Jim Katen

In addition to what everyone else said, he's also got to start using the heater. Cold air has a much lower saturation point than warm air. If you raise the temperature of the indoor air, the relative humidity will drop. Don't worry about "spreading spores." They'll spread no matter what. Once the humidity is under control, the spores will be irrelevant.

Also, don't put too much hope in the sanitizing effect of girls. They're too worried about their own appearance to bother with their surroundings. During her last two years of college, my daughter shared a house with 7 other girls and one boy (who was relegated to the 5'-6" high basement and slept next to the 40-year-old furnace). The place was a terrarium.

. . . Max amps for 120, 208, or 240 volts - 18.75 amps

Max rating - 4500 W

So if we need faster hot water, I could replace the 3000 W element(s).

If you mean to replace it with a 4,500 watt element, then you'll need to replace the entire 20-amp circuit with a 30-amp circuit.

Before I added a 10 I would rewire the 40 for simultaneous firing of both elements. You're adding another wire anyway, so try that first, it might be enough.

That requires adding one 20 amp circuit, right?

30 A, 2 pole. Just like clothes dryers.

Marc

I just took a look at it, 3000 W elements, max 18.75 amps on a 20 amp circuit.

20 Amp circuit only good for 16 amps (80%) continuous.

How'd you get 18.75 anyway?

Marc

That 18.75 max is on the label, manufacturer's spec. Giant is the brand, made in good old Quebec. []

A 20 amp circuit is typical for electric water heat here in Canada, except for the very large tanks with bigger elements which get bumped up to 30.

18.75 amps is standard for an electric water heater with two 4,500w elements. Maybe that's the maximum rating for the water heater, even if 3,000w elements are installed.

On the other hand, maybe you were reading the wattage from the 208v column instead of the 240v column? (A 4,500 watt element would only produce 3,300 watts or so at the lower voltage.)

So using the 10 in series with the 40, I suggest that the 40 gal could preheat the water to 95 or 100 degrees F and then the 10 could be set to 120. A smaller amount of water is kept stored at the higher temp that way.

I think you're attributing too much value to standby losses. They're nearly insignificant with modern water heaters. The last study I read on the subject showed the average total value of standby losses over a 1-year period to be about $50 (US).

And if the water heater is in the conditioned space during the cold months, the "losses" just offset your heating costs.

I'd remove standby losses from the calculation entirely.

. . . . They want a minimum cost for an average hot water supply for 3-4 people . . .

The existing electric 40-gallon water heater *is* an average hot water supply for 3-4 people.

Only if they are French.

We're talking Canada. Isn't that the same thing?

. . . . They want a minimum cost for an average hot water supply for 3-4 people . . .

The existing electric 40-gallon water heater *is* an average hot water supply for 3-4 people.

Crank the thermostat up to 27 or 28.

If it continues to short cycle (run for 5 minutes, turn off for 3-4 minutes, and run for 5 minutes again), then it's probably shutting down in response to the high temperature limit switch. In that case, before doing anything else, try changing or cleaning your filter.

Thanks for letting us know. Blaine was surely a fighter. I'll miss him.

I believe the requirement for tempered glass adjacent to bathtubs was first required in the 1996 IRC. I see many houses without tempered glass there. My own house was built in 1990 and did not have it until I replaced the window. Many replacement window companies still don't install tempered glass.

I think you mean CABO.

The requirement is much older, though. It's in the 1979 CABO and in the '76 UBC. (Those are the oldest ones I've got.) But I suspect that it first showed up in the early '70s.

Are these scratches the etchings you speak of?

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No. I'd just call those scratches. Also, with that much scratching, it's unlikely to be tempered glass.

Some folks don't like it.

Mafia Block

Marc

No doubt, which is one of the reasons why I was curious if anyone else was aware of the term, had remembered it, or still used it.

At the time, it was Italian-American construction workers who used the term. They certainly didn't take offense at it.

I love it.

Back in the '70s in New England, the crews that I worked with had a rather gruesome nickname for those large concrete blocks. I've never heard the term used out west and I wonder how widespread it was.

Does anyone else recall this slang term?

Are you talking about a "Dead Man"? We used them for an anchor point for bracing shear wall forms.

