Got a late night phone call from one of the stepdaughters, the water heater’s leaking, water standing in the smitty pan. So, I talk her thru turning off the gas and the cold supply.
Next morning I go over there pull the old heater, and replace it with a new 60 gallon from HD. (The old one was there when we bought the house, still under warranty from GE, so I got some store credit from HD on it.) I did notice that there was quite a bit of water outside the smitty pan, too.
That night I get a call from the other stepdaughter. Water all over the garage floor again. It turns out that the hose from the washing machine came out of the PVC drain pipe. The first time it must have been in just the right position to dump water into the smitty pan. But somehow I managed to R&R a water heater and not even notice the drain hose from the washer being out. There probably wasn’t anything wrong with the old W/H in the first place. Geez do I feel like a maroon…. 😉
— J.S.
Replies
That's a good story!
Everyone's done something like that. At least now, ya got a new one and some store credit.
Whadda mean it's last call? I just got here.
it's from HD ...
be like everyone else and just return it!
"slightly used" ...
Jeff
Buck Construction
Artistry In Carpentry
Pittsburgh Pa
That's basically what happened. I got the new heater and put it in ASAP so the girls could shower. Then I called the GE 800 number, and they told me that the old one was still under warranty, and the remaining credit on it would be about $50 - $70. I took it back to HD per GE's instructions.
At HD, they told me that they didn't know how to do pro-rated partial credit. The only thing they could do was give me store credit for the full price of the old (50 gallon) heater. So, I have $430 on an HD card, and the new one was $500. The whole shebang was only $70 out of pocket, and the kids have a 12 year warranty 60 gallon heater now.
-- J.S.
Can't decide whether to feel sly or terrible now, can ya?
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
> Can't decide whether to feel sly or terrible now, can ya?
Actually, I have no problem feeling both at the same time... ;-)
-- J.S.
I once called an appliance repair guy when our washing machine wouldn't pump water out of the tub. I figured a belt was broke, or the pump was bad.
Turned out the drain hose had a kink in it from when I had moved it a couple of days before.
Didn't help that the appliance repair guy was my Brother-in-law...
remember my story about the mop and the water leak..:>)
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Boy, does that one sound familiar! Trying to help my folks with the really slow-filling washing machine. Pulled the hose and confirmed that it had great pressure, so figured it had to be a gummed up valve (washer is fairly old). So they called out the appliance repair guy who cleaned out the screen - good as new. So much for my rep with the parents - LOL!
Got one too. My wife called me at work and said the clothes washer leaked. Can't remember if I was lazy, stupid or both, but I called the repair guy. $99 just to walk in the door. Couldn't find any problem said the washer probably got out of balance from too many towels or other heavy stuff. Asked my wife later what she had been washing....towels of course.
Send the story to FHB for their last page!
;-)
> Send the story to FHB for their last page!
... Or they could run it in their "Breaktime" section.
-- J.S.
that's what I was thinking ...
recoup those last coupla dollars too.
might even come out ahead ....
Jeff Buck Construction
Artistry In Carpentry
Pittsburgh Pa
Could be.
Then again you don't know that the water came from the washer. Could have been a leaking water heater. Look on the bright side. If it was a leaking water heater it needed replacing.
If not then she/you got a brand new unit with a full warranty at a discount price and spent some time living up to the daughters view of you as Superman. Never discount that sort of leverage. It will likely come back with interest in your dotage. She will to more likely to put up with you when your main activities are shaking your cane and wetting yourself.
I saw the thread title and wondered, "I don't remember posting anything, but I guess I must have."
If it makes you feel any better, I did the same thing. there was a puddle under the H/W heater so I had it replaced -- $750 -- figured it was old and ready to go. Go down the next day and the puddle is still there - upon further investigateion it was coming form the furnace condensation pipe and not the H/W Heater -- figured it was a good lesson and a good investment.
Whats a smitty pan, is that the plastic pan hooked to the drain .
I have only seen them in Fla. when my tank was in the attic and drained to the exterior
Here they're aluminum pans about 2" deep and 2" larger in diameter than the W/H that sits in them. They have a plastic 1" NPT fitting in the side to connect to a drain line. The bottom of it is about 1/2" above the bottom of the pan, so you'll have some standing water to sop out with rags if there's a leak. Code requires them here. The company that makes them is local and "Smitty Pan" is their name.
-- J.S.
Damp carpet in a BR. Traced it to a leaky pipe in the adjoining BA tub's plumbing wall. Tore it all out and replaced the pipe, faucet, and surround. Came back a couple weeks later and noticed the floor was damp again in the adjoining BR.
Paid a little closer attention to the moisture this time and figured out it was a ROOF leak, not a plumbing one. It was running down the vent pipe into the plumbing wall. <SIGH>. Five minutes with some tar-crap and the problem disappeared.
jt8
In an underdeveloped country don't drink the water. In a developed country don't breathe the air --Jonathan Raban
I just got back from SIL's house checking for "massive water leak". Last months consumption was 17,200 vs normal 7-8k/mo. Kids home for summer was my first thought. Crawled around under and found no leaks that a quarter of a roll of paper towels wouldn't pick up. She does have copper pipe and around here it will get eaten up by the water.
She does have a few pinholes but nothing catastrophic. Checked the hose in the rear of the house and it was pretty swelled up. The bib is pretty close to the ground so she had added a couple of the RV 90 deg fittings to orient the connection. Both had a pretty good spray coming from them.
Figured from her bill and current reading she had used 5400+ since June 29. It would have to have been over a pint a minute to cause that much.
She wants to replumb and I told her I do not want to spend that much time under anyone's house. Maybe this is the time to buy those PEX tools. On second thought a couple of plumber's phone numbers would be better.