an old-school air chamber?

1st of all, I think you might have your mords wixed. The reducing valve and PRV (pressure reducing valve) are the same thing. Do you mean the TPR (temperature & pressure relief) valve is the one that seeps above 30psi? That would make sense. 2nd, no, I don't see why you should have to drain the...

3/4" PEX and 1/2" copper have comparable inner diameters. I've seen drinking straws with more space inside than 1/2" PEX. Single fixture use only. IMO, and a lowly DIYer, but I think you want 3/4" copper where you currently have 3/4" galvanized.

That's really dependent on the particulars of the hardware you've got and how exactly they bolt to the wall and/or each other. Just think of it as a jigsaw puzzle with the picture missing from the box.

If the whacking sound has a "clang" in it as well, then yes, those could be hitting there. Is that near the pipes into the heater? If it's within reach, you could try stuffing some foam or cloth in between to see if the sound changes. I can't emphasize enough though, if you have a...

Insufficient resolution for a conclusion. If you want to be sure of what you're going after, you need to pinpoint the sound.

cacher_chick's suggestion is as excellent as her tagline, but bear in mind it makes the assumption that the problem is indeed hammering resulting in pipe movement resulting in an audible banging noise. There might still be something to the other theory of a bad heat trap, and independently of...