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fancycwabs:

Monday morning the hot water seemed to run out faster than normal (normal being that it doesn’t run out at all) during showertime. I found this slightly odd, but chalked it up to maybe my taking a longer shower than normal, plus the fact that it was 22 degrees outside for the first time in a long time, so I didn’t think much of it.
Tuesday morning there was no hot water at all. Also, it was 15 degrees outside, and I wasn’t about to take a shower in 40 degree water (or whatever it was gonna be, arguments regarding the necessity of my taking a cold shower from time to time notwithstanding). So I went to school this morning without benefit of anything save a healthy dose of deodorant, thinking that maybe the thermocouple had gone out again. So, knowing that they’re cheap and readily available I pick one up on the way home from work. This is visit to the hardware store #1.
When I got home this afternoon, I climbed into the attic where the water heater lives with its friend the air conditioner evaporator and its pals insulation and old trophies, and observed that the pilot light had probably gone out not because of a bad thermocouple, but because the drain valve on the water heater had failed, filling the pan that keeps water from soaking into the ceiling of the house, and dousing the flame. I tightened the valve some, re-lit the pilot light, and headed to Lowe’s to see about a replacement valve. (Visit #2)
Lowe’s had a drain valve that looked a little different from the one I was removing, but it was the only style drain valve they had on the shelf, and it was cheap, so I picked it up, along with some teflon tape and a really nifty adjustable spanner (that’s a crescent wrench, but I like saying “adjustable spanner”), and headed back to the house, only to discover that the valve I’d bought had a male pipe thread, and the valve I was replacing had a female pipe thread.
So I went to Home Depot, thinking that maybe they’d have the part I needed (Visit #3). Some discussion with the folks at Home Depot revealed that the male pipe thread sticking out of the water heater was actually a short piece of threaded pipe that could be removed via a pair of channel-lock pliers, and the replacement valve I’d purchased could be inserted into the threaded hole left in the water heater once the pipe was removed, so I got a cheap set of channel-locks, and headed back home, only to discover that the pipe (as an engineer, I know that a short piece of threaded pipe is called a “nipple,” but the risk of making jokes about trying to twist off a nipple with a set of channel locks is too great, so I avoid it) had been pretty much fused in place with a half-pint of joint compound, and wasn’t budging without a much bigger set of channel lock pliers than I had available. Which would involve Hardware Store visit #4. And also swearing.
But first, I thought an expert consultation was in order. There is always a plumbing van parked at the house three doors down from mine, and I thought it would be neighborly to ask a professional to give me as much free advice as I could milk out of him. He was kind enough to oblige, and offered as much advice as to tell me to forego the standard “water heater” supplies, and go straight to the industrial brass fittings section of Home Depot and get a 3/4” PT female boiler drain. I thanked him profusely and headed back to the hardware store (this is #4, remember). Where I discovered that they only had 3/4” PT male boiler drains. I am an engineer, not a handyman, and so I knew that a 3/4” PT male boiler drain + 3/4” PT coupling would do a little transgender piping, and voila! 3/4” PT artificially female boiler drain. Which I brought home, attached to the heater, opened the fill valve, re-lit the pilot light (after a few minutes where I forgot that I’d turned off the gas at the main disconnect for the heater), ran some water into the sink (ew, rust) and went to the gym. And finally came home to water that won’t cause spontaneous testicular contraction when I grab a shower.

I think that hot water heater troubles must be catching - the one for my apartment (which I moved into on Saturday) has been broken since Sunday. But since it’s industrial sized it took them a day and a half to turn off the water supply to it (which had been leaking since Sunday turning the sidewalk and porch area into an ice rink), another half day to locate the plumbers, and about six hours to remove the old one and install the new one (side note - if you were designing an apartment building, would you put a very large water heater on the second floor in a narrow hallway? Or on the first floor under the spacious stairs? If you answered “stairs” you are obviously not an architect).

But, I do have hot water again. And a new high pitched sound every time the boiler fires up. Where’s the aspirin?

