Sunday, December 19, 2010

Water Heater

Saturday's main project for Dad and I was the water heater.  Here's our beginning point:


The things that need fixing:  Mainly, it just needs to be 18" off the ground.  However, doing that means doing a bunch of other things as well.  Raising it that high meant it would hit the pipes coming out of the wall if we left it in the same location.  So, after raising it, it would need to be moved away from that wall.  Then the pipes need right angles attached to them so that the water heater pipes can come at them from above.  Also, the vent piping will need to be angles to reach the hole.

Dad built a stand last weekend and finished it off on Friday.  We did some soldering of pipes.


Then came the joy of lifting the water heater onto it's new stand.  Too heavy for Dad and I too lift without it tipping over.  We decided to do it slowly by tilting and laying boards underneath it.  We slowly raised it 6" this way.  However 6" is not 18".  No more boards.  Got Mom to come help.  Dad and I would lift from the bottom of the tank.  Mom would stabilize it.  Success!!!

Dad and I then reattached the straps (to a different wall than before, with some new boards added by us - good and strong).  Then came time to do the vent piping.  Dad has purchased some angled, movable joints that would be very helpful.  He went to the attic to get the piping into the roof vent.  I handed him tools through the hole.  When he got his part finished, I managed to connect the straight pipe to the tank with the angles pieces.  It took some doing, but I eventually got it.


Alas, when Dad was up in the attic, he accidentally knocked out the roof vent.  Last night, we went and got the pieces to replace that.  That should get done today (unless the rain prevents the final touches).  But otherwise, just about ready to cross this item off the list, and get closer to being able to pass the city inspection.

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