Turn the whole basement into a tub?

Not as cool as it sounds

I’m going to start with the main event then toss in any other stories that come to mind. You may be wondering why there was no post yesterday.

I believe around 11pm two nights ago Heath woke me up because she heard some noise. She asked if there was a stack of wood in the basement and if it could have fallen over. “Yeah, that was probably it” I said and went back to sleep. I had plans to get a run in, and do some splitting and then get Heath and Peanut out the door for an early meeting so I had set my alarm for 5:45. At that time I got up and went to get a drink of water from the kitchen sink. I turned on the tap and the water pressure was terrible. My first thought was that it had gotten really cold that night and froze some pipes so I went to plug in my pipe heater deal. On my way downstairs I saw some water and thought the pipes had froze and broke. Then I opened the door and discovered lots and lots of water and more continuously flowing from the drain spot on the hot water heater.

I ran through the puddle to the shop and turned off the water supply to the house. I got Heath up and we tried to find a way to catch some of the 40 gallons of water still pouring out of the heater plus any left in the pipes. We got a small bucket to large bucket to outside collection method.

It’s hard to see in pictures but there was water everywhere and several rugs were soaked through.

Wood along the ground was wet and was pulling the moisture up the walls.

I started taking rugs outside and pushing water to drains and and of course taking pictures.

So what happened?

This was located on the bottom of the hot water heater. Somehow it broke and shot off durring the night, then water poured from the hot water heater it constantly tried to refill itself and heat the new cold water.

I have no idea what happened but our hot water heater was from 1987 so I’m guessing it was just age. It was in a closet and there was nothing around it that could have put any new pressure on the valve and the whole house is behind a regulator that had the pressure steady.

We got Heath and Peanut off and I started dehumidifying and running the wood stove real hot and shop vacing up the water. I put up all the fans I could find and moved around a bunch of stuff. I turned off the gas to the house and closed the water valve right before the tank and turned on water to the rest of the house. Then I removed the old tank.

I went fairly show and paid attention so I could replace with a new one. Then I worked on drying stuff until Sears Outlet opened. Their website said they sold hot water heaters and we got our fridge so cheep I went back looking for a dented heater. I got there and found they can order new ones but don’t sell any in the store. So I headed to Home Depot instead and picked one out and brought it home.

The install went ok but not great. As I was moving it into the closet I knocked a water pipe loose and had to solder some copper pipe back together and then when I turned on the gas and put soapy water on the connections I found a leak.

So I took apart and put back together until there were no leaks. I filled the tank, lit the gas and started warming it up. I started thinking about how nice a shower would be but needed the water to warm up first. I did some rearranging of fans and dehumidifiers then got a call. I was supposed to cut up a large maple tree at 5 for some craigslist lady. She was calling to apologize because a tree service was there getting my firewood. I asked if they were still working and if I could have the wood. She said they were and she didn’t care. I rushed over and got the guys to leave me 1.5 pickup loads of wood. I helped cut it up and they helped load my truck. Then I headed back to the basement and discovered hot water hitting the floor again. I turned off the water and the gas and got a bucket. On the side of the heater near the top is the release valve that lets water out if there is too much pressure or it gets too hot.

(my new one had no pipe yet so it was hard to catch the water)

This story is getting long so I’ll hurry. It was too hot to mess with and I was worried it was too hot so I let it cool and ran to pick and pull and picked up my van bolt and a taillight for Stooks. Then I tried to find what was wrong. I could not add water and not have the release valve leak. I tried a bunch, talked to Jon, talked to the customer support people and we all agreed the release valve was faulty. They could send me a new valve in a few days or I could drain the tank, remove it, take it to Home Depot and get a new one. I was watching both kids at this point as Nanny had left and Heath had run to a meeting so I took a break and played.

Then when Heath got home I took the tank back to HD. Heath talked me into a bigger tank so I didn’t get the same one and I had a tough time getting someone to get a box off a high self and then getting the cashier to refund the old one and buy the new one. Water heater installation was fresh on my brain so the new one went in perfect. No leaks or anything, stuck it in, connected all the pipes, lit her up and set her loose. Then I ate a ton of Mexican lasagna I had luckily prepared the night before.

Then I ate a giant bowl of butterscotch pudding and Heath and I watched Dexter. Just before bed we took quick, slightly warm showers. This morning things were still great. I lit the gas on the furnace again and checked for leaks then took a hot shower.

Ok random pictures of fun from the last few days.