OT: Murphy strikes again...

trade ya..

930ishAM my daughter in law calls.. am thinking..Ok, whats up with the baby she babysits for? my daughters son..

nope.. baby fine.. DAUGHTER had just called frantic, she was in a car wreck, and then hung up, no ideas where.. but, was hearing the ambulance so went and followed..

she was sitting at light and got rear ended.. is shook up but fine.. car might have a damaged rear bumper, (plastic) but thats all..

lady that hit her? had insurance BUT no license-this is gonna be interesting..

later, son goes to the doctor-has the local bug now for 2 weeks, and was tired of it.. while there HE passes out due to dehydration, and low blood sugar and falls down, bangs head.. is out for "30" minutes or so, maybe, and they didnt bother to call home to HIS wife and mention it..

so, 2 sore kids today...

--Shiva--

Did you get the usual 1-year home warranty? I don't think you can buy a house in SC without one... I think it's just about a deal breaker if the seller isn't willing to offer one.

Lee

yeah, we'll see if third time is the charm... had two previous issues where I called them, and got sick of trying to find a repairman that would actually come out. I don't remember now what broke the first time, the second one was when the ignitor in the furnace went Tango Uniform (and it was below freezing of course) and I was able to get a new one and fix it before I could get anyone to come look at it. At least this time I can wait (it is fairly easy to simply drain down the water line to the garage, obviously already done)

nate

Lee Aanderud wrote:

The idea of putting a water heater in an attic is a local custom I never understood. Water heater leaks are the factory installed indicator that it is time to change them. Bill (From up north where we put water heaters in the basement) Clark

Yes, and it seems like it's always sooner than the years it's supposed to last.

When you figure that out, you can then move on to why people are putting the washer and dryer on the 2nd floor. It's convenient... except for when it overflows or backs up. Hopefully these people are putting floor drains in those closets and at minimum overflow drain pans.

Lee

Great units... if you have gas plumbed to the house.

Lee

I'd consider relocating the water heater as well...

JT

Nate Nagel wrote:

I don't want to relocate it because there's tons of space upstairs but the actual garage space is at a premium... BUT I will definitely have some kind of drip pan with a real drain under the replacement. I don't know why anyone would put a water heater anywhere other than a basement with a floor drain *without* a drip pan.

nate

Grumpy AuC> I'd consider relocating the water heater as well...

Washer n Dryer co-located on the same floor as bedrooms is a very smart option. Yes you gotta plan for leakage and noise, but lugging baskets of clothes up and down steps is just damn stupid, if it can be avoided..

Mark (constructively lazy) Dunning

Local experience with tankless heaters is largely of the Al Gore/Sheryl Crow variety...

When I was building my house, I knew I had to have one of these (despite it costing over 5 times as much as a standard unit). Got to visit the home of the supplier who stocked them, and discuss his adventure. They don't have a very long service life. What does water have in it? Hint: they all have letters on the periodic table. When you heat water up from entry temp to shower temp in a few seconds, guess where those encrusting lab initials end up? Bring muriatic and a chisel.

If you're pre-heating with solar tubes, a stove jacket or geothermal, and only need a final boost to get to the temp you need, they're all right. If you have a cabin where you don't want to drain everything down for the off season, they're acceptable. But if you live in a house and expect to bathe every day, they're a status symbol. Expect to do one in at least every two years. And if you have a family, you might need two.

I encountered less-than-stellar perfornamce from tankless heaters in England and the Netherlands.

YMMV

Mark

When I did some extensive traveling in the Indian Ocean and Far East, I spent a couple of weeks on Mauritius where the culture is highly Europeanized. Most of the hotels had "on demand" water heaters and I found that the water temperature tended to be erratic and think that they would not work very well in a cold climate.

OTOH, Just using the pilot and being the only consumer of hot water in

*my household* works quite well...

JT

But if you live in a house and expect to bathe

It's funny you should mention this. I've had a Rinnai tankless heater in my house for ~4 years. I wasn't trying to be "green" when I installed it. I wanted to free up some space in a cramped furnace\laundry room. The "unlimited" hot water was attractive too, if it actually worked that way. So far, I really like it. 2 people can shower at the same time with capacity to spare, although I've never checked to see how much more. It 'seems' that the water pressure will crap out before the hot water. 2 Showers and, say, the dishwasher kills the pressure in my house. The only problem I've had with deposits was plugging of the inlet(?) screen. I have to clean it a couple times a year. If I get one more year from it with no issues, I'll be quite happy and call the experiment a success. The unit was pricy. Although it does save some on the gas bill, the benefits of extra space and no cool showers was worth it IMHO. The gas bill savings is, to me, an added bonus. I've never calculated it but it was noticeable. I got the idea of the Rinnai from a home builder who was using one in a unique application. He heated the ~100'x35' garage that housed his car collection with one. The hot water was pumped through tubes in the concrete floor. Very sweet setup. Something to keep in mind if you ever build a home for your pampered Stude.