The plumber I'd hired to replace our gas hot water heater today, a colorful character who most likely would have made a good Oklahoma surveyor before stricter licensing requirements limited the range of candidates for licensure, marveled at how old our unit was. The oldest one he had previously seen was 24 years old and this one was made in 1976, making it a record-busting 41 years old.
It was in fact overdue for replacement. I mean insulation and other features of hot water heater construction haven't remained static duriing that time, but it was at least fun to hear that we were nearly in Guiness Book of World Records territory for water heaters.
Yeah but when the thermocouple fails you can't just pay 5 bucks for a new one at Ace Hardware, no you have to pay 50 bucks for the entire pilot assembly at a specialty parts house. Actually it turns out the culprit is the overheat switch intermittently failing which was why the pilot kept randomly going out driving me nuts because it would reset itself before I could get the multimeter on it every time so the thermocouple always checked okay.
Dave Karoly, post: 420755, member: 94 wrote: Yeah but when the thermocouple fails you can't just pay 5 bucks for a new one at Ace Hardware, no you have to pay 50 bucks for the entire pilot assembly at a specialty parts house.
The old one was made by A.O. Smith, so I bought another one of the same brand. I can already tell that it's better insulated and that I'll probably save enough in a year on natural gas to not blink at some minor increment in cost of parts. It came with a six-year warranty and my money would be on me selling the house before then to someone who really just wants the lot and perhaps some of the slab and exterior wall framing of the house. That appears to be the new normal in our neighborhood.
Kent McMillan, post: 420758, member: 3 wrote: ...It came with a six-year warranty and my money would be on me selling the house before then to someone who really just wants the lot and perhaps some of the slab and exterior wall framing of the house. That appears to be the new normal in our neighborhood.
That's happening here also in the past year or so. Tear downs of smaller square footage homes or homes on slabs from the 50, 60s that had no relevance in style to the neighborhood.
Lot of new homes after the housing loan setback and the big flood last year has property on the move with new residents.
As for appliances, I think my parents had one refrigerator that lasted 45 years or so.
I've been unlucky with dishwashers.
I guess they have a short life span.
Robert Hill, post: 420762, member: 378 wrote: That's happening here also in the past year or so. Tear downs of smaller square footage homes or homes on slabs from the 50, 60s that had no relevance in style to the neighborhood.
The typical pattern in my neighborhood is to tear the house back to the wall framing, add some additional floor space (apparently at least 3,500 s.f. is the new minimum required for a residence per the standards of 21st-century life), and rebuild it from the studs. That means new mechanical systems, new interior finishes, new insulation, new everything, except that it qualifies as a "remodel" with a bargain price on the permits compared to new construction.
Kent McMillan, post: 420754, member: 3 wrote: making it a record-busting 41 years old.
The house I grew up in was built in 1916, and when my family sold it in 1972 we were still using the original 20-gallon Ruud water heater. I'll see your 41 years and raise you another 15.
The house I grew up in was built by my folks brand new in 1965. Two story 4 bedroom, 2.5 batch colonial style. New owners bought for (what seemed to me) to be a rather hefty price.... tore the 30 year old house (perfectly good condition) completely down and built a brand spanking new much bigger million dollar mcmansion.
Until my early to mid teen years, my grandparents had a gas refrigerator. Something like this one, but older I think. 
kent, i would think the minimum s.f. in your neighborhood would be like 6K. and at least you live in a tony-enough part of town that any "remodel" will likely adhere to some sort of sense of architectural decency. 3500 s.f. is the minimum in MY neighborhood- and i could likely sell my 900 s.f. cinderblock bunker on its 5200 sf lot tomorrow for like half a mil, and within a month it would be scraped off and a 3500+ structure that resembles a jetsons' public restroom would be standing in its stead.
oh, btw- last fall i personally replaced the 1981 water heater. went with a rheem.
When the pilot kept going out I fixed all the things the plumber did incorrectly. I found the installation instructions for the same make/model and they tell you how to do it, not rocket science. Everything was wrong, insufficient combustion air so I enlarged the air holes in the closet door (outside), flue pipe too short, gas connection wrong, no joint tape on the flue, etc. eventually I figured out that the thermal switch was intermittently tripping off for no reason.
On modern water heaters you need to keep the various screens and filters clean.
They aren't simple like the old ones but more efficient.
