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The Most Beautiful Helper I'll Ever Have

Steamhead
Steamhead Member Posts: 17,209

Last week the water heater in my house died- can't complain because that old American Water Heater 50-gallon unit lasted 26 years- I installed it in 1998. But getting it out of the basement and getting the new one in is more challenging the older you get. The Lovely Naoko stepped up- no, she wasn't wearing those sandals:

:

I am one lucky guy!

All Steamed Up, Inc.
Towson, MD, USA
Steam, Vapor & Hot-Water Heating Specialists
Oil & Gas Burner Service
Consulting
JUGHNEdelcrossvethicalpaulLarry WeingartenclammyMad Dog_2Intplm.Erin Holohan HaskellWaherhot_rodChrisJPRRGreening

Comments

  • Intplm.
    Intplm. Member Posts: 2,128

    Good help is hard to find and you have found it!🙂 Nice water heater too.

  • JUGHNE
    JUGHNE Member Posts: 11,199

    I will have to get more help than one person to get my water heater tank out of the basement.

    It is a 119 gallon Rheem solar tank with tube/shell heat exchanger next to it. It is still there since 1994. I am amazed that a glass lined tank would last that long. The next trip to the basement will probably show a puddle around it. 😯

    PC7060trivetman
  • EBEBRATT-Ed
    EBEBRATT-Ed Member Posts: 16,056
    edited September 16

    I had to get an 80-gallon cement lined Vaughn up a flight of cellar stairs but i posted about that last year. Like 375 lbs. Made a 3/4' hole in the sr wall at the top of the stairs for 3/4 rod with an eye bolt and used a come along.Sandwich thwall with 2x 6s. Did it myself. Had to have help getting it out the door and onto my trailer though. Stripped the jacket and foam insulation off it. I was lucky a scrap yard took it with the cement lining.

  • psb75
    psb75 Member Posts: 888

    Not to one-up, but adding to the two above experiences, I removed a brown-jacketed, 119 gal. Vaughn stone-lined tank out of a cellar bulkhead using a Warn Pullz-all electric winch, up a ramped set of stairs. It was anchored to the hitch on my Toyota Tacoma. This tank kept "red-lining" the winch which was operating "on the edge" of its limit. I made sure that no one was below the tank as it was rising. I have no idea how much the tank weighed. I won't do another one if asked.

  • EBEBRATT-Ed
    EBEBRATT-Ed Member Posts: 16,056

    @psb75 the 80 I did was like 375 at the scrap yard with the jacket and insulation removed. Can't imagine what a 119 would weigh

  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Member Posts: 10,339

    loop the winch cable through a sheave at the load and anchor it to the winch so you halve the force.

    PC7060
  • psb75
    psb75 Member Posts: 888

    Thanks. Good idea for halving the load! I have limited cable length of 13' on the Pullz-all. More pulleys mean more cable.

  • Larry Weingarten
    Larry Weingarten Member Posts: 3,481

    Hi @Steamhead , Just agreeing here that you hit the jackpot. How many partners would have fun posing with a water heater? 🤩

    Yours, Larry

  • Steamhead
    Steamhead Member Posts: 17,209

    That I did. TLN made her debut as Lady Steamhead 20 years ago, at Wetstock 2004. The late great Ken Secor took this pic the first night. At that time we had been married all of two weeks. I was reacting to someone telling a "dad joke" when he pressed the trigger:

    All Steamed Up, Inc.
    Towson, MD, USA
    Steam, Vapor & Hot-Water Heating Specialists
    Oil & Gas Burner Service
    Consulting
    PC7060Larry WeingartenCLamb
  • Larry Weingarten
    Larry Weingarten Member Posts: 3,481

    Hi @Steamhead, I was there as well. I brought my wife, who had recovered enough from a major stroke to let me take her across the country and attend. Dan had been auctioning off his old books to help me. I was not going to miss this gathering! The Holohans then and now, bring us all together and make life richer. Pretty good ❤️

    Yours, Larry