Kubota's truck is off-the-road and I gave him a ride into work. I will be running him both-ways for the foreseeable future.
That explains why I was all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 6:00AM when I heard the water pump kick on. It is quiet in the house. It is very unusual to have the pump kick on if somebody does not turn on a tap or flush the commode.
Then I listened carefully and I heard hissing coming from the basement.
That is rarely a good thing.
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| The floor is wet and rust-stained |
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| This is what I saw on the wall-side after removing the unit. |
It is 10:45AM. The new unit is installed and my wallet is about $325 lighter.
I even had time to sneak a nap into the itinerary. I love being retired.
I will slap a "date" sticker on the side because I am curious how long these things last. This is at least the second time I have replaced it in the thirty years we have been here.
Ride to work might be a good time to catch up and see what is going on in his life (been following his trevails). Try treating him more as a peer than a parent. He is still living off-campus, right? Pretend you're just his buddy giving him a ride to work.
ReplyDeleteI have gotten right at ten years out of them also . Might be something we want to buy and store for the future . I just replaced my 4th in these 40 years . I go with the big boys in the thought that longer pump times and fewer cycles will lengthen the life of both pump and tank . I have no proof to back it up .
ReplyDeleteCoulda woulda, shoulda....you would have done yourself a favor buy buying a larger draw down tank. Builders put in the 6-7 gallon tanks because they're cheap; I replaced one with two 46-gallon tanks, 92 gallons between pump starts, and that can be prolonged with very low flow (1.2 GPM) shower heads and navy showers. Wanted 3 tanks, but the distributor had only 2.
ReplyDeleteI did it because of frequent power outages and the need to run the pump with a generator, but it's the starts and stops (really, the starts) that shortens pump life. Fewer starts, longer runs (they're water cooled, after all) makes 'em live longer.
As for the rust-through, it might be worthwhile having your water tested. Everyone tests for bacteria, etc. but rarely for iron, alkali content, other stuff, etc. In Florida copper pipes are now banned for under-slab use because of the the mineral content of the water and electrolysis - it comes from VERY deep wells because that's where the aquifer is, 800-1200 feet is not uncommon for city or county wells, although residential wells can be shallow wells (in fact, a lot of residential lawn irrigation wells are only 25-30 feet deep; it's easy to tell those because those houses have brown sidewalks because that's where the iron and high mineral content is). High water table and lots of lightning strikes produces electrolysis (the I-4 corrider from Daytona to Tampa is the lightning capital of the western hemisphere) which helps attack the copper and produces leaks in 25-30 years.
I agree with all regarding bigger is better. I installed the 52 gallon unit.
Delete1. I think they make these pressure tanks in fiberglass now - I've seen them but not investigated the application.
ReplyDelete2. I wonder if it would do any good to install a sacrificial anode, like they have on electric water heaters, which help prolong the life of the heating element. Any reason it wouldn't work on your steel tank? If there's a spare inlet that's just plugged off, maybe you could make use of it.
3. Agree about the water test.
That works for water heaters because they are metal and the anode helps with the rust. But pressure tanks have a rubber bladder in them that forces the water through your pipes.
DeleteYou might need to install a filter between where the water line comes into the basement before it gets to your tank. It's a lot cheaper to change a filter cartridge out every few months than it is to replace the tank every few years. Plus the added benefit of better and softer water.
Also install a cut-off valve just before the filter so you don't have to go out to the street or well house to cut off the water for the cartridge change.
DeleteYou can get anode assemblies for the pipes going into the tank, not sure if you can get them for the tank itself.
ReplyDeleteAgreed - you have some muck there, the iron in particular could affect tank life.
Personally, I would not go with a fiberglass tank for this use.
I put a 150 gal fiberglass tank in when I built the motel I owned. It is still working fine 25 years later. Not sure about the quality of the smaller ones, but the big commercial unit worked fine.
DeleteRust is pretty cool - the rate is nearly constant.
ReplyDeleteYou might check to make sure some power from a pump motor or other electrical unit isn't finding a ground through your water and through the water to the grounded tank. Even a sacrificial anode won't last long if its part of an AC path to ground (neutral). Isolate the tank and see if there is any AC potential to ground when the pump is on.
ReplyDeleteHad that with the original water heater in this house about 10 years out. Scarily, the only place left to put a water heater, in Dr. M's house plan, was in the attic, above the second-story bathrooms. Thankfully, she'd had the presence of mind to have the builder install a big sheet metal pan under the water heater, with a drain plumbed down inside the outside wall to a spot outside the foundation. I just happened to step out the back steps to see steam coming out from under the back porch from the drain line... no telling how long it had been leaking...
ReplyDeleteReplaced the bargain-basement water heater with a Marathon by Rheem... plastic tank, encased in fiberglass, with about 4 inches of foam insulation and a heavy plastic shell...virtually no 'standby' heat loss.
It comes with a lifetime guarantee against leaking... and they stand by that...we had an 80-gal. Marathon water heater installed in the downstairs laundry(an add-on)... there was a water main break somewhere in the neighborhood while we were out for the larger part of a day... came home to hot water running out. Some event had transpired to cause a high-pressure situation that split the tank. No questions asked, they replaced the heater.
They're pretty pricey, compared to what most builders are gonna stick in a spec house or even an upscale new home - and I suppose that, unless you drain/flush yearly, they'll eventually fill up with scale and mineral deposits like our old metal-tank WH did.