Plumbing gotcha---last two jobs were too easy

[K. L. McReynolds]

Bought house in 2008. Was repo. Spent a month rehabbing before moving in and years finessing the rehab.

Changed the water heater in 2009 ---Bradford White. Found leaks and seeps two days ago, fixed the leak, but not the seep. Seeping from the bases of the inlet fittings(cold water in/hot water out)
 

Replaced with a Rheem with a 9 years warranty.

New model is 4" taller than the old one. Piece of cake.

Went to store, bought all the fittings I would need.

Yeah, right!

That was trip one.


One union would not solder---had too much water dripping through the pipe---did not have compression union. Trip two.

1/2" copper pipe, bought 1/2" brass compression fitting. Trip Three---needed a 5/8" brass compression fitting.

turn water on---seeps at the inlet/outlets---new fittings w/pipe thread. Used pipe dope---did not seal. Trip four to get thread tape---could not find any in plumbing box/supplies.

Tape seeping fittings, turn on water---no seeps/leaks/geysers!

Test gas fittings, no leaks.

Initiate starting sequence---fires up. Set dial on low heat---selections are Vac, Low, Medium, A, B, C, and Hi.

Hour later, only warm water----bite bullet, read destructions---Low  is 110°. Medium is 125°. A is 135, B is 140, C is 145, Hi is Burn the Heck outa you!

Reset the dial to Medium.

Just checked----=BINGO!

Nothing left to replace---new furnace last week---A/C repair last year, new washer/dryer three years ago, dishwasher is a Bosch and just fine.

Yeah, Right!

[gMike]

I told ya you weren't done!  The Plumbing Gods do not take kindly to one-trip fixes.  They extract their penance by requiring at least 3 trips to punish you for thinking you got it in one!

Keep an eye on it, they may not be done with you yet.

[Robert Adams]

BTDT. But did it at lomls house in Cleveland before she sold it. Februrary and cold... Was working on stuff all day with the WH being the last thing. Was a bear to get the old one out past the furnace and all the plumbing and valves... Got it in and cranked it to 145 and i took a shower a half hour after install and easily had enough hot water. So much faster than electric... Remember 140* is the minimum safe temp for waterheaters to kill off legionella.  

      When doing plumbing i buy 3 of everything i might need and that builds up my supplies with the leftovers...

[fredhargis]

I don't get it, sounds like a normal plumbing job to me!