New first-time homeowners and confused plumber....

Semi-retired builder with 45 years fixing and building under my belt. I've been helping a nice couple who've moved into a house that's back yard backs up to the side of my back yard. These are old houses….built late 1800s to early 1900s. The previous owners were, to put it mildly, ignorant, and unpleasant to boot. I saw one of the large local plumbing co.'s trucks parked up a week ago, so I asked the new neighbors what was up. They weren't exactly sure, but they had had some "spurting" at the faucets, so they called the plumber. Who told them the water heater was "installed backwards", but it wouldn't make any difference, and fixing it would mean they would have hot water coming out of the cold faucets…..

At this point my brain is doing spins. I go introduce myself to the mechanic, and sure enough, house supply is piped straight from the main to the hot side of the tank. The tank top has a nice big red marking around the hot nipple, and a matching blue for the cold. The mechanic spent two hours there, all to drain the tank, cut the supply a few inches above the inlet, install a new nipple because there was some corrosion on the old one, and press-fit the supply back together. He still hasn't come back and retrieved the utility pump he used to completely empty the tank before he did any work.

I spend a lot of time these days convinced I live in a madhouse….

But I did learn something…there are storage heaters that are fed by a tee at the drain valve. Learn something new every day.