The hot water tank in our house has been acting up, so Cord the Unwary decided to strap on his six-guns, or at least a screwdriver and a spanner, and check it out.
What it has been doing is spurting a bit of air when you turn on the hot tap, and it runs out of hot water fast. Really fast. Only enough to fill the tub a couple of inches. I'm not much of a plumber, but I'm more of a plumber than I am an electrician (I'm more comfortable working with pipes than wires, mainly because water is less mysterious and evil than electricity is. I'm not worried about getting killed when I take a spanner to a pipe, but am pretty sure that that is what will happen whenever I have to look at anything electrical), so down to the lair of the beast go I.
Uneducated reasoning suggests to me that either the tank is loaded with sediment (since we are on a well here in the Hinterlands that would hardly be surprising), or one of the elements is out. The sediment seems easier (and non-electrical) so that seemed the place to start.
Okay, so, time to drain the tank.
Breaker off? Check.
Cold water inlet off? Check.
Drain valve open? Check.
Hmm, not much water is coming out. Wait!
Hot water tap open somewhere to prevent a vaccuum? Check.
Okay, working better now, but flow still very slow, leading credence to my sediment idea. Time to jam a screwdriver in there and try to loosen the mass. Sediment may even be packed so high that it is covering the lower element, which would also help explain the lack of hot water.
Jamming screwdriver in. Flow is better now. Good. Water now red with iron oxides (I assume so, anyway - pretty sure it isn't Red Tide in there). Flakes of minerals coming out. Goood.
Wait a minute. Wasn't I supposed to _remove_ the drain valve before jamming the screwdriver in there?
Oh, crap.
The valve will no longer close. No surprise there. Now I have to wait until the tank slowly drains completely. I could remove the valve completely but then warm dirty water will get all over my basement floor, getting stuff wet. Don't want that (I'm not a tidy person in any way, but I hate it when I get dirty, soggy or otherwise contaminated. That also goes for all the stuff, mostly cardboard boxes full of leather, that is sitting on my basement floor (not tidy, remember?).
Therefore I shall have to wait until the tank slowly drains before pulling the valve. All well and good, as dinner beckons, but this ends up meaning that Canadian Tire is closed before I can even think about getting that valve out. Tomorrow, then, you smug, sediment-filled bastard.
Tune in tomorrow for the exciting conclusion of The Thing in the Cellar!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment