Plumbing
So, this week I was planning all out war on some German cockroaches that just couldn’t take a hint. I had a gas attack (foggers), land mines (diatomaceous earth around the perimeter of the building), and then booby traps (roach motels) all over the terrain. Alas, the war had to be postponed to switch out an antique electric water heater.
The big box stores only carry the fastest selling version of anything in stock, so there was no way they had a 30 gallon ‘lowboy’ electric heater. I had to get a 40 gallon which presented some interesting gyrations getting the new one into the bathroom. That 33% increase in size barely made it through the door and we had to lay it down to get beyond the sink. (Truman was the President when these apartments were built. We are talking 400 square feet. Sinks hung on the wall, not vanities.)
The roaches got a temporary respite, but the fight continues.
4 comments
You’re working on 70 year old plumbing? You’re a braver man than I am Gunga Brian.
Shirt, surviver of a 1913 craftsman home kitchen remodel. I had o choice,Loma Prieta saw to that!
I can do it because I am older than the plumbing and lack the strength to break all but the most fragile. I let the existing plumbing unscrew where it will and put in new from that point. Fortunately they now make aluminum pipe wrenches. Whenever I do anything I put in new unions and shut off valves, so the next person to work on the system has it easier than I did.
Yeah, shakes like that don’t leave you too many options, even if you’re a freeway overpass. My worst SoCal quake was a 6.6 roller. There was a worse one in Alaska, but the terrain was flat and there were no high buildings. Living on mesas, even if not on the edge, is like the upper stories of a high rise.
We actually have a few craftsman cottages in the older part of town. That is a great design.
I am sooooo going tankless when (if ever) I get a place of my own. and yes, I’ve been the appointed strong-back-weak-mind dogsbody on a couple of these water tank changeout over the years.
Truman? 3 fdr residences and 1 Benjamin Harrison for me 😈 plus a couple of 1970’s aluminum wiring ones for good measure.
I like the concept of tankless, but that tank contains 40 gallons of drinking water in the event of a hurricane. I have gas and they require a ¾ inch gas line and all of mine are ½.
God, I hate aluminum wiring. The only safe thing to do is rewire with copper. The salt air makes a fire a certainty.