The term was "Mafia block," which a quick search on Google tells me is still in use.

If that cowboy hat is a hard hat, you can't wear one on a real construction site because the turned up brim can catch debris.

Those cowboy hardhats are very common out here. So far, I've never seen the OSHA guys object to them. We work right through the winter and when it's pouring rain regular hardhats can be a real problem because the water just drips off the hat on onto whatever you're working on. The cowboy style hats channel it behind you.

I also found this opinion from OSHA on the subject:

https://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadis ... p_id=22673

"I use a small mirror and a flashlight to see etchings that are too subtle for me to see unaided."

Please elaborate.

I carry a small mirror, the size of a business card. Place the mirror against and perpendicular to the glass and use the flashlight to shine a grazing light against the glass. The mirror will often show the etching where I couldn't otherwise see it.

Of course, the etching will only be on the smooth side on pebbled glass. You might have to go outdoors to look on the other side.

I love it.

Back in the '70s in New England, the crews that I worked with had a rather gruesome nickname for those large concrete blocks. I've never heard the term used out west and I wonder how widespread it was.

Does anyone else recall this slang term?

The texture has nothing to do with whether or no it's safety glass.

I use a small mirror and a flashlight to see etchings that are too subtle for me to see unaided. If I can't see the etching, I say that I couldn't see an etching and to replace it with safety glass that does have an etching. If someone wants to argue with me, I invite them to show me the etching. On two occasions, others have found the etching where I missed it. (That's when I started using the mirror.)

The other alternative is to use a BB gun. (See, I told you it wasn't tempered. . . )

If the water was black, with foam & bugs in it, I'd suspect it's part of a grey water system.

I've used Bona products with & without the sealer. It doesn't seem to make any difference. Use a fine screen between coats. Do not use pads of steel wool with the Bona stuff. Any particles that remain will rust.

If you're only doing 100 sq ft, you can practically sand it by hand.

Sure. Google "horizontal wet vent."

Perhaps it's a problem with the pressure-balancing feature of the valve. The valve equalizes the pressure between the hot and cold inlets. If you loose pressure on one side of the inlet, you lose it on both sides of the outlet. You might have an obstruction on the hot or cold inlet.

Or it could be too many apostrophes.

My question is what kind of force might make those little copper blades lose their tight fit in the device.

I'm convinced that some of these things are loose right out of the package.

Jim, I try to keep a no-throw policy for breakers and don't typically operate disconnects, just like I don't operate plumbing cutoffs.

Certainly a valid position to take. Everyone has to balance the risks of operating this stuff against the benefit received. Sometimes you pull those disconnect blocks and they come out in several pieces.

(I see this particular disconnect so often that I actually carry a spare disco block for it.)

I do pull the blade and spade type disconnects, and I look for problems with loose connections but don't often see them. With a lot of the discos I see here, that has to be done anyway to get the interior cover off to look at the wiring itself. And while I have seen plenty of cases of single wires overheated, I have never seen a case like this with all 4 of them nuked.

The owners are not accusing me of missing anything or causing this, just trying to figure out how it happened. Some nitwit told them that the entire house was pulling over a 300 amp load through a 200 amp service and that caused this problem!

The initial problems are very subtle - a slight distortion in the plastic housing - and are easy to overlook.

You might tell them that the entire disconnect sold for $6.98 and ohm's law occasionally demands retribution for cheap materials. When they replace it, they should consider spending at least $12 for the replacement part.

I can't remember if I ever showed you this one. It was in a relatively recent house in Rockaway, in the attic.

It looks like a flaw in the CSST metal itself. Nothing else in the attic was corroded.

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What's causing the corrosion?

Would it help if the jacket were left intact right up to the fitting?

Reminds me of the cinematography in Fargo.

Looks like an Eaton/Cutler Hammer disconnect.

I see them overheating and distorting pretty regularly, though never as toasted as the one in your picture. Every time I come across that particular design I look at it very carefully for signs of overheating. Once you get in the habit of looking for the early signs of distortion, it's amazing how often you see it. Don't forget to look at the pullout itself. You'll often find small cracks in the plastic.

I'm surprised that no one accused you of screwing it up . . .