Check & drain you water heaters, A/C , &....

[Espresso]

the garage door opener motor...GRRR
Edit(ed again 7/11)...My rant follows this. If you DO NOT have a water softner( we have had for 2 years but it is too late).. You NEED to check & drain your water heaters. There is SO MUCH crap in our heater it isnt funny. I'm serious. You all need to do yourselves a favor & clean it out. Granted it only cost me $21 for the element & tool, but for the time it is taking to drain, clear the drain, drain more, ect..After having to clear the drain every 5 minutes, it gets old very quick. I know alot fo you are older than me & most have the same symptoms..bad back, knees, ect..
I knwo some of you are saying"I'll pay to haev th eplummer do it"..hahaha. SO far it has taken me more time to clear & empty the tank, then for a 120 mile round trip to go get the parts. I have been trying to get this thing drained dince 11:30 & it isnt even close. SO if a plummer does it you can look at about 2 hours labor time( here that is $240). Or you can do it for FREE, by draining EVEY YEAR!! I did it when we first moved in & it was horrible, then I added the softener. I guess I didnt do it as through as I thought.
ANyway..On to my rant last night.

Damn it, i'm pissed. Here it is A few days before the hurricane is in the area, we are packing to go on a trip overseas, i'm cleaning up the house, just went & bough t afew things, tuned up everyones generators & chain saws on the block...in other words. I'm hurting, VERY tired, dirty beyond belief & the MOTHER&&$%^**^ hotwater heater breaks!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The lower element took a dump. I turned on the water & was like ..."ok, it's kinda cool whats up". The...BBBBIIIIZZZZRRRRTTT!!!!! The lights flicker I was like WHAT THE &^$# was that? It was loud enough for the dog to bark.
I go & look at the hot water heater & her it crackling & ****, so I unplug it, cut off the blanket( ofcourse I now have insulation all over me) & the #&()#$%( wires to the lower element are all burned & crpa.....damn it

So here I am dirty a pig in !@#$ & have NO HOT WATER!!!!!!!! I cant take a cold shower because it will make my back go into spasm. I took my meds right before I got in the shower also( alot of yo uknwo after 10PM i'm about done & cant type for crap). I'm missing the daily show t....damn it!!!!
Time for a good old fashioned heat the water on the stove & bathe like it's the 19th century.
ARRGGGHH!!!

[bigdogdad]

Feel for you expresso. My back isn't as bad as yours but it still hurts. I was mowing the yard until 9PM last night. Figured with the storm coming I would mow it now because its going to be a long and wet next few days. To bad you don't live closer, you could have taken dip in my pool. Thats what I did right after mowing the yard and it felt good. I must have hit the swith on the solar panels, the pool was 97 degrees, but it and the ice cold one felt real good.
My house is now 14 yrs old and I just had a guy over to give me an estimate on my water heater. Its working fine but....
Have a safe trip and see you when you get back.

[quicksilverdon]

Never a good time for things like that. Couple years back, duaghetr was showering before going on a job interview, has hair all soaped up when well decided to go dry.....
I replaced elements in hot water heaters, but never had wiring fry - is it fused correctly?[:I]

[Espresso]

Well, I managed to get a shower at about 4AM. I caped off the wiring to the lower element & just used teh uper to heat. I know it worked the crap out of the upper, but it is just for today, so it isnt that bad.

Man, a pool would haev been soo lovely last night. I was actually thinking of going to the harbor & getting in the water.

QSD, yeah it's wiried properly. After I took off teh heater blanket, I found that the water heater is almost 25 years old. The lower element is a little rusty. I think it's starting to leak, which caused the rust & crazy high resistance.
The good news is. I can fix it for under $50. The bad news is I dont know if anyone has the parts.
I'm about to call the local dealer & see what they have.

[bigdogdad]

You probably will but do a search with the brand, model#. I am sure someone out there can still help.

[Espresso]

I just talked with the auth. repair shop in FT. Myers. They said I need to call State Industries directly, & confirm what I need.
He told me that almost all elements are interchangeable, so he is sure they have it, but we need to know which one it is. Hopefully with any luck I can have it fixed by lunch time.
It's a simple unscrew & replace.

[bigdogdad]

I guess I can consider myself lucky to have this water heater for 14 years. I even have hard water to boot but I do flush the system every year. Lucky but I have a feeling time is no longer on my side. Just got pricing on a new 75 gallon (more expensive then I thought but then again I am stuck on pricing from 14 years ago) yesterday and will probably have it installed by the end of the month.
Well espresso, finish up your job and take a nice long hot shower!!

[Espresso]

Edited topic & 1st post.

I had to drive to sarrasota to get the parts. The guy there was really cool. He gave me a $3 discount on the part, because of my drive up there. HOPEFULLY it will be fixed by dinner time.

[Espresso]

Well, as of 3:54 I have hot water once again..
Here are some pics of what came out of my heater. The one pic of the bottom of the driveway , the stuff that looks like beach sand..that came out of it also.
The pics dont really capture everythign that came out. Alot went into the grass & I tossed about 2 cuos owrth out when all the water was finally drained,so I scooped it out.




Master bath shower head

[bigdogdad]

Man, thats some nasty looking stuff you have there. So the old water heater is good as new now and will last another 20 years you say?!