One of many
trip reports under the
SilGro home page for Alan Silverstein and Cathie
Grow.
Email me at
ajs@frii.com.
Last update: March 25, 2024
(Previous trip report: 1998_0311_SkySights.htm)
Here's a short, humorous (I hope) story about how not to mess around with your water heater...
Sunday, April 5: During this weekend I visited a friend in Denver. She happened to be leaving in four days for a three-week trip out of the country! (A nursing volunteer mission to Nicaragua.) I helped her with a lot of little household chores... Drain traps, broken doorknobs, speaker wires, stuff like that. Earlier I'd told her about water heater anodes, and she was interested in maybe having me replace hers.
Now her home was of the older variety, and the water heater didn't even have a date on the placard. No idea of its age. We decided on a Sunday evening after a full day of other chores that I wouldn't even try removing the plug-type anode during this visit -- to see if it could be done, before buying a new one.
But I did want to drain the sediment and show her how to do it. So I opened the drain valve into a bucket... No problem... No sediment. Close the valve... Real tight... Still dribbles. Hmm... This is Not Good.
I guessed that a person who'd recently posted about those valves being unreliable knew what they were talking about. (Recall, though, that my own water heater was 20+ years old, I opened the valve for various reasons several times a year, and it had never leaked.) Cranking the valve down with big pliers didn't help. The valve definitely needed replacing or capping.
Well Home Depot was open until 8 pm, and not too far away. I'd get home later than I hoped, but I couldn't leave this broken. So I went over and bought $5 of this'n'that to try to deal with the problem.
They didn't have a compatible valve. Not being sure what is behind it, but seeing a 1" diameter pipe, I bought a 1/2" male brass hose bib (valve), a PVC pipe end-cap, and a PVC hose end-cap. Went back to her house, turned out it's a hose fitting, try putting on the hose cap... It still leaked from behind the valve. Hmm... Sigh... It was time to remove the valve.
Old house, didn't meet current code: No shutoff valve in the cold water supply line to the water heater. Hmm... Entered crawlspace (yuck) from the muddy back yard. No shutoff valve under the heater either, just one for the whole house, in the far corner...
I turned off the water to her house... Exited crawlspace, nudged big dogs aside, worried about the cat (who followed me into the crawlspace) later. Pulled the leaky tank drain valve. Behind it was a 3/4" male nipple. Rats, the new drain valve I bought wouldn't work with that. OK, cap the nipple with the PVC pipe cap and teflon tape... Still leaks... OK, put in the hose cap washer and try again. Ah... That's better.
I re-entered the crawlspace and turned on the house water. The shutoff valve (in the crawlspace) was now leaking through the packing nut. I tightened the packing nut -- no dice -- closed the valve. No leak, but no water to the house now either. Hmm... Exited crawlspace (pushed dogs aside), talked with my friend more about the situation...
I found the curbside shutoff valve (it's now dark out). Five-sided nut, but was not a problem. Pulled cover... Pulled inner cover... Whew, it was a straight valve I could turn with a crescent wrench. Turned off water to the house. Back in the crawlspace, pulled the valve stem -- yuck. Tried to remove the valve handle to pull the packing nut to see about replacing the packing washer... Impossible, rusted solid.
I noticed there's an identical valve 2' higher, above a T in the pipe, that led to an outside faucet. Exited crawlspace (pushed dogs away). Called around trying to find an open store who sold brass plumbing parts at 9:30 pm... No dice. Not even the Denver water utility emergency number knew of anyone. At least they didn't mind that I messed with their curbside valve...
Re-entered crawlspace. Swapped valve stems between the two valves. The packing nut split in half on the stem that was leaking. Now the house valve was more or less OK (whew), and the outside faucet valve didn't leak so long as it was turned off. The house water was on for the night... Exited crawlspace (were the dogs in the house this time?), called it a night.
Monday, April 6: It was 5:30 am and my alarm went off. I woke up from a pleasant dream to return to an ongoing nightmare. Arrived at Home Depot just before they opened at 6 am(!) Bought another $25 worth of parts including four (4) valves of various kinds. Returned to her house and started methodically attacking problems. Back in the crawlspace, I couldn't get the valve stems out of the new valves (and I couldn't buy just the stems), but I could defer that problem (and leave the front faucet disabled) until she was back from her trip. The crawlspace could wait (and this time the dogs were waiting in the house).
Inserted gate valve in water heater cold supply line... It worked.
Inserted brass valve on water heater drain nipple... It worked.
Oops, the cold water supply leaked a trace... Tightened. Unfortunately the gate valve handle ended up facing the back of the closet... Couldn't be helped.
(Note: The preceding was an abridged retelling that left out other complicating trivia involving two cars in a one-car driveway, two children needing to get to school the next morning, etc. :-)
I ended up hoping the situation was now stable for a month. At least if the water heater developed a leak from all the recent abuse there was now a way to turn it off easily. Meanwhile I took the two new 3/4" brass in-line valves home with me so I could pull the stems to replace those in the crawlspace!
Lessons:
(Next trip report: 1998_0613-20_DarkCanyonUT.htm)