Stupid guy ruins the water by fixing the furnace

[Pagan]

Sounds like you've got a tankless coil hot water system.

I was thinking that, too, until I went back and read this. (I'd love to get one of those to replace my elderly water heater.)

For a little bit, my mother was having issues with her furnace, (which also heats the water for the house). The furnace is in the garage and it was like 85 degrees in there, and the hot tap water was searing hot, so Mom called the guy who comes in once a year to clean the furnace to ask what the problem was.

I've never heard of a set-up like that. My furnace is in a closet inside my apartment and the water heater is outside in the storage room. I just always thought they were two different systems?

[KiaKat]

For water-based radiator systems (common in older houses), the boiler IS the furnace. My childhood home (an old Colonial-era farmhouse) was heated with steam, and we would frequently have trouble when guests were over, because the number of people using the shower would throw the heating off. Finally we installed a secondary tank reserved for the heating system, and that helped. But it was still funny in the summer to hear the heat come on whenever we'd use up the hot water on showers/laundry.

[ShadowBall]

I don't know, the setup my mom has is weird - she has it so the electricity heats the water in the summer (so she isn't delivered any oil) and then she has it switched to being heated by the furnace in the winter.

Mom had some guy come to the house to look things over and I guess it really was just a coincidence that the water started acting up after Moron left. It seems the water heater is just very old and Mom needs a new one. I don't know why though, since this guy did his thing and now the water works normally again.

So now my mom's waffling between renting a water heater for like $5 a day or buying a new one for $3000. This new guy was cool, though - he only charged my mother $50 on a $150+ bill. I felt bad for him because she sat in the garage and talked his ear off the entire time he was fixing the heater.

In any case, Mom's just glad she doesn't need a new water pump and/or sewer, which is what Moron said she'd need and would likely run in excess of $10K. I'm amazed the sewer has held out as long as it has, honestly. It's been broken and it leaks into the yard after anyone takes a shower and has been that way for at least a decade.

[kpzra]

I was thinking that, too, until I went back and read this. (I'd love to get one of those to replace my elderly water heater.)



I've never heard of a set-up like that. My furnace is in a closet inside my apartment and the water heater is outside in the storage room. I just always thought they were two different systems?

We had a tankless water heater in Alaska and baseboards radiators. The furnace/boiler heated the water to go through the pipes, if one wasn't working neither would. They were in the crawl space linked together. It all depends on how your home is heated.

[Imprl59]

Since she already uses electric part of the year it would probably be a lot cheaper just to repair / replace the electric heater and abandon the boiler based heater. Just use the electric year round for hot water and let the boiler heat the house. A new electric heater can be had for $250. The boiler unit should be cheaper to run but at 3k repair it's unlikely any of us would live long enough to recoup the cost. The price will easily double to have the plumber do his thing but still a cheaper option for her.

The rental sounds like a real ripoff. Even the cheapest hot water heater is going to last around ten years. If she rented it she's going to pay $18k for a $3k repair.

[ShadowBall]

Tomorrow someone's going to be coming here to test the water for...some reason. I don't know why, but they are. And I guess this new water system will be cheaper to use than the one in here right now. Mom seems happy - more or less - so that's all good.

I personally still fail to see why the hell a new anything is needed because the water is running just fine right now. Why does it need to be fixed when it's no longer broken?

Also, is it possible that the water softener had anything to do with the damn water heater breaking down to begin with? I think I heard something about the heater being full of sediment and that may have done something.

[kpzra]

Water heaters only last so long, and if it was/is full of sediment, it may be past the point of just draining it to try and clear it out (some people have to purge theirs yearly). I've read where a water softener can make this problem worse. It may be they patched it up good enough for you to have water, but it could fail at anytime. As for testing the water, they may be checking to see if you really need the softener or not, or for a hundred other things.

[Pagan]

Water heaters only last so long, and if it was/is full of sediment, it may be past the point of just draining it to try and clear it out (some people have to purge theirs yearly). I've read where a water softener can make this problem worse. It may be they patched it up good enough for you to have water, but it could fail at anytime. As for testing the water, they may be checking to see if you really need the softener or not, or for a hundred other things.

That's what I was going to say. My water heater is at least 13 years old and it's be making interesting noises ever since I moved in. (I really need to start poking at my apartment manager about getting new appliances. Water heater and cooler first.)

The water heater might be working fine....now. But it's just a matter of time before it starts breaking down more andm
I don't know about a water softener causing problems though. We've had one at the house since just after we moved in 1971 and I think we've only had to replace the water maybe twice? Plus, the water goes through that before it heads to the water heater.

[ShadowBall]

The softener is definitely needed because, without it, the water ends up being full of rust. It's bad enough the water tastes like sulfur - I don't think it'd be an improvement to throw some rust in there too. Mom originally needed the water softener because when she did her laundry, the red water would taint all her work clothes (she works in the hospital and wears white lab coats). She washes stuff at a laundromat now, so this is no longer an issue, but it would still affect the drinking water.

And honestly, I don't think that water softener or the heater have ever been purged. Not in my lifetime anyway. In any case, the way everything's fixed up now will last until January according to the heating/plumbing repair man who visited recently. However, he said the setup may also cause a fuse to blow - that's just dandy.