# NO hot water



## FREEPOP (Apr 11, 2002)

The town near me has such bad water that getting new water heaters every year is not uncommon :rant:


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## N M Mechanical (Feb 7, 2008)

Not to cut my sales of water heaters why change the tank if it is not leaking. Drain the tank to get rid of the rust and sidiments on the bottom of the tank every once and awhile and most tanks today have at least 6 year warranty on them.


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## FREEPOP (Apr 11, 2002)

Believe it or not, those heaters would be full in a years time :yikes:

Make carrying them from the basement real fun.

FWIW, my G/F had a water heater tank go when we were north for the fourth a couple of years ago. Can you say thousands in damages ???


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## jpollman (Jan 14, 2001)

N M Mechanical said:


> Not to cut my sales of water heaters why change the tank if it is not leaking.


Based on what he said, the tank has a date of 1992 on it. If that's the manfacture date and it sat around a warehouse for four years before it was installed, it's still been in service for twelve years! I doubt it's been in service for less than thirteen or fourteen years. That's on borrowed time! You can pick up a new 40 gal. electric water heater for right around $300. That's cheap insurance as far as I'm concerned. Pluse the added peace of mind that you'll have hot water when you need it. 


John


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## N M Mechanical (Feb 7, 2008)

jpollman said:


> Based on what he said, the tank has a date of 1992 on it. If that's the manfacture date and it sat around a warehouse for four years before it was installed, it's still been in service for twelve years! I doubt it's been in service for less than thirteen or fourteen years. That's on borrowed time! You can pick up a new 40 gal. electric water heater for right around $300. That's cheap insurance as far as I'm concerned. Pluse the added peace of mind that you'll have hot water when you need it.
> 
> 
> John


 I agree I was was more less talking about the idea of changing the tank every few years as pervious mentioned.


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## mwp (Feb 18, 2004)

Another question now that I read this thread.I've been in this house for 11 years now.We built the house so the tank is 11 years old.We have heavy iron content in our well water.No leaks with the tank or problems yet.What do I do to drain the tank?,is it recommended?If it does go what should I expect to have someone come and install a new tank? thanks in advance


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## Michihunter (Jan 8, 2003)

mwp said:


> Another question now that I read this thread.I've been in this house for 11 years now.We built the house so the tank is 11 years old.We have heavy iron content in our well water.No leaks with the tank or problems yet.What do I do to drain the tank?,is it recommended?If it does go what should I expect to have someone come and install a new tank? thanks in advance


Here's a pretty decent article on maintaining your water heater.
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=howTo&p=Repair/WaterHtrMaintaince.html#1

Cost of replacement would be dependent on material and time. But for a standard plain jane water heater replacement you're looking at around $700-1000 from a licensed contractor.


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## tinmarine (Nov 19, 2007)

I have an electric water heater and oddly enough I HAD interruptable service on it. The interupt can went bad. If you stick your meter on it, make sure your doing it right. My interupt only killed one leg of the power. In my anger of no hot water I checked the legs and it read power. BUT, the way I tested it was wrong, I had power to one leg and it was back feeding and showing power to the second leg after I calmed down and realized what I did I re checked it and showed one dead leg. Of course it only happened in the cold weather.


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## eddiejohn4 (Dec 23, 2005)

InTheRiver said:


> Went to take a shower this morning...surprise no hot water! Last night GF took a shower no problems, Today after I left she used the water and said the same no hot water, a wile later she used it again and there was hot water now back to square one no hot water? I checked the breaker, the reset on the heater its self and they were all good, no leaks, and the pressure valve doesnt work, I cannot open it. Any ideas?? Its an electric water heater. I paid the bill too so its not that LOL


 
Since there seems to be hot water when the GF uses it ,I suggest showering with her:evilsmile


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## Michihunter (Jan 8, 2003)

eddiejohn4 said:


> Since there seems to be hot water when the GF uses it ,I suggest showering with her:evilsmile


Always the practical one huh EJ?:lol::lol:


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## FREEPOP (Apr 11, 2002)

tinmarine said:


> I have an electric water heater and oddly enough I HAD interruptable service on it. The interupt can went bad. If you stick your meter on it, make sure your doing it right. My interupt only killed one leg of the power. In my anger of no hot water I checked the legs and it read power. BUT, the way I tested it was wrong, I had power to one leg and it was back feeding and showing power to the second leg after I calmed down and realized what I did I re checked it and showed one dead leg. Of course it only happened in the cold weather.



This seems very odd to me.


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## Michihunter (Jan 8, 2003)

FREEPOP said:


> This seems very odd to me.


Testing each leg to ground would in fact give him 110v on each leg due to the voltage going through the heating element in essence going full circle. However, leg to leg would have remained 110v instead of 220v. I do agree with the 'oddness' of a H20 heater being on interrupt and especially being shut down in winter.


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## FREEPOP (Apr 11, 2002)

Any juice going to the element is defeating the purpose of an interuptable service, unless it is meant to reduce overall load.


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## Michihunter (Jan 8, 2003)

FREEPOP said:


> Any juice going to the element is defeating the purpose of an interuptable service, unless it is meant to reduce overall load.


The element itself is doing no work without the resistance created by the other leg.


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## InTheRiver (May 15, 2006)

I talked with DTE yesterday and I do have interuptable service on my water heater, they said its only interupted for 15 minutes at the most and can be interupted at any time and as many as they need. They said it would never be enough for the heater to cool off though.


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## tinmarine (Nov 19, 2007)

InTheRiver said:


> I talked with DTE yesterday and I do have interuptable service on my water heater, they said its only interupted for 15 minutes at the most and can be interupted at any time and as many as they need. They said it would never be enough for the heater to cool off though.


What else are they going to say? When I HAD interupt on my A/C it only ran for 10 min an hour. I called and they told me I was wrong and they only cut it for about 10 minutes in an hours time. Yeah right, I'm wrong, I was sitting there boiling and they're telling mr I'm wrong. What's said and what's done are two seperate things.


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## UNREEL (Jun 8, 2007)

jpollman said:


> I'll go along with what michihunter said. But I have a question. How old is the tank? If it's more than eight or nine years old, I'd just replace it. You may be able to get it working but it's already on borrowed time.
> 
> John


Listen to JP.

8-10 yrs is life. 

Replace the tank...


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