primitive finds water heater not so frugal after all

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/11281253

Oh my.

One hopes the primitive declares the cash equivalent of the barter on his 0bamatax returns.

Fumesucker (26,347 posts)

The frugal and energy efficient water heater turned out to be not so frugal after all..

Since I'm extremely limited on funds and I'm good at fixing the unfixable I barter my services for a lot of things I need, today's chore was an inoperative electric water heater in a neighbor's home..

This particular unit was Whirlpool energy efficient electric water heater that has a fancy electronic control unit with electronic heat sensors in it to help it conserve power.. At first view I suspected the control unit because the green LED on it that's supposed to be on when it's operating and blinking a code when it senses a problem was not lit. It took about five minutes with my multimeter to determine that the fancy electronic control unit was indeed pining for the fjords while the heating elements were still fine..

So I got on the intertrons to try and find a replacement electronic control unit for this circa ten year old water heater.. I figured it was probably futile and my suspicions turned out to be correct, the control unit is made from triply distilled unobtainum..

Now changing out a water heater is a fairly difficult process and when we started checking out the prices of replacement heaters my neighbor was in severe sticker shock.. $500 for one of this large size (big family needs lots of hot water).

After a little discussion my neighbor who has seen me bring broken items of his back to life before decided to go with my plan, buy the old style mechanical thermostats and shade tree engineer them into the water heater.. Twenty five dollars at the hardware store and a couple of hours cutting the sheet metal outside shroud on the heater to enlarge the two small element holes to fit the new thermostats and then splicing the original wiring into the new thermostats and hot water once again was flowing from the faucets..

I also fabricated new covers for the enlarged thermostat holes from scrap sheet metal and screwed them in place..

The great majority of people would have just given up and bought the new water heater but with a little ingenuity, a few basic tools and a little skill I saved my neighbor at least $450.. For my work I'll get a year of Wifi internet connection which basically will cost him nothing since he already pays for internet and doesn't begin to use the bandwidth he pays for since he mainly uses it for email, facebook and that sort of thing. I've done this particular trade with some of my neighbors before so I already have a high gain directional antenna I built that will let me pick up Wifi from a couple of blocks away so I'm golden there..

Just thought I'd put this out there as an example to my fellow frugalists of what can be done to save money on a major household appliance.

A win-win situation, both my neighbor and myself came out a long way ahead on the deal. I spent about four hours of my time to get what would cost me $400 or more through normal channels and my neighbor saved $450 or so that he couldn't really afford either.

NYC_SKP (42,362 posts)

1. Good job! And, BTW, I hope they use a solar thermal water pre-heater.

These are as frugal and sensible as a water heater can be.

Then don't provide all the water all the time at the high temps needed, but they sure payback quickly and reduce the energy load on the energy-burning heater.

Kaleva (9,182 posts)

4. Hopefully you safety checked the mechanical t-stats after the job was done.

That you measured the temp of the body of the water heater right next to where the mechanical water thermostat mates to the body of the water heater to make sure the t-stat opens within a reasonable range of the temp you read and you do that for both the upper and lower thermostats. I can put an adapter on my Fluke meter on which I can then hook up three different temperature probes. One for liquids, the other for air and the last for checking surface temperatures. And also make sure the wiring is correct by checking to ensure only one t-stat is closed during a call for heat at a time. I'd also would have done an amp draw check on the water heater when first one thermostat and then the other is calling for heat and I'd check the temperature of the hot water coming out of the faucet nearest the water heater after the t-stats on the heater are satisfied and open.

The main point of your OP is excellent. One can barter one's skills and time in exchange for something you need and thus save money. By doing what you did, you not only saved your neighbor a good size chunk of cash but you saved yourself a bunch too. As you said, it was a win-win situation.

Fumesucker (26,347 posts)

5. Yes, the thermostats are working as they should..

I have a IR remote thermometer that I used to check the tank temp before I fastened the new covers down. Verified the voltage across the heating elements to determine correct operation of the thermostats..

Then measured the faucet water temp with an HVAC thermometer..

When I went to check the amp draw with my clamp on ammeter the 9v battery was dead, I haven't used it in a while. Everything else checked out, the voltage drops seemed consistent so I didn't worry about it. The heater was working fine before the electronic control module died.. We had a thunderstorm the night before, I think it was a voltage spike on the power line that took out the module in the first place..

[Bad Dog]

Well, if the neighbors house blows up and/or burns down, I'm sure this "businessman" will make good on their losses.

[Chris_]

Well, if the neighbors house blows up and/or burns down, I'm sure this "businessman" will make good on their losses.

Can you take an insurance policy out on someone else's home?

[Bad Dog]

Can you take an insurance policy out on someone else's home?

If the insurance company finds out about the barterers afro-engineering, there will be no payoff for anybody.

[Carl]

Does any honest person here know what it would take to change the thermostats on a water heater.
Something tells me that like the heat units themselves they are threaded into the water jacket but will stand correction if wrong.

[BEG]

What an insufferable ass. 

[thundley4]

Now changing out a water heater is a fairly difficult process ......

No, it is isn't. My wife and I changed out an electric one that had developed a leak, and put a new gas one in one Friday night  after work.  That included splitting a gas line to the furnace , putting a Tee in with a valve and a new line running to the water heater.

[andhe78]

Probably ought to start a pool on how long it takes before this happens to the water heater.

Water heater boom

[GOBUCKS]

I would never want to be in the same house with this DUmmy-rigged heater. It would make  coach's exploding gas stoves pretty mild by comparison.

[catsmtrods]

There is a well for the aqua stat. Its a simple operation if its a 110 volt WH. Most are. Around here the electric co. will come and install a new energy efficient WH for free and charge you $10 a month rent on it. You will save that $10 on your bill if you had an old WH. Is this dummy not aware of freebies?

[formerlurker]

Well, if the neighbors house blows up and/or burns down, I'm sure this "businessman" will make good on their losses.

Honest to goodness, that is exactly what I was thinking.   

[diesel driver]

Does any honest person here know what it would take to change the thermostats on a water heater.
Something tells me that like the heat units themselves they are threaded into the water jacket but will stand correction if wrong.

The ones I've worked on have a U-shaped clamp above the elements that hold the thermostats.  They act as springs to hold the bi-metallic discs on the thermostats against the tank. 

HOWEVER, most dual element heaters have a switch made into the upper thermostat that turns it on FIRST, then the bottom one when the water at the top gets hot enough.  This is why when an element goes out on a water heater, it's almost always the bottom one, and it's why you only get about 5 minutes of hot water when it does.

If turdsucker hooked both of them up without the switch on the upper thermostat, it's possible the heater could be pulling close to 10,000 watts (about 40 amps) with both elements on at the same time, instead of the preferred one at a time.

DUmmies and electricity.  Be very afraid!   

[Splashdown]

Reminds me of something you'd see on www.thereifixedit.com.