I've got a gas water heater. I had my power and water out for a while, but I got it back on in time to prevent any pipes from freezing.Anyway, when the gas company came by to relight things (they wouldn't restart service unless I allowed this) they relit the furnace, but refused to relight the water heater, citing "CO spillage & rollout" and didn't really tell me anything about how to fix it.I looked into it myself. CO spillage is obvious, it means the water heater isn't venting correctly and instead is dumping carbon monoxide into the basement. Rollout, from what I found, means that there's evidence of excess flame/heat on the exterior of the water heater.From what I can tell, both of these things are likely symptoms of a clogged exhaust pipe, probably on the roof somewhere. I'm gonna climb up there and look for any obvious blockage, like maybe a dumbass bird made its nest up there. Someone also recommended that I run a plumbing snake down the pipe, to feel for any blockage and pull it out, rather than buying specialized tools.Is there anything I'm missing? Anything else I can do to fix this rather than just buying a new water heater? I don't mind cold showers, but boiling water to wash dishes is a pain in the ass.
>>2871746how old is your heater?do you have forced exhaust?if not, drill a hole in the vent, and see if it sucks in a flame.btw modern heaters have twice the insulation and are much more efficient.
>>2871748>how old is your heater?dunno, maybe 50 or 60 years old. Something like that.>do you have forced exhaust?Dunno what that is. Guess I should look it up. I think it's passive.>drill a hole in the vent, and see if it sucks in a flameAre you fucking with me? I know I could just patch it later but I don't really wanna start drilling holes in it.
>>287180250+ years old? post pichere is a hole to check how it vents. you can tape over it when done.
>>2871746>when the gas company came by to relight thingsare... are you an old woman from the 40's?since when do gas water heaters go out when power goes out?why would you need someone to light you water heater or furnace?
>>2871802>maybe 50 or 60 years old. Something like that.bullshit. water heaters don't last that long.
>>2871805I'll take a pic when I get home>>2871812My power and gas were out for about 2-3 months. Like I said, I would've just relit it myself but the utility company wouldn't turn it back on unless I paid extra for them to send some guys out and do it for me, and make sure everything was still in good condition. Which, maybe, was a good thing or I might've died in my sleep from carbon monoxide otherwise. Assuming they're not lying to me, but I don't see why they would because they didn't try to sell me any repair or replacement services, just told me what was up and left.
>>2871815>My power and gas were out for about 2-3 months.where the hell do you live?
>>2871817Wyoming, USA
>>2871817to be clear, it was out because I didn't pay the bill for half a year, not because the services were unavailable
>>2871820post a picture of the data tag of the water heater. I want to see what a 50 year old still working water heater is.
>>2871820Understandable, shit can get rough. Yeah it could be a multitude of things, like other anons said hole in the exhaust to see if it's pulling is a good idea, just get some foil tape to cover it after, but honestly it should be okay just don't make a giant hole.Does the flame come on at all? Does it cycle? There should be 2 burners that fire typically. Check to see if one is on and the other is out. And listen to the cycle, make sure it doesn't fire and then cut after 20 seconds. That could be a sign of a bad sensor.
>>2871814they do if you change the anode rod.(you will need an impact wrench to unscrew the old one)
Got up on the roof by climbing a tree and jumping down. More vents up there than I thought, and some uncovered upright tubes which surprised me. Anyway, couldn't figure out which one was for the water heater so I checked em all, and saw nothing obvious. Stuck my arm into the ones that were big enough, but I found nothing but spiders.I think my next step will be to detach the exhaust from the water heater and try to stick something up it, see if I find anything. Otherwise I'll get back up there with a snake. Looking at the picture, seems it vents to the chimney, so it shouldn't be too hard if a blocked exhaust is actually the problem. Hopefully it is, otherwise I'm not sure what to do about it.>>2871822>>2871814So, not as old as I thought. My mistake >>2871853Yeah it comes on and works just fine, just wary of what those dudes told me about it not venting CO correctly.
