|
My mom just bought a foreclosed cabin, and I'm going to be redoing all the plumbing since the previous owners damaged or removed nearly everything before they got kicked out. Since it's going to be more of a weekend destination, I thought a tankless water heater would be the most economical method for taking hot showers and washing the occasional load of laundry. I can't decide though, whether I want to go with electric or LP. The electric heater is cheaper, but I'd have to upgrade the panel from 100 amps to 200. LP is a bit more expensive, but I've never installed a gas appliance before. I've also heard conflicting reports about how well they actually work. I guess my question for you is, which one would you install? Or would you skip tankless altogether and go for a 40 gallon electric tank heater?
|
#
¿
Jun 30, 2009 05:09
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 27, 2024 21:33 |
|
|
Is there any alternative to heat tape for freeze-proofing the well hookups underneath a manufactured home? My brother recently had his well replaced, and the plumber said he did something so he didn't need the tape, but of course my brother doesn't remember what he said he did. Google doesn't bring up any suggestions, and the only thing I can think of is the split foam insulation tubes, but I can't imagine that would keep enough heat in to prevent the pipes from freezing this winter. I would just crawl under and look for myself, but his place is a few hours away and i'm not heading that way for at least the next month.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 27, 2009 05:02
|
|
|
Rd Rash 1000cc posted:I imagine he used a form of pipe insulation. Or he's a retarded plumber and just used pex and said it wouldn't free and split. Which it will freeze and split. That's what I don't get though, insulation just resists heat flow. If no one is around using water, the water in the pipes is eventually going to cool off enough that it freezes. Unless there's some sort of recirculating pump that constantly keeps the water moving, but that seems like more of a pain than the heat tape. I just don't get it.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 27, 2009 13:14
|
|
|
So to update on the cabin project I posted about a couple weeks ago, I finally got a good look at the plumbing, and the only thing that burst was the water heater and a piece of CPVC that ran in the wall from the cold water in to a water softener in the other room (stupid manufactured homes with no room for plumbing so you have to put the softener in the closet of the bedroom next door). The rest of the house was plumbed in pex. Anyway, I installed a new 50 gallon tank heater and replumbed the pressure tank (what kind of plumber just sets a tank on top of a water heater without at least securing it in some way). I ran a few temporary lines just to get them going until I can get up there and redo the whole house properly. My only question now is, what's the best insulation to stop condensation on pex? I put on those foam tubes, but they are still moist when I check them. Google doesn't say much, other than "pex doesn't condensate", to which I say nuh-uh. Maybe if I get those ultra-flexible wraps with tape built in instead of the cheap stuff? Or maybe I just need to install it better. I still don't know how my brothers well pipes are insulated, and the drat plumber still won't call me back.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 12, 2009 05:51
|
|
|
Rd Rash 1000cc posted:I've never seen pex condensate. How'd you install it? Some pics may be helpful. What type of temps are you reaching at the location you're in. Unfortunately, I won't be able to get any pictures until next weekend when I go up there again. As for the install, there were four lengths of pex coming up thru the floor - cold in from the well, cold out (I assume it branches under the floor in the warm insulated space), cold in for the water heater, and hot out. Every cold pipe in this area as well as the pipes under the kitchen sink and the bathrooms have moisture on them. I did find one reference on google to pex condensating in northern Minnesota with the ultra-cold well water. So it's not just my installation, even the existing pex is condensating, as well as the pressure tank.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 12, 2009 14:21
|
|
|
Mark Kidd posted:Like most people where I live, I have to buy bottled water for drinking and cooking. What's the reason why you use bottled water? Is it a quality issue, where a water filter may help, or is it something else? A lot of newer fridges with thru-door water/ice have built-in filters. If that's not enough, try a whole house pre-filter.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 14, 2009 05:04
|
|
|
Is anyone here familiar with Richmond tankless water heaters, specifically model RTGL74PVN? I just spent the past 8 hours replacing a 10 year old 85 gallon heater with one of these tankless models, and I can't get it to work. The water is flowing fine to the heater and out from it, but whenever I run hot water, the control panel displays error codes C2 and 11. The manual says code 11 means the gas valve isn't open completely, but it is completely open, and as far as I can tell, the gas is flowing. The manual says nothing about code C2, and nothing on Google is giving me any results. There should be plenty of gas, I have a high pressure main going to 1" black pipe, with a 3/4" bushing and about 30 feet of black pipe with 6 90' elbows and a tee for the sediment trap. Does the sediment trap have to be directly below the gas valve on the unit? I installed it like this: Gas valve -> Close Coupling -> Union -> Close coupling -> 90' Elbow -> 8" Nipple -> Tee -> Down to sediment trap and up to gas supply. The picture in the manual shows Valve -> Coupling -> Union -> Coupling -> Tee -> Down to sediment, sideways to gas supply. I can change it if it will help. Lastly, would too much gas pressure cause a problem? I didn't install a pressure regulator, but can get and install one tomorrow. This is my first time working with gas, so I'm not familiar with all the caveats.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 20, 2009 06:00
|
|
|
Rd Rash 1000cc posted:Whats the BTU on that water heater? Im thinking you could have undersized it with the 3/4 running that far but untill i know the BTU's i wont know for sure. The max is 199,900 according to the manual. We have someone coming out to check the pressure at the heater today, and I guess we could swap it out for 1" pipe if we have to. drat, I was hoping this would be easy. 
