Workshop shutdown.

Sorry to hear about your flood but glad to hear that everything's okay now. I have also had my share of water heater problems throughout my life.

I remember in our first house, about two centuries or so ago, I came home from work one day and heard water running in the basement. I opened the door to the basement stairs and was greeted by the basement lights glimmering off of about 6 inches of water! I went down and discovered that the water heater relief valve had went bad and was discharging water as fast as the city could supply it. What a mess. Thankfully there was nothing of value stored in the basement.

Many years later, in a different house, I decided to replace the water heater as it was reaching the ned of it's life. So I picked up a new heater and was going to replace it that weekend. The day before I was going to do the job, the old heater sprung a leak! It was a small leak, just seeping from under the bottom of the tank. I isolated and drained the tank and replaced it the following day as I had originally planned. Disaster averted!

Jim Barton

I'm a heavy watcher of the Weather Channel and I'd been hearing about all the flooding in Minnesota and Iowa. Hope that's over with soon!

I was living in an upstairs apartment in southern California when the 1994 earthquake rattled the area and while the shaking was going on, I had visions of the water heater toppling over and dumping its load. Fortunately, that didn't happen.

 

I lived in California for four years, and experienced several minor earthquakes.  Then moved to St. Louis, and felt the strongest earthquake I had ever experienced- one along the New Madrid fault between St. Louis and Memphis!

I'm a heavy watcher of the Weather Channel and I'd been hearing about all the flooding in Minnesota and Iowa. Hope that's over with soon!

I was living in an upstairs apartment in southern California when the 1994 earthquake rattled the area and while the shaking was going on, I had visions of the water heater toppling over and dumping its load. Fortunately, that didn't happen.

This is really getting weird!  Got in some modeling yesterday afternoon, though I still have some clean-up to do in shop.  Will share (alternating) clean up and building.

But we had historic rains in Twin Cities yesterday, with flooding in a lot of areas- including my daughter/son-in-law house.  They are now cleaning out their basement after flooding!  I am done with their big fan, so they can pick it up to help in their drying!  They had an awful time getting home last night because so many roads in their town (Maple Grove) were flooded and impassable!

Oh how nice it would be to have a basement again.  I would take it water and all.

Update.

My son-in-law got there in early afternoon.  We went to a nearby building supply place and bought a new one, and he installed it in about an hour.  I didn't know about the tank drain because the drain was on back side mostly hidden by wall.  After he wrestled it out in the back yard and went to drain it, the drain was quite clogged and it took a long time to drain anyway- it was draining while we went shopping for the new one.

He and my daughter have a home remodeling/repair business.  He used to work for one of those companies like Serve Pro or whatever that specialize in rescuing buildings from fire or water damage, so he still does a lot of that.  They have four of those big fans for drying out areas.  Three were already in use in one of their job sites, but he brought over and left the fourth.  Boy that thing sure works well.  Only on corner of shop still has water on floor. The area under and around my workbench is now dry, so if I have some time off from cleanup today, I can do some modeling :-)

they take the hard mineral's out of the water , in country queensland , we need them because we are on bore water , you then clean them with salt ,

steve5

So sorry for your loss...my condolences...please let us know if we can do anything for you in this trying time...

Don - 

Dang, bummer. Hope you get it sorted quickly. Could have been worse, you could have been in Loozianna, they do their floods in a major way.

Patrick

Sorry for the troubles Don, better late than never,for future reference drain, ( yes get a drain outlet ) a gallon or two every 6 months or so and the water heaters will last twice as long. 

Don, you have my profound sympathy. A leaky water heater is a mess.

I had a remarkably stupid experience with a water heater recently.

Our house was built in the sixties. The original owners were two English professors at the university where I worked until last month. We bought the house from them in 1994, and I had the chance to chat with the original owners - who had been on hand for the construction process. 

The guy told me that the original contractors had had the brilliant idea of installing the water heater in a corner of the kitchen - between cabinets, under the counter. They proposed to it in completely, with no access. To service the water heater, the cabinets and counter would have to be torn apart.

The owner blew the whistle and demanded that the water heater be installed someplace where a repairman could get at it. It ended up in a cubby hole under the stairs. (Houses in eastern NC don't have basements - for excellent reasons.) But the carpenters decided that ripping out the first water heater wouldn't be worth the trouble, so they just left it there. Completely concealed and inaccessible, under the counter. The original owner told me, "if you ever need a new water heater, there's one buried in the kitchen." Frankly, I thought he was pulling my leg - until last month.

