I need a competent water heater repairman QUICK!!

[The Big Lola]

brrrr. I loathe cold showers.

I have a conventional 40 gal. water heater and I think it needs a thermocoupler.

Is there a rent-a-husband around that needs some quick dough?

[Viva Boquete]

Hey!  Gas water heater out.  Replaced battery, no go.  Gas tank full.  Think it's a bad part, only 8 months old.  Can someone put me in touch with a tech?  Or is info on this thread still good?

[Susan Frank]

PETER KELNER

6952 6769

this is current info...we had him @ our house this month

he does not speak a lot of english; but his daughter usually answers the phone & she does speak english.

[Viva Boquete]

Thank you!

[wryawry]

Got yourself in hot water? Inquiring minds would like to know ....

 

From a strictly professional sense of nosiness,

 

wry

[BOB G]

1.  To whom is your message addressed?

2.  What kind of "hot water" are you inferring/implying?

3. What profession?

[wryawry]

Hey, Bob, simply wondering if you corrected the problem with Lola's recalcitrant heater ... and from a strictly professional perspective.

 

From a self-professed jack-of-all-trades, and according to the card in my wallet, a Master of One,

 

Dav (not to be confused with the infamous "Joe" from Ohio ...)

[BOB G]

Dav,

I'm scheduled to go there this afternoon.  I only found out who and where about 30 minutes ago.

I'm also a jack of all trades, pretty much a necessity for a real estate investor and property manager, which I was for over 30 years.

Bob

[wryawry]

Okey-dokey, boyz and gurlz, here's the rub:

 

Many modern storage-type water heaters are "sealed combustion" models. This is easily identifiable, as the "fire door", the lower access panel, is gasketed and bolted to the burner chamber.

I don't know if these engineering marvels have hit the shores of Panama or not, but they are a mighty pain in the posterior.

All gas-fired equipment requires combustion air. This manifests most apparently in a tiny pilot flame. Sealed-combustion units supply combustion air through:

1. A screened opening through the base of the unit -- the "skirt" that the thing sits upon; and

2. a perforated ceramic plate built-in to the bottom of the heater jacket beneath the burner pan.

These units are notorious for failing to sustain ignition from oxygen starvation. Typically, ordinary dust and lint will be drawn into the plastic screening at the lowermost openings and clog them. They are easily removed and cleaned, but they should be re-installed to prevent the same clogging in the ceramic plate, which will then have to be cunningly bashed out of there with a specialized hooked lever and fulcrum arrangement.

An additional annoyance, ensured by the brilliant standard-makers in higher government, is that these types of heaters incorporate a fusible link in the thermocouple lead. This is just in case a dog-doo asteroid hits and smothers the unit, somehow causing it to over-fire. I would never advocate the removal of this redundent safety feature (but I can tell you that it requires about an additional hour of wrenching and drilling and cursing to accomplish ...). These thermocouples are pressed into a base-assembly, ensuring the requirement that the whole shitaree needs to be replaced (until being tackled by a recalcitrant scofflaw like myself. I didn't say that.)

 

Getting back to a standard gas control valve, if you think you can open a can or a bottle of wine whilst hunched over on your knees and elbows, you can change a thermocouple. Those of you lucky enough to have a "gas log" in your fireplace probably have the same sort of standing-pilot ignition. What the thermocouple does is sense the prescence of the pilot flame, which sends a tiny millivolt current back to the gas control valve, telling it that it is okay to open the gas flow. This helps to ensure that you don't blow the roof of your house (along with yourself and your loved-ones) out to Isla Coiba.

 

The more significant discussion would concern whether or not it is time to upgrade to an instant water heater. Consider this if you are opposed to continuouslly pissing-away heat through a chimney into the sky.

 

It should go without saying -- SAFETY FIRST !! -- and Mr. Natural sez, always use the right tool for the job ....

 

Respectfully submitted,

Dav

[Keith Woolford]

The problem with using Propane 'on demand' water heaters here seems to be the constant variance in water pressure. Makes necessary to tank, pump, and regulate, which is an additional operating cost and a racket I'd like to avoid. Any other ideas?

[BOB G]

We have a Stiebel (German) on-demand electric water heater which works over a good range of pressures.  We do have a tank and pump, but do not use it all the time.  If the water flow is down to a minor trickls, the heat doesn't come on.  Then we can turn on the pump.  The risk with leaving the pump on all the time is that you will never know there is a water supply problem until the tank is empty. I do know one guy who installed a warning light in his kitchen to show when the reserve take is 1/3 empty.

There are some other brands of electric on-demand heaters that are somewhat lower in price than the Stiebel.  They all need a hefty electric circuit.  The Stiebel uses 9.6 KW.(40 amps at 240 V)  The nice thing is, once it is installed there are no gas tanks to change