Removal of 80 gallon stone lined water heater

EBEBRATT-Ed

Back in May I decided to finally replace our 80 gallon stone lined Vaughn electric water heater. It was over 20 years old but not leaking and may have lasted forever but it's an energy pig for two people. These Vaughn stone lined tank were very popular with the electric utilities installed them (including this one before we owned this place) for years. But our local utility gave up on that a few years back and said "you now own the tank."

Thanks a lot!!!

I knew it was going to be a PITA and wanted to get it done before it let go or I got any older. It probably would outlast me!

So, I bought a new 40 gallon and installed it back in May. The old heater with the cement lining is about 400# empty. I got it up on some 1" pipe for rollers and pushed it to the side where it sat and sat LOL

I stripped the plastic jacket off it and then all the 2" foam. Originally, I thought I would cut it with a grinder with a cutting disk and then break up the concrete. The stairs are very tight with a sharp turn at the top and bottom. No outside entrance to the cellar.

The cellar is semi-finished off so I hung plastic around the tank area and with safety goggles and a mask started cutting. It just made too much of a mess and the neighbors (we are in a condo) complained about the noise. I folded back part of the steel (1/8" thick) and tried busting the concrete and that was going to be tough. I also tried a Sawzall and bought a metal cutting blade for my Skill saw and that didn't work out well either

So, then I tried call a few junk guys to take it out. No one wanted anything to do with it. The one honest guy told me to cut it up he would have to charge me over $xxxx.xx to take it out.

Time for plan B

So today (while my girlfriend was gone for the day) was my time to strike.

I used a Come a Long and pulled it up the stairs which worked like a dream. Once I was all set up I had it upstairs in 10-15 min.

I used a 5/8" eye bolt with a rod coupling and a piece of rod with some nuts and washers a made a hole in the sheet rock wall.

Now you know why I waited till she was gone.

I put a 3' 2 x 6 on each side of the wall to sandwich the wall. No damage to the sheet rock at all except for the 1" hole I made which I patched.

So, the good news is I got it out of the celler!!

Bad news is it's sitting in the kitchen so I am still feeling the heat.

I got to wait to get my brother to give me a hand getting it out the door down 3 steps and onto my trailer.

But I let my Neice borrow the trailer and when I texted her today, she said it is sitting in her yard full of mulch and has a flat tire.

When I stretched out my come a long it was 3" short. So, I had a few xtra shackles I made up the distance with. Of course when I got up to the top step I ran out of cable and had to disconnect the shackles. I drilled a hole in the tank and used a piece of 1/4" wire rope and some clips up and back up through the HW outlet to hook on to the tank.

So the saga continues!!

PC7060

“ But I let my Neice borrow the trailer and when I texted her today, she said it is sitting in her yard full of mulch and has a flat tire.”
@EBEBRATT-Ed - That was pretty rude of you to saddle her with a trailer with a flat tire! We all know it’s impossible to offload mulch with a flat tire!😂

PC7060

PS: nice work!  

EBEBRATT-Ed

@PC7060

This tank just does not want to leave. LOL

kcopp

Those tanks are beasts... In the last couple years I removed one 75gallon that was still working and installed in 1975. Another one which was just starting to leak was 1973!

hot_rod

It is amazing what you can accomplish when no one is watching
Or at home listening😉

Larry Weingarten

Hi @EBEBRATT-Ed , This is a well-told story. I'm looking forward to the happy conclusion, and hopefully not too much aspirin is involved 😉

Yours, Larry

JUGHNE

We took out one of those that was in a hospital.
It was obvious it was craned into the boiler room with the boilers in 1977, before roof was installed.

This was 360 gallon tank. Almost 4' diameter and maybe 10' tall.

We hired a torch operator who cut it into about 4 rings.
A heavy hammer was needed to break the liner at the torch cuts.
We hauled it out in pieces.

It was a 2 (70 year old) men and a boy of 17.....don't tell anyone that....job.

Replaced it with two HTP SS condensing WH's.

Big Ed_4

Good Luck . You have to pay the dues ...

hot_rod

Plasma cutters seem to work better on metals that have coatings.
Some of the portable plasmas have compressors built in. Plug it in and go.