It's been almost twenty since we replaced the (1970) old gas one with an electric HWH. The gas on lasted almost 30 years. It was still working nestled in an interior closet in a back restroom. But I happened to walk by in the hallway late one night with hardly any lights on and watched the burner cut on. Scared me to death. There was a laundry basket size ball of blue flame that puked out from under the 1940's style (complete with scallops scrolls and holes) plywood closet door and reached halfway across the bathroom floor. Good thing I wasn't cleaning carburetors in the bathtub...
I realize I could have probably replaced the valve and thermocouple and nursed a few more years out of it...but I was down to the supply house the next day picking out an electric model.
thing i'd totally forgotten about since the last time i replaced one (in a rental, probably 25 years ago), was how "not soft" our local water is.
which is to say our 40 gallon water heater probably, after 35 years, had an effective capacity of about 28 gallons. and weighed about 6 tons when i rolled it out to the curb.
John, post: 420770, member: 791 wrote: The house I grew up in was built by my folks brand new in 1965. Two story 4 bedroom, 2.5 batch colonial style. New owners bought for (what seemed to me) to be a rather hefty price.... tore the 30 year old house (perfectly good condition) completely down and built a brand spanking new much bigger million dollar mcmansion.
Until my early to mid teen years, my grandparents had a gas refrigerator. Something like this one, but older I think.
I believe that's an electric model (you can see the plug hanging down). When my grandparents bought their house in the early 50's they didn't have a fridge. They used their spring water to build a cold box covered in burlap. Evaporation kept it cool. Then came the little box fridge, then the huge Servel
paden cash, post: 420810, member: 20 wrote: It's been almost twenty since we replaced the (1970) old gas one with an electric HWH. The gas on lasted almost 30 years. It was still working nestled in an interior closet in a back restroom. But I happened to walk by in the hallway late one night with hardly any lights on and watched the burner cut on. Scared me to death. There was a laundry basket size ball of blue flame that puked out from under the 1940's style (complete with scallops scrolls and holes) plywood closet door and reached halfway across the bathroom floor. Good thing I wasn't cleaning carburetors in the bathtub...
I realize I could have probably replaced the valve and thermocouple and nursed a few more years out of it...but I was down to the supply house the next day picking out an electric model.
If anybody has gas appliances (including hot water heaters) - get a carbon monoxide detector!!
Gas fridges require maintenance in order to operate safely. Sister-in-law comes home from work and the carbon monoxide detector is going off. She calls me because my brother was out of town working. I drove over to check it out. Opened the front door and smelled a strong odor that slightly resembled propane. I held my breath and rushed around opening windows. We waited a couple hours before going in. The smell was stronger near their 1 year old propane fridge. Soapy water on the supply line didn't reveal any leaks. I shut the propane off just in case. The next day my dad pulled the fridge away from the wall and looked it over. There were some moths and cobwebs near the burner. He cleaned the entire unit and hooked it back up and it has not had any issues since then. What happened was the bugs/dust/cobwebs were blocking the air intake and the flame was not optimal, resulting in partially burnt propane. Luckily it put out just enough carbon monoxide to set off the detector. She cannot smell and would have cooked dinner and put her baby to bed in the house filled with propane fumes.
Odd thing is, the old 1950's Servel gas fridges ran for years and years with no maintenance...Oh wait - I seem to remember there were a bunch of deaths associated with those old gas fridges.......
imaudigger, post: 420818, member: 7286 wrote: I believe that's an electric model (you can see the plug hanging down). When my grandparents bought their house in the early 50's they didn't have a fridge. They used their spring water to build a cold box covered in burlap. Evaporation kept it cool. Then came the little box fridge, then the huge Servel
If anybody has gas appliances (including hot water heaters) - get a carbon monoxide detector!!
Gas fridges require maintenance in order to operate safely. Sister-in-law comes home from work and the carbon monoxide detector is going off. She calls me because my brother was out of town working. I drove over to check it out. Opened the front door and smelled a strong odor that slightly resembled propane. I held my breath and rushed around opening windows. We waited a couple hours before going in. The smell was stronger near their 1 year old propane fridge. Soapy water on the supply line didn't reveal any leaks. I shut the propane off just in case. The next day my dad pulled the fridge away from the wall and looked it over. There were some moths and cobwebs near the burner. He cleaned the entire unit and hooked it back up and it has not had any issues since then. What happened was the bugs/dust/cobwebs were blocking the air intake and the flame was not optimal, resulting in partially burnt propane. Luckily it put out just enough carbon monoxide to set off the detector. She cannot smell and would have cooked dinner and put her baby to bed in the house filled with propane fumes.
