No Hot Water

            Oh this cold is doing me in. Living in 1/3 of the house has me with “cabin fever”.  It has been years since I’ve felt so trapped and constrained. I did a load of laundry at daybreak as it was supposed to be a clear bright day. Perfect weather for drying clothes on the line. The water to the washer never warmed up. I tried the hot water faucet in the half bath which was dry. OH SHIT!!

I was kicking myself as I got bundled up to investigate in the 11° temperature. I had nightmares of the insides of the heater being exploded from the frozen water.

Last night I had planned on turning off the gas, electric, and water to the tankless heater and draining it. It was something I never got around to and I assured myself the internal heater would be fine. There are special valves to this heater that allow you to isolate the heater from the water supply drain/flush it out which were frozen solid. Dug up my heat gun and went to work thawing out the cold water intake valve. Once I was able to move it to shut off the water supply I turned off the gas and electric to the unit. There is another valve that was opened which allowed water to flow out once the cap was removed.

The hot water outtake valve was warmed up so it was able to shut off and that other valve was opened and the cap removed. Water drained out of the heater which gave me encouragement there had been no damage done.

Here is a picture of the valve mess looking down. “A” is the valve to turn on/off the hot water outlet. “B” is the valve that allows the heater to drain isolated from the main water supply. “C” is the cap covering the outlet to allow the water to flow.

I went to work heating up the pipes some more and playing around with the different valves. I heard a “pop” and water gushed out of the cold water pipe. I did the same to the hot water valve and pipe. I thought I heard something. Ran into the house and sure enough, water was flowing through the open hot water faucet.

Got the valves positioned right and the caps replaced: Turned on the gas and electric. I then opened the hot water faucet in the bathroom and ran back outside. I heard the click of the electric ignition and then the whoosh of igniting gas. Steam poured out of the vent, and in no time glorious hot water was flowing into the sink.

I lucked out in the heater survived intact and there were no burst pipes. Tonight I’ll turn off the gas and electric to the heater and then leave a faucet open so the flowing water will not freeze. I don’t need any more “cold weather drama”!

I was just about to post this when “credit card services” called trying to scam me. I was not in the mood to lead them on much. A little mini-phone drama!

Brick: I want to lower my rates as much as I can.

Credit card Services: Do you currently owe over $3,000.00 or do you pay your bill off every month?

Brick: Well, I don’t know. I’m not allowed to do any of that stuff. The people who take care of me pay all the bills and they are not here now…..can I call you back?

Credit card Services:  You have a nice day….”Click”!

Then Judy called…he was bored to death being snowbound and wanted to ruin/tie up my day. I cut him off kind of short. He just goes around in circles making me feel guilty which drives me crazy.

Judy, you are not going to ruin my day!!! I’m headed to the “Y” and then will luxuriate in a nice hot shower when I get home……