EBEBRATT-Ed

Normally you could cut the tank metal with a grinder and a cutting disk. Probably have all the metal off in half an hour.

But working in the small basement with only one window, all the dust and metal shavings and a semi finished basement I could see after I started cutting that I had to come up with another plan.

But those are really good water heaters. All the metal looked like new after 20 years. The water does not permeate the stone lining.

When she came home and saw it in the kitchen..........oh well. I showed her the pictures of how I got it up the stairs. She immediately went in and looked for holes in the walls. Good thing I had already patched them.

Matt_67

I love it! Reminds me of the man that taught me most of what I know mechanically. He just turned 80 and is still working. A year ago I was working on a shutdown he was running at a mill and had finished the first job he had given me. I went looking for him - found him changing a 6” steam seperator by himself with a couple chain falls. Had the old one down and the new one rigged and ready to lift.

mattmia2

Couldn't you have accomplished the same thing by wrapping a couple layers of water heater blankets around it? If it is electric the only loss is through the outside of the tank, you reduce that and the new one is no more efficient.

Mad Dog_2

That's exactly how I would've jacked it out Ed.  Two x six planks on the stairs, widow-maker padded 4 x 4 on the door buck.  I love jobs like that BECAUSE they are so difficult and risky and you have to overcome it. Rigging is an art.....I would've taken a ride to give you a hand.  Seriously.  Sounds like mission accomplished...Like Murray the Old Plumber I worked with in the late 1990s.."S.O.B. jobs like this are a success when everyone goes home with all the fingers and toes they started with..damaged walls can be fixed.'  Mad  Dog 🐕 

psb75

Well done Ed! A couple of month's ago, I winched a 119 gal. stone-lined Vaughn water heater out of a cellar up some stairs through a bulkhead. I used a Warn electric Pullsall. It is essentially an electric come-along. I used my Toyota Tacoma truck--backed up to the bulkhead-- and it's ball hitch as my anchor point. The cable is only 13' long. The winch quickly maxed-out (showing its red "warning light"). So.... I put a pulley in the rig to double the winch's capacity. But I then only had about 6.5' of "travel". Had to do some fussy re-rigging. It worked. I left the tank outside at the client's house. I have no idea what the scrap yard has to say about those tanks. I'd be interested to know.

EBEBRATT-Ed

@Mad Dog_2

Stairs are carpeted so it sild up the stairs real smooth.

One thing about these tanks is sitting vertical and level I could tell it still had some water in it even with the drain valve open and lowered to the drain valve level. I removed the lower heater element and looked in with a flashlight, yep water.

I got a hose in there and pumped the residual water out and just about filled a 5 gallon pail so that got rid of the mess potential and about 40 pounds.

I remember my brother and I removing one of these from his mother in laws house and she had a bulkhead.

We just couldn't do it and we were 30 years younger back then. Backed up the truck and put a chain on it.

jumper

mattmia2 said:

Couldn't you have accomplished the same thing by wrapping a couple layers of water heater blankets around it? If it is electric the only loss is through the outside of the tank, you reduce that and the new one is no more efficient.

My question as well.

EBEBRATT-Ed

@mattmia2 & @jumper

I could have but the tank was over 20 years old. I am 70. I wanted to change it and put in a new one with a 12 year warranty while I could do it myself. In 10 years I would have to pay even bigger money to remove this concrete beast plus have a new one installed.

SuperTech

Ed I really appreciate your creativity and ingenuity for tackling this project.  I'm pretty sure the majority of guys half your age wouldn't be able to overcome the obstacles that stood in your way. Thank you for sharing this with us. 

Big Ed_4

"We left it in the corner for spare parts , just incase "

Intplm.

@EBEBRATT-Ed
Nice! Very Nice removal job.
I don't bother removing them any longer because years ago six guys and the old water heater up the stairs?
All that heavyweight. Whoops! DOWN GO THE STAIRS. Destroyed! It snapped. The guys destroyed the staircase.
They just weren't thinking.

jumper

Intplm. said:

@EBEBRATT-Ed
Nice! Very Nice removal job.
I don't bother removing them any longer because years ago six guys and the old water heater up the stairs?
All that heavyweight. Whoops! DOWN GO THE STAIRS. Destroyed! It snapped. The guys destroyed the staircase.
They just weren't thinking.