>>2871910According to a Richmond serial number guide, that water heater was made in 1999. So only 25 years old. Nothing like what you said, but still one of the oldest operating residential units I've seen. You must pretty good water, rarely see them last more than 10 years here (34gr of water hardness).
I got a Natural Gas AO Smith water heater and I want to turn it off to re-do the plumbing with soldered copper piping since right now it's using pex for some retarded reason (just bought the house). It's got this little module at the bottom with a knob, but I don't know what any of it means. What steps do i need to do to turn it off so I can cut off the piping pex and do my copper plumbing, and what steps to turn it back on? And in which step do I turn the natural gas line, first thing I'm imagining? Do I need to burp it somehow or how do I make sure all of the natural gas is out before I even get a torch near it?
This is how the outlet at the bottom of my aosmith signature 100 looks like. What equipment and steps do I need to clean it out. Is a standard hose all I really need or do I need one of those backwash device thingies to connect to it or? Where do I attach the water hose? And where is the sediment going to come out from? Does anyone know what standard size the hose connectors usually are so I can start looking for what I need to purchase to clean the inside?
>>2871910that is a relatively new water heater, ones with the indicator light are from about the last 10 years>>2871921>25 years olddoubtit's a 6 year warranty, that means it's less than 6 or it would have failed by now.
>>2871910until you get the exhaust thing figured out, get a CO detector for your bedroom.if you notice unexplained headaches and confusion, ventilate the house and get out of it.
>>2871910The metal venting you posted appears to have a cap on the second line, is your furnace perhaps been replaced by a condensing unit? You could check this by looking if there are (ideally) white pipes leading from the furnace to outside. If so almost certainly will have to replace the water heater with a power vented appliance. Which would require hole(s) drilled to the outside, power to be run to the unit, the venting to be capped.
>>2871928Im happy to talk about how to replumb a water heater, even if your reason sounds pretty trivial, but if your hung up on 'turn off the gas' step maybe this isnt the job for you.
>>2872127The top of the water heater has pvc with some yellow compound all over it. Is there anything special to breaking this compound off? Is it just a standard two wrench job or what can I do to losen up this connection?
There are some old water heaters still out in customers homes. As a residential electrician I'm in homes all the time and when I see a really old one I always look for a date out of curiosity. I was just at an old lady's house and she had an "AO Smith Permaglas Conservationist" gas water heater. It looked ancient and caught my eye. Faded pencil on the label said it was installed 10/27/86. It looked amazing for its age, no rust or corrosion visible anywhere. I've seen 2 older than that, one of which was either 73 or 76. The other one from the 70s had a massive ball of white corrosion around one of the inlet/outlet portions which I'd pointed out to the homeowner.
>>2871746>Is there anything I'm missing? Anything else I can do to fix this rather than just buying a new water heater?If you have problems with venting, replacing the water probably won't fix the vent.> lots of pipes sticking up out of roof.The ones with no cap should be plumbing vent stacks.Water heater and furnace should be of galvanized metal and have a vent cap to keep precipitation out.If one is small and one is larger, the larger one should be for the furnace.NOTE: If you have a newer high-efficiency furnace it may have PVC for the vent.Before buying a chimney cleaning brush or worrying about the vent, pull the baffle out of the tank's internal 'chimney'. If you have incomplete combustion, soot can build up and restrict air flow.Check the air inlets at the bottom of the water heater. If the air is restricted coming in incomplete combustion and not enough air flow to maintain a proper flame may result.Move everything away from the water heater. Use compressed air to blow as much of the dust bunnies and cob-webs out as you can. Then use a vacuum to clean up the mess. Pull the heating chamber access door off and vacuum out inside of it.After it's cleaned up, light the burner and check for proper operation. If you still have venting problems, pull the vent cap and clean the stack all the way back to the heater.
>>2872263Might be an apples-and-oranges comparison, but my house has always had electric water heaters. The first one lasted 21 years, the second lasted 24 years, the third (a mexican rheem) lasted 8.
