The Home Improvement Thread

[speede5]

Ya that's double the life most tanks get these days. Hitting the anode with an impact might disintigrate the whole unit haha.

[TorqueDog]

I'm finally moving back to downtown (well, Beltline). How sweet it will be.

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by Wormius

Funnily, I thought since it was a nice day I’d open up the garage and take the cordless drill and some wire bristle attachment to see what the bare rod looked like. Not great. Kind of like swiss cheese.

Sure, but it still had plenty of life.

[Bill Bumface]

Ok, all this talk of my hot water tank being pushed past what is reasonable has me looking at tankless options because I can't fit anything bigger than the 40gal currently down there, and my kids will be teenagers during the life of the next one.

I've hard Rinnai and Navien are great. I like the "Comfort Flow" feature of the Navien so that doing dishes by hand and turning the hot water on and off a lot isn't an exercise in frustration.

Anyone have any advice/experience? Have an installer you'd recommend?

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

Ok, all this talk of my hot water tank being pushed past what is reasonable has me looking at tankless options because I can't fit anything bigger than the 40gal currently down there, and my kids will be teenagers during the life of the next one.

I've hard Rinnai and Navien are great. I like the "Comfort Flow" feature of the Navien so that doing dishes by hand and turning the hot water on and off a lot isn't an exercise in frustration.

Anyone have any advice/experience? Have an installer you'd recommend?

I got a Navien 180A. The A has a small storage tank and recirc. It's about $700 more than the S model without. I've liked it so far, it takes less than 5 seconds to get hot water to the kitchen sink, which is about 15 feet of pipe. The shower takes about 15 seconds, probably close to 40 feet of pipe.It's in a new location, so I can't do a direct comparison to the old tank.


One thing to watch out for is the flow rate. Take a look at the chart in the bottom left of page 3:
https://acornheat.com/wp-content/upl...-1907-FLIP.pdf


This unit is rated at 4.3 GPM, which is about true for a temperature rise of 70°F. But in the winter, our water is closer to 40°F, which means to get to 125°F you need a rise of 85°F. This reduces it to 3.5GPM. Still fine for one person to shower. I do find if you have the dishwasher or laundry running flow drops a bit. For 2 of us it doesn't matter at all. Still totally happy with it. But if you have more people or that would bug you, you'd want a bigger unit.


I used Benner, and they were great, though I suspect not the cheapest. I did have to have a gas line moved and some plumbing changed, as well as concrete coring and a drain pump, so it came to 7K. Not great, but they are supposed to have longer lives than tanks, and now I am setup I could install a replacement myself(probably minus the gas hookup, not sure on permits for that).

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

One thing to watch out for is the flow rate. Take a look at the chart in the bottom left of page 3:
https://acornheat.com/wp-content/upl...-1907-FLIP.pdf

Thank you! Does the little storage tank work pretty good for stuff like washing dishes by hand?

Basically, based on those flow numbers, get the biggest one if you want two people showering at once?

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

Thank you! Does the little storage tank work pretty good for stuff like washing dishes by hand?

Basically, based on those flow numbers, get the biggest one if you want two people showering at once?

The little tank I think is there just to provide initial hot water, it's less than a gallon, I was told. Once you are using the unit hot water seems to be there all the time, so for hand washing dishes it's always hot.

I'm not sure the price difference on the 240, but I'd probably go for it if you need 2 people showering at the same time, given Calgary's cold water.

Another thing to check is what type and size pipe goes to your current tank. Initially he put in 1/2" PEX for the sections form 1/2" copper to the unit. It restricted the flow enough that I noticed it right away. I've since upgraded most of my cold water pipes to 3/4" pex. You don't necessarily want 3/4" pex hot though, because it's a decent volume of water that sits cold over night, meaning you have to run it longer to flush it out. So I went 3/4" pex to a copper T to 1/2" copper, splitting to the kitchen and everything else(the other direction). So I've got good flow to the unit, and I think it's well managed not he hot side. You can do a full loop and recirc, then pipe size doesn't matter as much. I may do that when I redo another section.