|
|
#
¿
Sep 21, 2009 15:41
|
|
|
Rd Rash 1000cc posted:Did you use flex or 3/4 black iron? I used black pipe. I can still take pictures if you're interested, but I solved the problem earlier today. The gas company came out yesterday, measured the pressure and it was way too high. I found a regulator at a local plumbing supply house, picked it up this morning, and got it working this afternoon. Now I just have to pick a time to de-solder the male adapter I installed for the TP valve and replace it with a female adapter (I swear the valve had a female end when I looked at it in the store, and somehow it re-forged itself in the box while I was installing the heater). I installed it with a brass coupler for the time being, but it's going to be sitting there taunting me until I make it right. I may have advocated buying from the big box stores in the past due to their prices, but after this fiasco, I don't think I'll ever go back. It doesn't make sense to me why a store that sells tankless water heaters wouldn't carry the required accessories to install them. I had to order the vent kit online because they only carry a through-the-wall kit (I had to vent through the roof), and they don't carry and can't even order the pressure regulator I needed to make it work.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 23, 2009 01:33
|
|
|
dietcokefiend posted:
My first thought is that the inspector thought the "plumber" who did your house used the proper transition fittings, something a real plumber would have used. That's pretty messed up though, I'm surprised they held pressure at all if they fell apart that easy.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 30, 2010 07:11
|
|
What the gently caress 
|
I'm having an issue with my water heater, and I have a theory on how to fix it, but I want to run it by you guys here first to see if there are any potential pitfalls with it. My problem is, the cold taps in my kitchen sink and utility room sink run extremely hot for the first few seconds after I turn them on. The reason for this is that I have a thermostatic mixing valve on the hot output of my water heater, and it's bleeding hot water back through the cold input. The pipes coming out of the water heater get so hot that I can't touch them. Anyway, what I want to do to fix this is install a heat trap on the cold water input to the mixing valve. I already have traps on the main cold input to the water heater, as well as the hot output (between the heater and the mixing valve). I'm not an expert at these mixing valves, so I want to make sure I won't damage it by installing a heat trap on the cold input. Here's what the plumbing on the heater looked like: I added the heat traps after I took this picture, in place of the brass nipple on the hot output, and between the valve and the vacuum breaker on the cold input. If I add a third trap to the top of that mixing valve, will it cause any problems? I suppose I'll just do it anyway and see what happens.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 28, 2010 17:15
|
|
|
Rd Rash 1000cc posted:It shouldnt cause any problems. But it sounds like you're mixing valve is bad. It looks like a Honeywell mixing valve. They usually have internal check valves in them to prevent back flow. If water is going backwards it could very well be a bad check valve. The problem is a new mixing valve runs around $100 dollars so its not to cheap. The house is just over 5 years old, and I'm on city water. After I posted, I did a little more digging and the plot has thickened. I was thinking, why would I need I mixing valve in the first place? The house is practically new, and both showers both have their own anti-scald valves. I pulled off the bottom element cover to check the temp, and found that they set the temp at 145.  So here's what I'm thinking. When the house was built, it was originally spec'ed at a 50 gallon heater, but there was some promo with the electric company where I could get a 105 gallon Rheem lifetime heater if I hooked it up to their off peak meter. My theory is this: They only run the heater at night, and then let the thick insulation in the tank keep in the heat during the day. That's why they heat it so hot, so it takes longer to cool down. But you can't just pump 145 degree water to the shower, so they installed that mixing valve to temper the water back down to a tolerable 120 degrees. Does that sound like something they might do? I remember it took forever for the heater to warm up last month when I finished the laundry room and had to drain, disconnect and move the heater. I just figured it was because it was heating 105 gallons of water. But maybe it wasn't heating it at all. With all that said, here's my new idea. Remove the mixing valve and hook the heater up directly to the hot output, with a heat trap in place. Then, turn the temp down to 120. According to their website, the heater should only lose 5 degrees of heat in 24 hours, so there shouldn't be any need to heat it to 145. How does that sound?