So how did tank get down there in first place?

Big Ed_4

Gravity takes them down and energy takes them up ...

Tip : Check the stairs first ...

EBEBRATT-Ed

@jumper.

Don't know how it got there the electric utility installed it 20 years ago before we were here.

They must have had 4 body builders do it.

The stairs are average width but tiny landing at the top with a 90 degree turn. Same thing at the bottom. Not enough room for a hand truck at the top or bottom.

Even after I stripped off the jacket and 2" of foam (that reduced the diameter 4" it fit but not much extra room

mattmia2

Probably have to tip it on to a mover's dolly at the top and bottom and slide it sideways but even with stair climbers the top couple steps are going to be basically lifting it straight up

Intplm.

jumper said:

Intplm. said:

@EBEBRATT-Ed
Nice! Very Nice removal job.
I don't bother removing them any longer because years ago six guys and the old water heater up the stairs?
All that heavyweight. Whoops! DOWN GO THE STAIRS. Destroyed! It snapped. The guys destroyed the staircase.
They just weren't thinking.

So how did tank get down there in first place?

The basement was made into a living space long after the water heater was originally installed making for less room to remove it.
It was much lighter when installed because, over the years, a mixture of rice stone and water remained in the water heater and could not be removed due to the threat of an entire mess being made that couldn't be avoided due to the basement being finished.
This happened decades ago and has stuck with me ever since.
Basically, the water heater was boxed in when the basement was finished with no thought of future maintenance requirements.

Big Ed_4

The stair set up.... Queens ?

Intplm.

Big Ed_4 said:

The stair set up.... Queens ?

Connecticut. At a condo complex.

EBEBRATT-Ed

Well I have been taking a lot of heat for the last two weeks because the old water tank has been sitting in the kitchen.

Finally, my brother is on vacation this week, so we got the tank outside on a hand truck. Only had to go down 3 steps. Took it to a scrap yard (I called ahead and asked about the concrete lining) and got $15.00 for it. Not enough to buy both of us breakfast but I was just happy to get rid of it. They weighed the truck/trailer in and out and the tank was 340#.

I had texted my niece as she has my trailer, and they finally unloaded the mulch they had in it but bad news. Her husband made a dump run with it and thought he had it coupled up (but didn't) but it fell off halfway to the dump. At least he had the safety chains hooked up. Luckly it didn't have much in it and the only damage were cut the light wires, so I had to fix that up.

Larry Weingarten

As William Shakespeare said, "All's Well That Ends (mostly) Well"!

Yours, Larry

realliveplumber

A good deed never goes unpunished.

SgtMaj

I hate to be Mr. Obvious here, wouldn’t it have been easier to use a dolly?

WMno57

SgtMaj said:

I hate to be Mr. Obvious here, wouldn’t it have been easier to use a dolly?

For which phase of the move? Basement stairs, outside porch stairs? I think Ed nailed it. I've moved all kinds of heavy things over my lifetime. I have the wear and tear on my body to prove it! Wish I had someone like Ed to mentor me when I was young and dumb.

EBEBRATT-Ed

@SgtMaj

340# on a dolly going upstairs was not something I wanted to try. Too old for that

realliveplumber

We purchased an Escalra stair cat about 2 years ago. Without a doubt, the best tool/ piece of equipment I have ever purchased. Absolutely worth its weight in gold.

My 125 lb. Brother moves 75 gallon water heaters up and down stairs by himself. I stand there and watch. 400 lb. Cast iron tub? No problem. 1 man job.

http://www.staircat.com/stairclimbing/index.htm

EBEBRATT-Ed

@realliveplumber

I have never used one of those, but I believe they are great when you can use them. I have seen demonstrations of their use.

In this case they would not have worked. The space at the bottom of the stairs was big enough for the water tank only. And that was with the jacket and 4" of insulation removed.

The top of the stairs was almost as bad a very small landing and a 90 degree turn. Don't think it would have worked and I don't own one and don't know anyone that does.