Water Heater Question (Electrical/Plumbing)

[rmaynard 15,459]

17 minutes ago, Racinbob said:

@rmaynard I'll bet you never imagined that this thread would generate so many posts. What brand is your electrical panel? 

Cutler-Hammer (1978)

[squonk 41,118]

13 minutes ago, Jeff-C175 said:

 

Do you have a sign on the door that reads: "Napolean Slept Here" ?

No but there is a patch plate in my metal roof where the old 2nd story wood stove was vented. 

[Racinbob 11,081]

14 minutes ago, rmaynard said:

Cutler-Hammer (1978)

 

OK. I just took a long shot from a different angle. If you would have said Federal Pacific or Zinsco to a lesser degree that almost certainly would have answered the question as to why the breaker didn't trip. 

 

There's a lot of good opinions in this thread but nothing really definitive. I'm thinking the bottom line is replace it and you'll be fine. 

[rmaynard 15,459]

I'm in Florida on vacation at the moment. When I get back the water heater as well as the breaker is being replaced. 

[rmaynard 15,459]

So, I'm back from vacation. Went to Home Depot. They gave me a new water heater. No problem. Installed it yesterday and had hot water again in less than an hour. 

 

 

Thanks for all the input.

 

 

[Jeff-C175 7,202]

1 hour ago, rmaynard said:

They gave me a new water heater. No problem.

 

Wait... what?

 

They GAVE you a new heater free of charge?  No pro-rating?  I guess that lifetime warranty paid off then, didn't it ?!

[seuadr 488]

On 4/30/2021 at 2:15 PM, Jeff-C175 said:

If it was GPG, that's almost 300 PPM and is EXTREMELY hard.  If your water is that hard, you would have scaling all over the place.  Stalagmites growing off of any dripping faucet.  Brownish white deposits in the terlet where the water drains from the holes around the rim and a brownish white 'crud' around the perimeter of your water faucets, water spots on your glassware, inability to make 'suds' with soap.  In other words, you wouldn't need a test to know your water was hard!

this is what i have. it killed a water softener per year, even with 2 regens a day. We gave up on that. 

 

We did solve the smelly/staining bacteria problem to a significant extent by using a UV filter though. - was only 100 dollars or so and the bulb is over a year old at this point  (replacement bulbs are around 40 bucks) the one i have is rated for 22GPM, and my pump only produces like 9 so i figure it must have enough contact time to do an OK job.

 

With our new house, i am pretty seriously considering something like hydrogen peroxide injection to precipitate out the minerals and then a carbon filter instead of using a traditional water softener (we are only moving like 3 miles so - stands to reason the new house will pelt us with pebbles when we shower there too...)

 

[Pullstart 62,882]

1 hour ago, seuadr said:

and then a carbon filter instead of using a traditional water softener (we are only moving like 3 miles so - stands to reason the new house will pelt us with pebbles when we shower there too...)

There’s a new way of getting stoned...

[Jeff-C175 7,202]

1 hour ago, seuadr said:

this is what i have

 

Wow... that's terrible!  What about a 'greensand' filter?  Would that help you any?

 

[Jeff-C175 7,202]

4 minutes ago, pullstart said:

There’s a new way of getting stoned...

 

They'll stone ya when you're trying to take a shower,

They'll stone ya every single hour,

 

 

Edited May 11, 2021 by Jeff-C175

[Pullstart 62,882]

3 minutes ago, Jeff-C175 said:

They'll stone ya when you're trying to take a shower,

They'll stone ya every single hour,

 

“She got a rock, and I’m gettin’ stoned...”

 

 

[Wheel Horse 3D 3,795]

Might check out a Katalox/??? filter. I installed one in my house when we moved in, city water turns to spring water, They have different filter mediums for different water types and conditions.My system was about 600 or so and I installed it myself. Does a backflush once a week to purge the collected contaminants, and mine's supposed to run 10yrs between replacing the medium. I think the medium i got was Katlox Light. If you already have the tank etc. you may be able to pick up the medium for way less. Just be sure to research which medium would work best for ya, and if your water is THAT bad maybe 5 yrs or so for a medium replacement. Think I ordered mine from aquascience.

Edited May 11, 2021 by Wheel Horse 3D

[seuadr 488]

1 hour ago, Jeff-C175 said:

 

Wow... that's terrible!  What about a 'greensand' filter?  Would that help you any?

 

when i got digging into that it was recommended that we have no more than 15 ppm of iron and mag combined - my dKH has tested around 58, so more like 100 ppm:P 

[rmaynard 15,459]

7 hours ago, Jeff-C175 said:

 

Wait... what?

 

They GAVE you a new heater free of charge?  No pro-rating?  I guess that lifetime warranty paid off then, didn't it ?!

Yup. No paperwork. Warranty company not even involved. Assistant manager just said take the one like you are replacing and have a nice day. 

[tom2p 2,394]

11 hours ago, seuadr said:

 

it killed a water softener per year, even with 2 regens a day. We gave up on that. 

 

holy smokes - 2 regens per day ... ouch !

 

we do around 1 regen per week (softener) - and around 1 regen per week for a mineral bed / iron removal system that operates before the softener 

 

[Jeff-C175 7,202]

3 minutes ago, tom2p said:

1 regen per week

 

I have a water meter on my system and regen about every 2 weeks.  That's about 3000 gall or so.  I could go longer, in fact I've gone a month or so when I'm lazy about it.  I get hard water starting to break through at about 5000 gallons.

[rmaynard 15,459]

44 minutes ago, maxauthor18 said:

The enemies of water heaters are impurities in your water that build upon its surface in scale. Scale changes the heat transfer from the surface of the heater to the water.

Thanks for that. My water is softened, and when I drained the tank, there was no sludge in the bottom. I pulled one of the heating elements out prior to taking it back to Home Depot, and other than a little discoloration, it looked like new. 

 

UPDATE: We never found where the water was coming from, but after all was said and done, the warranty company ponied up with a check for $407.00 for my labor, transportation, and miscellaneous parts and fittings.