|
|
#
¿
Feb 28, 2010 18:39
|
|
|
There's no recirculating system in my house. Sometimes I wish I had one, the sink in my bathroom takes forever to get hot. But that's a project for another day. I installed the second heat trap on the mixing valve, but the cold water is still getting hot. My next plan is to remove the mixing valve completely and see what that does. But that will have to wait until tomorrow, when I can get the fittings I need. First I have another plumbing issue to deal with. My wife has been complaining that her showers aren't as hot as they used to be. I'm guessing it's something in the shower valve, with all times I've shut off and turned on the plumbing in the past month, there's probably some sediment or something in there.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 1, 2010 03:26
|
|
|
Rd Rash 1000cc posted:If the house is only 5 years old there shouldn't be any sediment in there. You can pull the aerator on any sink and see if they're have anthing in them. But i imagine they will be completely clean. Well, as far as the shower goes, I took apart the valve, and everything was completely clear that I could see. I reassembled everything, turned it on, and now the water is piping hot. Maybe something was out of whack previously, who knows.  As for the water heater, I removed the mixing valve, in the process I noticed that the valve was completely frozen, I couldn't turn it a millimeter in either direction. I turned the temp down to 120, and that seems to be working fine for now too. The cold water is finally cold...and it's noticeably colder than it was before, now that there's no hot water mixing with it. The hot water isn't quite as hot as it got before, but it's still plenty hot for me. Now I just have to wait for the next heavy use day to see if the water still stays hot throughout the day.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 4, 2010 05:01
|
|
|
Rd Rash 1000cc posted:To adjust that missing valve did you loosen the screw in the center and then pull the handle out a little then turn it? It has a tamper proof screw to keep people from adjusting it. No, I didn't try that...but the valve has a factory sticker on the knob covering the screw. I tried it just now out of curiosity, and it still wouldn't budge no matter how loose the screw was. I did just find a manual for this valve online with a plumbing schematic that shows a check valve should be installed on the cold side, I'm guessing to prevent the exact situation I was having. I'm going to take apart the valve and see if I can can get it spinning again, then if I need to revert back, I will follow the schematic and install a proper check valve. But so far, the lower temp and direct connections seem to be working fine.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 5, 2010 05:00
|
|
|
dietcokefiend posted:Getting my inspection between 10-2 today. Any idea what to expect If it's anything like my electrical rough-in, you'll prepare for two days in advance, draw color coded circuit diagrams and have pages of notes on questions you think they might ask, then on the day of inspection they'll be there for approximately 30 seconds, slap their passed sticker on the closest box to the door and leave. 
|
|
#
¿
Oct 18, 2010 17:33
|
|
?
|
Has anyone here ever installed a pedestal sink using Moen's SecureMount fasteners instead of blocking in the wall? I was going to install my sink today, but apparently I put the blocking too high on the wall, so it isn't lining up with the holes I drilled. I know standard toggle bolts are frowned on for pedestals, but these anchors are used to hold grab bars and mount flat panel TVs, and are rated for 150 lbs each. Opening the wall on the bathroom side is out of the question, I just finished gluing MDF wainscot panels to the wall and they're not coming off any time soon.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 13, 2010 07:03
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 27, 2024 21:33 |
|
|
Rd Rash 1000cc posted:I have not used those but as long as no guest sit on the sink you should be fine. You can also trace what the sink covers against the wall and cut out the dry rock nicely then slip your hand in the wall and put in a little bit of backing. Reinstall sheet rock so it doesnt mess up the spacing. If it was just the sheetrock I would have done that right away, but I didn't notice the error until I already glued up the wainscot panels on top of the sheetrock. I think I'll just try these anchors. If they can hold up a TV, they should be able to hold up a sink.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 13, 2010 21:15
|
|