To get hot water, turn on the clothes dryer

[Pecos]

Say What??
I really like my outside gas fired tankless water heater. It works like a champ, but the extreme cold temps last night froze the water in the pipes feeding it from under the house. I thought that we would have to either wait for a couple of days for it to thaw, or I could crawl down into the crawl space on my belly with a hair dryer and blow hot air on a fairly long length of pipe that should have been better insulated. It has never gotten cold enough to do this before in the 27 years we have lived here.

Looking at what was going to be a miserable and cold task, I happened to observe that the uninsulated exhaust vent from the clothes dryer ran alongside that water pipe and dumped air warm about 18 inches from the bottom of the hot water heater itself which I suspected might be holding frozen water and unable to work.

I thought it was a weird idea, but worth a try. I turned that dryer on, and 30 minutes later everything apparently melted and the hot water heater came back on line.

It sounds funny, but when the outside temp goes down into the teens, I apparently have to turn on the clothes dryer to warm up the feed water lines in order to get hot water.

I talked to my plumber, who was swamped and would not be able to come until next week. He told me that he had five other units in the area that were doing the same thing. I will give him my solution when I am able to talk to him again.

 

[leastlongprime]

any busted pipes? or heat exchanger in the tankless?
We had the tankless in the garage and with pilot flame so no danger of the exchanger freezing, however there was a danger of the cold water line freezing to the tankless.

 

[Farrah Nuff]

Christmas day of 1983 I woke up to no water in my apartment at the time.
It took most of the day but a hairdryer, blowing into the wall where the main
line came through, saved the day for me. That was a memorable holiday.

 

[Blessed]

Okay fellas, since you are talking about it, hot water heaters. I am looking at replacing mine with a tankless unit. Is a tankless better, do they last longer, where are they normally placed? I know it will be more expensive but it might be the best thing in the long run.

 

[Disgustedman]

I remember in 1996 we had the "Siberian Express" come through Oregon. Pipes breaking everywhere in Portland. My mother's sink faucet was slow. We stuck the hair dryer into the space on med setting 30 minutes and bingo!

I love the innocence of my neighbors. One said "Don't worry, this will all be gone by tomorrow" I laughed and replied "How many years you lived in the area?" He said "One"

I laughed and said "It takes longer to leave them come. It'll take about a week" so he's not believing me. He'll see.

 

[Pecos]

any busted pipes? or heat exchanger in the tankless?
We had the tankless in the garage and with pilot flame so no danger of the exchanger freezing, however there was a danger of the cold water line freezing to the tankless.

No broken pipes which is almost surprising.

 

[Disgustedman]

Okay fellas, since you are talking about it, hot water heaters. I am looking at replacing mine with a tankless unit. Is a tankless better, do they last longer, where are they normally placed? I know it will be more expensive but it might be the best thing in the long run.

If your electrical lines can handle it. Those tankless heaters hit some hot numbers and the electric sometimes can't handle the load.

My mother's house was done in 1942. That wiring could barely handle the washer and dryer at the same time.

 

[Pecos]

I remember in 1996 we had the "Siberian Express" come through Oregon. Pipes breaking everywhere in Portland. My mother's sink faucet was slow. We stuck the hair dryer into the space on med setting 30 minutes and bingo!

I love the innocence of my neighbors. One said "Don't worry, this will all be gone by tomorrow" I laughed and replied "How many years you lived in the area?" He said "One"

I laughed and said "It takes longer to leave them come. It'll take about a week" so he's not believing me. He'll see.

You are right, when plumbers get swamped, it can take several days before the can get to you. He will learn.

 

[leastlongprime]

No broken pipes which is almost surprising.

Plex, copper, or galvanized piping?
You are lucky if you have copper or galvanized.

 

[Pecos]

If your electrical lines can handle it. Those tankless heaters hit some hot numbers and the electric sometimes can't handle the load.

My mother's house was done in 1942. That wiring could barely handle the washer and dryer at the same time.

Mine is gas, the current wiring would not be able to handle the load for an electric tankless water heater.

 

[Pecos]

Okay fellas, since you are talking about it, hot water heaters. I am looking at replacing mine with a tankless unit. Is a tankless better, do they last longer, where are they normally placed? I know it will be more expensive but it might be the best thing in the long run.

Overall, I am quite happy with my gas fired tankless. My electrical wiring would have had to be completely redone if I had tried to go that way. Gas is much cheaper to operate anyway.
I don’t know if the tankless one will last longer than a regular old style heater. That remains to be seen. Mine is a Rinnai and they are reputed to be quite reliable.
One thing is certain and that is if you have a large family, you are not going to run out of hot water.
Mine is placed outside, so we did gain some room in the laundry room.

 

[leastlongprime]

Okay fellas, since you are talking about it, hot water heaters. I am looking at replacing mine with a tankless unit. Is a tankless better, do they last longer, where are they normally placed? I know it will be more expensive but it might be the best thing in the long run.

