Home Improvement Today?

Hm, thanks for the insight. I won't be getting down to business on this for another couple weeks at best.

 

How do I figure out if my water heater is old and ineffective at it's job, or if it's too small for my needs, or both?

We have an electric 40 gallon water heater in the house we just bought, and somewhere around the 10 minute mark of a shower you can feel the warmth begin to wither away, few minutes later and it's varying degrees of cool water. I don't see anything stamped on the water heater like some kind of metal plate with manufacturing information, and the only date I see on the sticker says 1994. It's a 40 gallon unit, FWIW.

We don't take 15 minute showers, but this is an issue. With a kiddo on the way, it will only become worse. I read online that with electric water heaters, you want to size up the tank, but it's my first home and I don't have any experience to pull from with this issue.

Any advice on size, brand, etc,.? I figure it'd be easy enough to install on my own, being electric. It's definitely an old unit, but I'm thinking mama won't be happy waiting until it dies and running out of warm water in the mean time.

 

Maybe it's running on one element

 

Good thought there, I didn't think about troubleshooting it before I thought about replacement, assuming it's age.

 

I would replace it , just sayin

 

Was my initial plan.

I think I read about something called the First Hour Rating (FHR) which is a measure of heavy use during the morning so you can figure out what tank size you need, and that electric heaters need more time to recover which was why the bigger tank size was suggested. Sound right? I also read that for a family of four, 50 gallons was suggested tank size. Assuming mine works fine, and I'm using the entire tank, 50 gallons is only 25% larger than my current unit. The hot water is good and hot, just doesn't last long. I assume this means I need more tank capacity.

One plumber suggested to a woman a 50 gallon gas heater, or 80 gallon electric (depending on her hook up). Just seems really large for 2 people and a baby, we hope to be elsewhere in 5 years, so baby would be 4 1/2 years old or so and likely still taking baths instead of showers.

 

That water heater is old enough to drink man. My bet is the dip tube is gone so the cold mixes with the hot and you end up with a cold shower. Chances are slim, but you might be able to replace the dip tub. Keep in mind that the anode rod is probably gone too. Which means that if it was aluminum the tank is filled with a slimy goo and the tank itself is going to give out soon. 21 years is a good long run, buy it a drink and retire it. If you plan to be gone in 5 years buy a "contractor special" and let the next guy deal with it. If you are ever in a position to buy a water heater you want to keep, get one with a magnesium anode and replace it before its completely gone.

 

I don't mind buying a cheap unit, I just want to make sure it's big enough if my issue is usage, and as energy efficient as I can get.

 

Well figured i might as well ask and get as many opinions/advice as i can....

I need a new roof. The guy i bought it from (a home construction company owner at that!) appears to have not used any flashing in the valleys of the roof. Thankfully the valley's are over the garage. When i bought it both my dad and i noticed a piece of drywall that looked newer than the rest but didnt think anything of it. Well two years after i bought it that dry wall was dripping water.... So went up to the roof to look and didnt see any holes or anything. My dad had this patch "tar" stuff so covered the whole valley with it and it stopped the leak. At that time we noticed the lack of flashing. Well last month got a call from my dad that the roof was leaking again. So looks like its time to get it re done and do it properly.

Im going to hire it out even though i know i could do it myself (but honestly i just dont want to deal with it)

I live in Washington state so dont deal with hail or super hi winds to often.

So with that heres my ideas/questions

-going to have them use hammer and nails...no air powered tools (ensures proper depth of nail)
-all new flashing
-I have a bunch of the roof vents, thinking of having them switch to the vent ridge instead. Thoughts?

Anything else i should consider? Material wise i havent decided which shingle or underlayment ill go with as of yet

 

Expect to pay a lot more for a hammer and nail job vs using air tools. It will probably be hard to find a company that uses hammer and nail. I don't think that hammer and nails is ant better either.
I'd go with ridge vents and closed valleys. We use all Owens Corning products on our roofs we put on. Make sure they use Ice and Water shield. If you have any chimneys make sure they put a cricket on it if you don't have one already.
Post a picture of your roof and I can give you some more insight

 

Is valley flashing code in WA state or can they still do the closed valley technique ?

 

Lol handnail a shingle roof. And what do you mean change your roof vents to a ridge. For a ridge vent to work properly the soffit needs to be vented to allow air in .

 

A new one of the same size will heat longer than your current one by a long shot. 21 years is impressive. Certain places around here are lucky to see 7. I'd say 60 and you should be happy. Or look into two 40s ganged together. And as far as brands I prefer Bradford white.

 

I think he means change the roof pots to a continuous ridge vent

 

Thanks Josh!

 

Is it not an acceptable thing to ask a roofer? Just asking. I am also gettign a new roof soon and heard nail guns can blow the nails right through the shingles.

 

Properly adjusted air pressure is the key to using an air gun for roofing .

Not many roofers are going to want to hand nail a roof , and any decent roofer that " blows a nail through the shingle " will add a secondary nail that is seated correctly or replace the shingle

 

This. I'd handnail if you wanted to pay it as time and material. I don't think my wrists could take an entire roof though. That's a lot of shock to your joints and id like to avoid things like that. Work smarter not harder and all that. And honestly a shingle warrenty unless there is a huge manufacturing defect is a pile of bs.

 

Yea that makes good sense. Just gotta hope they know how to use the air compressor. I've heard many bad stories.

 

Yea I would hate to hand nail the entire roof, also not sure how much more a roofer would charge.