Multiple questions about water heater

[KULTULZ]

I changed the title for ya kiddo.

Reminds me as a police training officer, I would see new probationary cops write out accident reports saying "I made a left hand turn, a right hand turn, etc." Dumb kids don't understand "hands" do not turn!

How did you have them indicate direction of turns, port and starboard?

Mine is having someone say repeatedly, "You know what I mean"?

No I don't know, you are still telling me...

 

[Zanne]

Thanks, havasu!

KULTULZ, good point about tradesmen. I have had some absolutely lousy doctors before. My father might still be alive today if not for medical malpractice from multiple doctors. But unlike tradesmen, who will generally tell you that someone did crap work and the person who did it is a hack, doctors don't like to say another doctor screwed up.

Taking the car in for an oil change and running some errands today. I'll google that pan and see if I can find distributors. Would I still need some sort of insulation under the bottom of the tank?

Thank you for the replies!

 

[phishfood]

Heat will quite readily migrate upward, not so much with downward. I would worry more with insulating the hot and cold piping.

 

[havasu]

How did you have them indicate direction of turns, port and starboard?

What's wrong with left turn, right turn?

 

[KULTULZ]

What's wrong with left turn, right turn?

hmm...

I see where you are going now. I stand corrected...

 

[Zanne]

Good point on the left hand and right hand turn things. My father used to use port and starboard instead of left and right sometimes. He used to put together model boats and later in life he took a training course on boating.

phishfood, good idea on insulating the water pipes. What kind would you recommend? The standard foam wrap stuff they sell at big box stores? I got some of that on a sale so I have some in the tool closet-- which I really need to organize.

 

[Mr_David]

When I think about which way is "port" or " starboard "
I look at my Left Hand and say to myself
" Okay! That's port "
I look at my Right Hand and say, "So! That must be starboard "

 

[havasu]

I remember by knowing port has 4 letters, just like the word left has 4 letters. Starboard has more letters than port, and right has more letters than left. May seen silly but it works for me.

 

[phishfood]

I always tell myself that " you just left the port".

 

[Caduceus]

When I was in the Navy and at the helm of the ship, we knew which way was port and starboard cuz if you were ordered 'port' and you turned starboard, the officer of the deck would say "Your other 'port'." and same for starboard. It was easy to remember that way.

 

[Matt30]

.......the hell are you guys talking about?

 

[havasu]

Come on Matt! Get with the program. You should know by now that anything goes in here, so we successfully diverted down another road!

 

[Zanne]

Matt, we're discussing the nautical terms for left and right. Ships travel on water. It's a thread about a water heater... It's related...

I've also heard the term larboard.

 

[Matt30]

I thought we were still discussing hot = left and cold = right!.

Even on a ship...(I feel I should know this, being from Nova Scotia and all), it seems just saying left/right is a lot less confusing than talking in code

 

[phishfood]

Matt30=wrong again!!

 

[Matt30]

.......again? I don't recall it happening before!

 

[Zanne]

I finally managed to load the video of what the hot water does. The video didn't quite capture just how much it splashes-- and there appeared to be steam or something coming out, but I'm not sure. It sort of looked like smoke coming out when nothing else was coming out.

I don't have great camera skills and the sound is weird.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCQ_l_91DBs[/ame]

 

[phishfood]

Does your water smell like sulfur?

 

[KULTULZ]

I finally managed to load the video of what the hot water does. The video didn't quite capture just how much it splashes-- and there appeared to be steam or something coming out, but I'm not sure.

Do all of the HOT WATER faucets-spigots in the house do the same thing?

It seems to me that the WH is full of sediment.

Trying to flush sediments out of the WH through that plastic drain cock is going to be very difficult. Drain the heater. remove the drain cock. install a brass nipple and a threaded 3/4" ball valve.

Fabricated Full Flow Flush Valve Shown Below-

 

[Caduceus]

Interesting video. Hmmmm...just throwing this out there, so bear with me. The tank was fine before, flow was normal then problem with well and the problem began. So now it appears that you are waiting for water and when it comes out it spurts and is cloudy. The behavior you faucet is showing, at first, reminds me of the symptoms of a leak on the supply line, maybe in a concealed area. I know it brings the question of how air would get in the pipes, but it does happen...dealt with it many times, but the sputtering usually goes away in a few seconds.
So, is there a possibility that the elevated tank is allowing water to siphon through the dip tube into the cold supply lowering the water level in the tank, even if it's only a gallon or two. When the faucets are turned on, the hot water and air are pushed out together as the cold fills the tank void at the top. This would have to occur in conjunction with a tiny leak on the hot side or a drippy faucet on the hot side to allow for the siphoning and air to enter. Your tank should have an anti siphon hole in the dip tube, but if it does not or if it got plugged with sediment, you could siphon an elevated tank. If the water is left to run for a few minutes, does the sputtering go away?
That's just a theory, but I'll keep trying to brainstorm on this one.
Did that make any sense to anybody other than me?