Have you tried turning it off and on again?
Start at the bottom, roofs are dangerous, a vacuum stuck to the vent will change tone if there is a clog. Poking a clog with a stick can bring some of it down for ident.Ladders and roofs are deceptively dangerous start on ground level.
genuine question, why do people use gas water heaters? Everyone I know has an electric one, except for people who bought a property where it was already installed. It's alway these really small ones that just heat water on demand and generated suck ass. Is it really that much cheaper to be worth the hassle? idk, my family doesn't like gas for some reason, my great grandfather from my father's side declined to have gas pipes laid to his house, so did my grandfather from my mom's side.
>>2872859>why do people use gas water heaters?Until recent improvements in technology, it was more efficient to heat with gas and cool with electricity.
>>2871822No OP. I have a Rheem Fury with a Saturn burner. I have been told it is 30+ years old. That was 6 years ago. I tried looking up the serial number but had no luck. A plumber that I had out to fix a toilet flange said it is the oldest one he has ever seen still in used but he had only been in the business 10 years. I had it wrapped in a jacket so this is the only photo of the dataplate I have. It was in the inspection report when I bought the place.
>>2872977>473This is April 1973 - 51 years ago.
>>2872859Gas has a shit ton of energy per unit of whatever is actually delivered to your home. Electric heating uses so much energy. I miss having a gas line going to the house, everything down in Florida is electric in my area.
>>2872987A era Nixon unit. Lovely. I've been told not to touch it and just have a fund set aside for when it goes. Still heats well. Rather loud for a water heater. One of the reason it has probably lasted so long it is in a closet in the middle of my house. No idea why they thought putting something that generates CO2 in a hallway next to the bedrooms was a good idea but it was a different era.
>>2873007>in a hallway next to the bedroomsSo you don't waste water waiting for the hot to get to the bath / shower.
>>2873007>No idea why they thought putting something that generates CO2 in a hallway next to the bedrooms was a good idea but it was a different era.It's not the CO2 that you have to worry about but the CO.
>>2872859>genuine question, why do people use gas water heaters?100 cubic feet of gas is worth about 100,000 BTUs. That's 30 kW equivalent or 125 A at 240 VAC. Your bitch basic meter will flow 250 cubic feet per hour. The energy density is unmatched.
>>2872989>everything down in Florida is electric in my area.Can’t bury the utilities when your water table is 1” and you can’t get poly pipe big enough that can handle gas main pressure. Also, if you could, it would float right out of the ground.
>>2872868>Until recent improvements in technology,It's STILL more efficient, depending on exactly what you're doing. Even a shitty gas heater (of any kind) will be 80% efficient. After factoring in generation and transmission losses, an electric heater is only about 55-60% efficient.The only way electric pulls ahead is with heat pumps, and that's only "good" for relatively low temperature differentials. Plus, there's significant added up front cost and maintenance/replacement considerations down the road.Strictly speaking, the absolute maximum efficiency you could get is by running a CHP system that uses a heat pump to draw heat from the generator. Nobody makes this, as far as I'm aware. Not for residential purposes. Too complicated and expensive for the average homeowner. The waste heat from the generator is often usable by itself, anyway, without the heat pump.But the COP of such systems is extremely favorable. Easily multiple times that of a plain gas or electric heater, and handily beating out a heat pump that has to deal with sub-zero evaporator temperatures. If you're determined enough and have a particular skill set (attaching a heat exchanger between the generator's coolant loop and the heat pump's refrigerant loop, along with associated valving and controls), it's "easy" to make such a system yourself.
>>2872336It's not ideal but this is how I'm getting up there right now. Tallest ladder I could find. I removed the cap from the chimney so I could get my arm down further, but I still couldn't find anything. No luck with the snake.>>2872319It's not broken. I just don't want to die in my sleep if it isn't venting properly.>>2872097The furnace also runs on gas.
