What did you do today?

[8ntruck 6,841]

16 minutes ago, Handy Don said:

Seriously, even in a new-ish home this can be way less than a good idea.

Unless you know every piece of wire and every connection point in that circuit and you can prove that it can handle the higher load, you might be violating code and making your house uninsurable not to mention dangerous to you occupants.

That breaker swap was planned to have new, #6 wire installed between the box and tankless water heater.

 

Since the breaker did not fit, I took a closer look at the box.  There were empty knock out holes that suggested that it is used.  Per the label on the box, max wire size is #8.  The box specs N1 type breakers, which were superseeded about 1965.  The main breaker is 100 amps.  However, the lake house is small enough that I would expect it to have 60 amp service.  This raised a question in my mind about the possibility of the PO replacing the original 60 amp main breaker with a 100 amp breaker to 'upgrade' the service.

 

I also started to think about the largest possible load  we could see.  4 burners and the oven on the electric range, 3 window air conditioners, the refrigerator,  maybe a hair dryer, and the tankless water heater  would come close to maxing the system out.

 

Combining all of the above caused me to postpone the tankless heater install until after upgrading to bigger service and a new load center are installed.

[8ntruck 6,841]

Sorry, triple post.

Edited Tuesday at 11:42 PM by 8ntruck

[8ntruck 6,841]

Sorry double post.

Edited Tuesday at 11:39 PM by 8ntruck

[Beap52 738]

I suppose today was "help my neighbor day".  

 

A friend fell 20 feet last February on a construction site and busted up both ankles badly.  He is just now walking short distances with the help of a cane.  Otherwise  he uses a mobility scooter.  Today I used the line trimmer for almost two hours cutting the weeds and grass around his place.  When I mentioned I was to to model train show Friday,  he showed interest. Looks like I'll have a companion at the train show.  The sad part is that his wounds are not healing, the bones are not mending correctly,  He faces another surgery mid October to rebreak and reset the bones.  

 

My next door neighbor is on hospice.  He had fought a good fight against cancer but in the end, it catches up with us.  I sat with Joe an hour and half while his wife took care of business in town. I don't think he ever knew I was there.  Morphine keeps pain at bay.

 

I am blessed that even though I'm almost ten years older than both of these men,  I am able to help them in time of need. 

[Pullstart 62,127]

On 9/15/2024 at 7:05 PM, 8ntruck said:

We've been getting the rotten egg smell from the hot water in the lake house this summer.  I picked up a new anode rod, but when I went to install it, I could not find where the original was mounted.  OK, probably time to replace it.

 

We ended up getting a 13kw electric tankless heater.  Simple, right?  Swap out the circuit breaker for the higher amperage breaker the thankless needs, rip out the water heater, mount the new heater, and re-plumb a little, re-wire some, and you are done.

 

Wrong!  The breaker box is old.  It is calling for breakers that went obsolete about 1965.  My new breaker looked like it would fit, but would not. I saw how to make it fit, but kludging  a 2 pole 60 amp breaker did not seem right - or safe.  We've been thinking about upgrading the electrical service for a while as well.  This was the final straw.  It will be scheduled for next spring.

 

In the meantime, the rotten egg smell will be handled with flushes of the water heater.

 

If this hasn’t been addressed Bill, look into bleaching your well, and treating your water system.  Call me tomorrow if you’ like to chat more.    It’s a bacteria in your water source. 

[wallfish 16,748]

On 9/15/2024 at 7:05 PM, 8ntruck said:

We've been getting the rotten egg smell

Typically sulfur is the cause. Best to have a current water quality sample done and analyzed

Radon systems that aerate the water will also remove sulfur. We have installed quite a few but not just for sulfur only yet. The least expensive system we install is a MCIS Aerator E99. It's the easiest to self install too. More expensive systems are Bubble Up. They contain a pump so most of time it will increase water pressure too depending on the current well pump. Airwell is a system that works directly in the well.

[8ntruck 6,841]

2 hours ago, wallfish said:

Typically sulfur is the cause. Best to have a current water quality sample done and analyzed

Radon systems that aerate the water will also remove sulfur. We have installed quite a few but not just for sulfur only yet. The least expensive system we install is a MCIS Aerator E99. It's the easiest to self install too. More expensive systems are Bubble Up. They contain a pump so most of time it will increase water pressure too depending on the current well pump. Airwell is a system that works directly in the well.

 

Thanks for the tip - you too @Pullstart.  Plenty of time to do research this winter.  The sulfer smell does not happen until the water has been in the heater tank for a week or 10 days.  Longer, if the hot water is used regularly.