Water heater bulletin board

Randy Schuyler

I just wanted to announce that The Tank, a bulletin board about water heater problems and issues, in English and Spanish, is up and running at www.waterheaterrescue.com.

I also wanted to thank the Wallies who contributed formulas to be used in the logo. And Dan Holohan for his help and encouragement.

Waterheaterrescue.com is built upon Larry Weingarten's pioneering work to make water heaters last longer and keep them out of the landfill. It also features a portion of his antique water heater collection.

Mostly homeowners seem to visit, but we hope to eventually draw in plumbers, builders, apartment maintenance people and architects and maybe achieve an interchange of ideas that would benefit everybody.

I'm currently building the Harry Houdini Showcase of awful water heater installations -- mainly where designers and builders didn't think much about the later maintenance ramifications. Contributions to that, preferably with pictures, are welcome. I'll give a credit to the contributor. My favorite is an apartment complex where they stuck an electric in the bathroom sink cabinet and the toilet has to be removed every time the water heater needs to be replaced.

Randy Schuyler
Water Heater Rescue

Brian (Tankless)

How about this one Randy

I changed out eleven (11) 1/2"x 4" rotted & corroded galv' nipples under every sink & toilet in the house, but the landlord said "as long as the waterheater is working, leave it alone".

Yes, that is 3/4" down to 3/8" (maybe 5/16") tubing feeding the whole house. A big-box authorised plumbing contractor installed that. I went there to fix electrical problems, and if you think the plumbing is bad, you should have seen the breaker panel/electrical work (fire city).

I'm sure there is worse out there.

Tankless in Swampland.

Randy Schuyler

That falls more into the category of Evil Contractor/Evil Landlord. What the Houdini Showcase is going to be more about is Evil Architect/Evil Builder. (But don't spread that around because I want to bring in architects and builders -- hopefully to walk in the other guy's shoes and learn better).

The ones I've found during apartment complex inspections could be summarized by the scenario, "Here's a little bit of dead space; I'll just stick the water heater in there. Efficient use of space" And efficient use of hell when it has to be serviced or replaced.

But thanks for sharing. We've experienced galvanized nipples. They really ARE evil.....

Randy