Monday morning the hot water seemed to run out faster than normal (normal being that it doesn’t run out at all) during showertime. I found this slightly odd, but chalked it up to maybe my taking a longer shower than normal, plus the fact that it was 22 degrees outside for the first time in a long time, so I didn’t think much of it.

Tuesday morning there was no hot water at all. Also, it was 15 degrees outside, and I wasn’t about to take a shower in 40 degree water (or whatever it was gonna be, arguments regarding the necessity of my taking a cold shower from time to time notwithstanding). So I went to school this morning without benefit of anything save a healthy dose of deodorant, thinking that maybe the thermocouple had gone out again. So, knowing that they’re cheap and readily available I pick one up on the way home from work. This is visit to the hardware store #1.

When I got home this afternoon, I climbed into the attic where the water heater lives with its friend the air conditioner evaporator and its pals insulation and old trophies, and observed that the pilot light had probably gone out not because of a bad thermocouple, but because the drain valve on the water heater had failed, filling the pan that keeps water from soaking into the ceiling of the house, and dousing the flame. I tightened the valve some, re-lit the pilot light, and headed to Lowe’s to see about a replacement valve. (Visit #2)

Lowe’s had a drain valve that looked a little different from the one I was removing, but it was the only style drain valve they had on the shelf, and it was cheap, so I picked it up, along with some teflon tape and a really nifty adjustable spanner (that’s a crescent wrench, but I like saying “adjustable spanner”), and headed back to the house, only to discover that the valve I’d bought had a male pipe thread, and the valve I was replacing had a female pipe thread.

So I went to Home Depot, thinking that maybe they’d have the part I needed (Visit #3). Some discussion with the folks at Home Depot revealed that the male pipe thread sticking out of the water heater was actually a short piece of threaded pipe that could be removed via a pair of channel-lock pliers, and the replacement valve I’d purchased could be inserted into the threaded hole left in the water heater once the pipe was removed, so I got a cheap set of channel-locks, and headed back home, only to discover that the pipe (as an engineer, I know that a short piece of threaded pipe is called a “nipple,” but the risk of making jokes about trying to twist off a nipple with a set of channel locks is too great, so I avoid it) had been pretty much fused in place with a half-pint of joint compound, and wasn’t budging without a much bigger set of channel lock pliers than I had available. Which would involve Hardware Store visit #4. And also swearing.

But first, I thought an expert consultation was in order. There is always a plumbing van parked at the house three doors down from mine, and I thought it would be neighborly to ask a professional to give me as much free advice as I could milk out of him. He was kind enough to oblige, and offered as much advice as to tell me to forego the standard “water heater” supplies, and go straight to the industrial brass fittings section of Home Depot and get a 3/4” PT female boiler drain. I thanked him profusely and headed back to the hardware store (this is #4, remember). Where I discovered that they only had 3/4” PT male boiler drains. I am an engineer, not a handyman, and so I knew that a 3/4” PT male boiler drain + 3/4” PT coupling would do a little transgender piping, and voila! 3/4” PT artificially female boiler drain. Which I brought home, attached to the heater, opened the fill valve, re-lit the pilot light (after a few minutes where I forgot that I’d turned off the gas at the main disconnect for the heater), ran some water into the sink (ew, rust) and went to the gym. And finally came home to water that won’t cause spontaneous testicular contraction when I grab a shower.

I think that hot water heater troubles must be catching - the one for my apartment (which I moved into on Saturday) has been broken since Sunday. But since it’s industrial sized it took them a day and a half to turn off the water supply to it (which had been leaking since Sunday turning the sidewalk and porch area into an ice rink), another half day to locate the plumbers, and about six hours to remove the old one and install the new one (side note - if you were designing an apartment building, would you put a very large water heater on the second floor in a narrow hallway? Or on the first floor under the spacious stairs? If you answered “stairs” you are obviously not an architect).

But, I do have hot water again. And a new high pitched sound every time the boiler fires up. Where’s the aspirin?

Source: fancycwabs