Here's a handy chart to help:

http://s3.supplyhouse.com/product_ca...Rate-Chart.pdf

[YYC in LAX]

Can anyone please recommend an underground irrigation installer? Thank you.

[Sr. Mints]

I was supposed to arrange to get my mom's garage sloped and coated, but I just..haven't yet. Resloped is the biggie. I've got a few quotes, all around $4500-5500.

But now I'm wondering if porcelain tile is a good or bad idea? The guys who did a walk-in shower bathroom here about a year ago say around $4000-ish with "dry packing" using sand and mortar to slope it, but can come in for a quote.

They say they've done tile in garages on occasion, but looking for input that's unbiased.

~30 year old heated attached garage, 24x20', zero cracks, a bit of pitting. And of note, there's a 10' deep crawlspace-type space beneath it (no idea why, or if there are bodies down there, or what.)

[BlackArcher101]

Tile in a garage? Oh hell to the no. I can't imagine how that wouldn't crack with a jack holding up a car.

If there's a crawlspace beneath it.... you would be adding a load to the slab and that may have to be checked by an engineer. If it was a slab on ground, it wouldn't really be a problem. But this would be supported somehow. (I know, tiles/grout sound minimal compared to the existing slab weight, but hey, I don't like assuming).

[Sr. Mints]

That sounds like a 'yeah...no' based on the engineering report alone.

[timun]

Tile will be slippery as #### too...

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by timun

Tile will be slippery as #### too...

If you put the right stuff in the garage, it's not slippery. I know a guy whose wife did it for him and he was saying how he was hesitant at first, but now he's happy and praising her and it's lifetime warranty so even if it cracks they'll replace for free and the gaps help to draw water away in a certain direction...

It's weird AF to me. I'd never do it even if I had a crap ton of money.

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by timun

Tile will be slippery as #### too...

I've seen tile in mechanic/dealership service shops that probably have dozens and dozens of cars drive over them per day. I think it can be made to work.

[cupofjoe]

Originally Posted by Shazam

If you're willing to wait a bit there's a few places in town that have better quality stuff "ready to assemble" as it were.

e.g. http://www.cupboardsexpress.com/

(I have no idea how good this company is, just did a googles search).

https://www.google.com/search?q=calg...t=gws-wiz-serp

Hi all, I just noticed this reference to my company. I am the regional manager in Calgary for Cupboards Express. I am little late to respond to this particular post but if you have any questions regarding Kitchens, you can ask in this thread or DM if you like.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by YYC in LAX

Can anyone please recommend an underground irrigation installer? Thank you.

I've been told this is the type of project to DIY.

A friend who is significantly less competent DIY wise to me said it took him an afternoon casually over a few beers with minimal swearing. This is the type of dude who whines about having to move furniture, so I think if you watch a few videos, it might be enough to consider doing it yourself.

Or maybe a case of beers and a few buddies over for the afternoon kind of project.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

I've seen tile in mechanic/dealership service shops that probably have dozens and dozens of cars drive over them per day. I think it can be made to work.

The thing that would make me nervous is in a wet, unheated location. I guess if you can tile a garage, it's probably a given it's heated, but moisture will inevitably get in the grout, and then if it freezes, I can't see how the tiles won't pop off.

Also curious how all the road grime/salt interacts with the grout over time unless you're constantly cleaning it.

[Fuzz]

If I did tile, and it was deemed compatible, I'd just coat the floor a couple times with a clearcoat epoxy to seal it. Probably repeat every 10 years or so.

[puffnstuff]

Originally Posted by YYC in LAX

Can anyone please recommend an underground irrigation installer? Thank you.

I used Greenscape Irrigation, quite a few years ago now though.

[Cube Inmate]

I got a new water heater a few years ago and I bought a second anode rod at the time. I've been alternating the two rods once a year (clean off the corrosion before swapping in the alternate) on the theory that a "cleaned" rod will work better than a corrosion-crusted rod. This way I always know how much rod I have left and doing it once a year keeps it from getting frozen in place. No idea if this improves tank life, but I feel better always knowing I have some anode left to sacrifice...

You could do this with one rod, but it's a lot easier to clean off the corrosion once the thing is dry.