My wife and I decided the kitchen needed a major remodeling. (Those sixties cabinets were looking pretty shabby.) When our carpenters tore out the old cabinets, they found the old water heater. Full of hot water. The previous owners and we had been paying the electric bill to keep that water hot - for about fifty years.

Aaahhhiiiyeeee!

Just slap on some of your wifes Stiletto's, that will keep your feet out of water. Sandbag around your workbench and get crackin'! Don't let a little water scare you off from modeling man!!

Been there, done that Don. You have my condolences. A portable de-humidifier would go a long way to help get out the dampness once you get the water out. It's always damp in the back of our basement where I used to have my workbench so we keep a portable de-himidifier going all the time. Had to empty it out every two or three days. Had the basement professionally sealed outside and inside but it still is damp down there. Hooked up a drain line to the de-humidifier and ran it to the clothes drier drain. Now we can leave it running on a timer and don't have to worry about emptying it. 

Jim   

Hi Don,

I know what it feels like, my shop is in the basement and is know to get wet in heavy rains since I live in an area with a high water table.  I have good drainage and dehumidifiers, and all my equipment and furniture is on risers, but that doesn't prevent wet feet.

GlennH

 

 

Tojo72

NEVER go away on vacation without shutting off the feed valves to the water heater and the washing machine hoses.

 

 

 

 

If you do you better turn that tank to pilot or off.

 

Yeah,I know that,pilot position is fine.

Don, When the plumber comes in see what it would cost to put a run out valve post water heater so in the future you can drain out all the water manually from drain out hose to sump pit (from higher up water in the house).  For both hot and cold.

I do all my own plumbing and this week had to replace the outside hose bibb as it wouldn't shut off outside. My inside shutoffs were also shot.  I'm outside of Boston so it gets freezing and had to be fixed.  I've found that shut off's and drain-outs are you're best friend, along with a sump pit. I had to drain the whole house to do the work.

My model area is in a full basement. I try to have nothing of value closer than 2 feet to the floor.  Most much higher.   I always have a fan blowing on low as well to keep mildew at bay.

Hopefully the plumber gives you a fair price.  Once its fixed get a few fans blowing on high for few days. 

Tojo72

NEVER go away on vacation without shutting off the feed valves to the water heater and the washing machine hoses.

 

If you do you better turn that tank to pilot or off.

NEVER go away on vacation without shutting off the feed valves to the water heater and the washing machine hoses.

You're lucky if you get 10 years out of today's water heaters.  I have TWO 50-gallon water heaters hooked up in series and they are both about 10 years old... I'm thinking I should get them replaced before we have a flood of Biblical proportions!

I'm sorry to hear that such a situation has caused you to shut down your work area.  Knowing you, you'll be up and running in no time!  Good luck sir!

Toshi

Was gonna suggest hooking up a hose to the release on the tank too...drain it to the drain/sump pump.

I had an elbow fitting at the bottom of my pressure tank (we have well water)rust out. It was on a Friday night...I was headed away Saturday morning. Stayed up late that night, working on a model...decided to go ahead and snap a few pics (paint/photo booth is in utility side of basement) for the WIP. Got to the other side to find water...EVERYWHERE! Some was making it to the sump on the other side of the room...there's a drain in the floor next to all the utility stuff, but there was an inch of water, not 5 feet away from said drain. I have two words that can be combined into one, for whoever poured the concrete here....one starts with "A" and the other is "hole"!

Don, my heartfelt condolences!  I know exactly how you feel.  On the 4th of July, my water softener decided to do its best "Mt. Vesuvius" impersonation.  Was greated with about 4" of water in the basement at 3 in the morning.  I just thank God that everything in the basement, including my model kits, were elevated off the floor.

Did you shop vac all the water up or did you have to call one of those water damage companies to come over with their giant dryers and dehumidifiers?

Eric

Don, So sorry to hear that, a busted water heater really sucks.  Hope you get dried out soon and back to the bench for some needed R&R.  Hang in there my friend.

John

Don,if you have a small pump,hook a washing machine  hose up to the drain valve on the bottom of the heater,that will at least drain the tank,either you or the plumber is going to have to drain it anyway,it will save you more leakage.

I've had 3 cracked water heaters in 19 years,they just don't last like they used to.