JMO, the newer tankless gas are now electronic ignition and forced ventilated. No electricity, no hot water.
Older gas tankless had a pilot flame and natural draft- hot water forever as long as your gas supply and water ran. No electricity needed.
Our tankless lasted +10 years, could have repaired (it was the micro voltage and needle value assembly) but decided to replace to newer model. Very efficient even with low cost electricity 10cents/KWH.
However, with if you have a small house hold, I personally wouldn't install but would use either a heat pump water heater or a smaller tank heater. In the PNW, west of Cascades, the winters are normally pretty mild and the electricity is still reasonable for electric heatpump hot water.

 

[Gaer]

Pecos, That's a great idea! I always turn on the oven
and the gas heater if the pipes are frozen.
But, if I know it's going to be really cold. I'll
leave a trickle of water in all the faucets.

The clothes dryer is a great idea!

 

[Happy Heart]

Wonderful ideas and discussion, thank you!

 

[SeaBreeze]

Say What??
I really like my outside gas fired tankless water heater. It works like a champ, but the extreme cold temps last night froze the water in the pipes feeding it from under the house. I thought that we would have to either wait for a couple of days for it to thaw, or I could crawl down into the crawl space on my belly with a hair dryer and blow hot air on a fairly long length of pipe that should have been better insulated. It has never gotten cold enough to do this before in the 27 years we have lived here.

Looking at what was going to be a miserable and cold task, I happened to observe that the uninsulated exhaust vent from the clothes dryer ran alongside that water pipe and dumped air warm about 18 inches from the bottom of the hot water heater itself which I suspected might be holding frozen water and unable to work.

I thought it was a weird idea, but worth a try. I turned that dryer on, and 30 minutes later everything apparently melted and the hot water heater came back on line.

It sounds funny, but when the outside temp goes down into the teens, I apparently have to turn on the clothes dryer to warm up the feed water lines in order to get hot water.

I talked to my plumber, who was swamped and would not be able to come until next week. He told me that he had five other units in the area that were doing the same thing. I will give him my solution when I am able to talk to him again.

Excellent that you were able to resolve that miserable problem. We have a tankless, but it's in the basement and gets some heat from the vents, so it never freezes. Glad you thought of that.

 

[Blessed]

@Pecos and @leastlongprime, I do have a normal hot water heater now. It is gas. It has been twelve years since I have had to replace it. The last one blew and made a mess, damaged the carpet in one of the masters and that closet. I have noticed sometimes when I shower that the water gets cooler during my shower so I am thinking I should go ahead and replace it.

I am the type of person that prefers to take care of things before it goes out. I had been thinking of the tankless. I have a big house, 3 baths, but I am the only one here anymore, so maybe I don't need a tankless. I think I will just replace with the same kind I have. Don't want to put it off and have a flood again. The last time it happened I only had a 100.00 deductible, the insurance companies have changed and deductibles now are based on the value of the home, that makes a big difference in making sure I keep up with anything that might cause damage.

Thanks so much for the input!!

 

[Meanderer]

 

[Murrmurr]

Say What??
I really like my outside gas fired tankless water heater. It works like a champ, but the extreme cold temps last night froze the water in the pipes feeding it from under the house. I thought that we would have to either wait for a couple of days for it to thaw, or I could crawl down into the crawl space on my belly with a hair dryer and blow hot air on a fairly long length of pipe that should have been better insulated. It has never gotten cold enough to do this before in the 27 years we have lived here.

Looking at what was going to be a miserable and cold task, I happened to observe that the uninsulated exhaust vent from the clothes dryer ran alongside that water pipe and dumped air warm about 18 inches from the bottom of the hot water heater itself which I suspected might be holding frozen water and unable to work.

I thought it was a weird idea, but worth a try. I turned that dryer on, and 30 minutes later everything apparently melted and the hot water heater came back on line.

It sounds funny, but when the outside temp goes down into the teens, I apparently have to turn on the clothes dryer to warm up the feed water lines in order to get hot water.

I talked to my plumber, who was swamped and would not be able to come until next week. He told me that he had five other units in the area that were doing the same thing. I will give him my solution when I am able to talk to him again.

Brilliant!

 

[jujube]

I remember one Christmas, back in the 1980's, that we had an extreme and almost unprecedented cold snap in Orlando. It actually got down into the high teens. Everything froze. Nobody was prepared for it, nobody knew what to do. We live in Florida, dammit, it doesn't get that cold here!

Our old diesel Mercedes wouldn't start. You can't get "winter diesel" in Central Florida and the regular diesel turns into something like petroleum jelly when the temp gets low. No dipstick heaters to be found, either.

The pipes froze. No water. Some people's pipes burst. We were lucky.....just no water for a day.

We've never had a cold snap like that again.