Odd thing is, the old 1950's Servel gas fridges ran for years and years with no maintenance...Oh wait - I seem to remember there were a bunch of deaths associated with those old gas fridges.......
I'm not sure if gas fridges are even mentioned in our local codes, but they definitely need vented.
I have a buddy that grows wheat in Dover, OK...just like his daddy and grand daddy...on the same 2 sections. In one of their tractor barns there is a 1940's style "International Harvester" LP refrigerator, still running to this day. I have no idea what year it was new. The door has a chrome affair that proudly proclaims the manufacturer's name and looks like a hood ornament from a 1940 International tractor.
My efforts over the last 40 years to possess the fridge have been useless.
All they keep in there is antibiotics for the livestock, a few sodas and beers and eggs that his wife collects from the yard birds.
paden cash, post: 420821, member: 20 wrote: I'm not sure if gas fridges are even mentioned in our local codes, but they definitely need vented.
I have a buddy that grows wheat in Dover, OK...just like his daddy and grand daddy...on the same 2 sections. In one of their tractor barns there is a 1940's style "International Harvester" LP refrigerator, still running to this day. I have no idea what year it was new. The door has a chrome affair that proudly proclaims the manufacturer's name and looks like a hood ornament from a 1940 International tractor.
My efforts over the last 40 years to possess the fridge have been useless.
All they keep in there is antibiotics for the livestock, a few sodas and beers and eggs that his wife collects from the yard birds.
The odd thing is that outdoor venting for gas fridges is optional and in fact may make them unsafe due to wind affecting the flame. Really contrary to what you would think.
My kitchen range is propane and does not vent outside either.
I had two water heaters go out between 1987 till 1992.
Both burst suddenly.
This one installed in the fall of 1992 came from the local propane office and has a molded insulation cover and at the same time I replaced all the pipe in the house with hot water pvc and raised my footvalve in the well to above the murky zone.
I don't like to run out of hot water, my next install will be an instant hot water system.
A Harris, post: 420844, member: 81 wrote: I don't like to run out of hot water
You would't have liked my childhood home then: a 20-gallon hot water heater for a family of 5. We managed, though.
A Harris, post: 420844, member: 81 wrote: I had two water heaters go out between 1987 till 1992.
Both burst suddenly.
This one installed in the fall of 1992 came from the local propane office and has a molded insulation cover and at the same time I replaced all the pipe in the house with hot water pvc and raised my footvalve in the well to above the murky zone.
I don't like to run out of hot water, my next install will be an instant hot water system.
We've got a bathroom that is soon to have a remodel and I've been looking at the "on demand" systems as a retrofit. I've been impressed with the numbers I've read from several consumer sites. I would also like to put one in the kitchen that is about a half-mile from the HWH. In the winter it can take four or five minutes for the water to get hot. I'm sure I've paid thousands of dollars in wasted water letting the tap run until it gets hot.
paden cash, post: 420858, member: 20 wrote: I've been looking at the "on demand" systems
One thing to keep in mind is that the demand systems require electric power to work. Be prepared to do without hot water for the duration of any power outages, or to run a backup electric system.
Presenting the Williwaw especial redneck wood fired hot water heater. One salvaged scrap 50 gal. gas fired hot water heater, after gutting the combustion chamber, married up with a slightly damaged wheel rim off of a bobcat that I had a local welder fabricate for me a little door for feeding the fire. Heats up the 500 gallons in the insulated cannery fish tote in 4-5 hours for one low budget but very satisfying hot tub. Now that I know it works I'll be building a cabinet for the heater and more permanent piping this summer hiding the hoses inside bamboo to gussy it up a bit. Compliments the sauna nicely I think. 😎
The instant hot water systems come in a variety of flavors from the personal unit for each facet location to a whole house wonder.
Downside is the first 10feet or so must be of high grade copper pipe to take the local intense heat associated with cold water turning into steamy hot water immediately.
They come in electric and gas models.
The first time I saw and used one was in a motel in Saigon.
I saw that as quite unusual because most of the hot water there comes from metal tanks of water on rooftops that are radiated by the sun.
