Time for new water heater (non-automotive)?

[expat]

Originally Posted By: rjundi
I hit the jackpot today on a water heater from the 1920's sitting in a field for years at our family getaway. Copper!!!!!!

I think it weighs 150lbs+ so I will be visiting metal yard soon.

So apparently some last, this was replaced 15 years ago.


I replaced a HW tank for a friend last Christmas (Boxing day) the old tank was as old as the house, that's about 60 years old!!
According to the tanks Brand decal it may have been made of Bronze (The brand was BronzeKing or some such)
I got $120 scrap money for a 20 gallon tank. Not bad.

Copper HW tanks were very common in the UK, I don't remember anyone having to have to replace one.
Even hard water areas .

 

[friendly_jacek]

OK, I removed the old valve and it was a short one.
It was fairly crusty inside (expected).

However, what is that black goo on the female threads inside the heater? I cleaned it up before threading a new valve in.

I bought the new valve at HD. There was a choice of lead-free $15 and "leaded" $9. I bought a lead-free one. Now I know why hot water is not good for consumption.

One more question. Is the anode screwed at the top (27mm nut)? I tried to unscrew it with a breaker bar and it didn't budge.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: rjundi
I hit the jackpot today on a water heater from the 1920's sitting in a field for years at our family getaway. Copper!!!!!!

I think it weighs 150lbs+ so I will be visiting metal yard soon.

So apparently some last, this was replaced 15 years ago.


A picture of that beast would be pretty neat.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: leeharvey418
I was about to suggest that if the valve is serviceable, to save your money.

Then I remembered that the bottom of my water heater tank corroded through just last year.

Yeah... if it's that old, I'd say to replace it.


Yeah, those valves do foul up. I made the mistake of testing the one on my old boiler. The valve wouldnt seat after that due to bad gasket or something. A trip to HD fixed it until we decided to replace the boiler with a mod/con unit.

So Im sure you can fix that, but, at that age, how much longer it will last is a function of water chemistry, water sediments deposited in there, etc.

 

[friendly_jacek]

Originally Posted By: friendly_jacek


One more question. Is the anode screwed at the top (27mm nut)? I tried to unscrew it with a breaker bar and it didn't budge.



I had to buy an impact wrench from HF ($40 + $20 set of impact sockets) to take the sucker off. Wow! Worked like a charm. It was turning the anode in a couple of seconds. I needed ear plugs though. This impact wrench is a keeper.

Here is the old (15 years) anode next to new one. To be honest, I could have just cleaned and reused the old one. Water is near distilled water quality in my area. This helps.

Here is new problem: The plastic drain valve started dripping (slowly). Grrr! Now what, I have to drain this again to replace it?