[ 3 / biz / cgl / ck / diy / fa / ic / jp / lit / sci / vr / vt ] [ index / top / reports ] [ become a patron ] [ status ]
2023-11: Warosu is now out of extended maintenance.

/diy/ - Do It Yourself

View post   
File: 6 KB, 256x191, 1292689076895.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
716648 No.716648 [Reply] [Original]

/diy/, I have an odd situation.

My central heating, water heater and oven run on propane gas. I do not use the oven because I have a toaster oven that gets the job done. I only use the central heating if it drops below 10F so my pipes don't burst. Personally, I think there is a leak in the gas line somewhere, but the gas company claims it is fine and I have no way to get a second opinion. Even though I'm paying $900 every three months for only using hot water. I'm unemployed and I can't keep up with payments, so they aren't going to fill it next time.

Any tips for storing hot water? I can still heat up a lot on the stove, but I don't know how to store it without it quickly losing temperature. I would still like to be able to wash my hands and body when necessary, but I currently have no clue how to adapt without hot water.

>> No.716650

300$/mo for hot water seems like a hell of a lot. Do you take shower or bathe? Is your water heater poorly insulated?

Do you smell anything at all? Nat gas and propane both have ethyl mercaptan to alert users of leaks.

Do you have a gas meter somewhere you can read to show volume used?
Or a meter to read how full the tank is?
If you do, turn off your water heater and see if there are any changes.

Store hot water in an insulated container, like a cooler or a vacuum coffee travel mug.

>> No.716665

>>716650
I have a couple large coolers that I had in mind for it, so I'm glad you mentioned that. I do have a gas meter that is outside of my house. I do shower, but only 10 minutes and usually not on a very hot setting. Water heater is a Whirlpool that seems insulated, it's in my basement.

I'm kind of worried about shutting it off because I am just a tenant here, and the house was built in the late 60s and 70s. The landlord has warned me of explosions if I try to "mess with the gas" so I'm not supposed to do it.

I don't use the oven, but I'm told to keep the pilot light on constantly or else it will cause gas to fill up in the house. Is this true? I don't know what valves turn off what, so I'm not going to start doing that unless I had someone who knew what they were doing.

>> No.716669

>>716648
>>storing hot water
It's simple, you just superheat a bunch of water and store it in a vacuum insulated storage container(a big damn thermos).

Then you draw off superheated water as necessary.

>> No.716671

>>716669
>a big damn thermos
I'm talking about large amounts of water though, for daily use.

>> No.716676

>>716665
>I'm kind of worried about shutting it off because I am just a tenant here, and the house was built in the late 60s and 70s.

Is it a single unit building? I lived in a triplex, bottom floor and two upper units. We had our own water heater. Well upon inspection, they had tied the two units together in the case of high demand. Told the land lord I wasn't cool with that. After threatening to take him to court he refunded us some money and then charged us a flat rate for the gas each month which worked out massively in our favor.

Most appliances have a gas shut off right by the appliance. Look behind your oven and turn off the valve. The pilot light will go out by itself if it's off. Most newer appliance have detectors that shut off the gas if the pilot is out but why risk it?

Water heater have a dial on them to determine the water temp. Adjust it so that the full hot is just a little too hot for you to wash dishes with. The trade off here is that when you shower you deplete the water tank faster but that the water heater has to kick on a lot less often to keep the water at a lower temp which will result in lower gas cost.

>> No.716738

>>716665
the oven will be plumbed into a gas line behind it... their should be a shutoff valve back there, also maybe post a picture of the oven? it would seriously have to be stupidly old to have a standing pilot......

>> No.716742

>>716665
>I don't use the oven, but I'm told to keep the pilot light on constantly or else it will cause gas to fill up in the house. Is this true?

Not sure if true.

Gas supplied to equipment like water heaters and gas ovens has to pass through a valve controlled by a pilot thermocouple. The purpose of this is to prevent gas from flowing when the pilot light is NOT lit, and the pilot light could go out for perfectly good reasons, like the city doing work on the gas.

Maybe your oven doesn't have one, or maybe its gas valve is broken, or maybe your landlord is simply mistaken, or maybe he's just blowing smoke to get you from touching anything because he really, really doesn't want you playing around with the gas.

>> No.716752

>>716648
you are getting screwed somewhere anon.
I use propane and hot water for 3 (showers / laundry etc...) uses about 10 gal of LP every month. before I got the 500 gal tank I used the little BBQ tanks... about 3 per month

>> No.717329

If you're worried about a gas leak at all, mix some dishwashing liquid and water at about 50/50 and spray down the gas line's connections - this is how they would check for leaks if they were to actually stop out.

If you see bubbles when you spray the connections, or you smell gas around the line, call them and tell them that you've found a leak and smell gas.

Here's a picture of what it looks like when they leek and you've sprayed them with soap.

http://ieplumbingservicesinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/gas_leaks-detection-soap.jpg

>> No.717334

>>716742
appliance repair fag here, there are actually a few older models that don't have a safety on the pilot.. but they're literally older than dirt... last one I worked on that was set up as such was made by a company that went out of business in the 1940's.... but the pilot light on it consisted of a user adjustable valve coming right off the supply with no failsafe if it blew out...

>> No.717337

>>716648
You wait 20 degrees past waters freezing point before you turn on the heat? Sounds legit

>> No.717367

Dude my mom had the same problem. Living out past BFE, selling herself on the corner to keep the propane tank half full.

A friend of hers got her hooked up with an electric water heater. No tank. It looks like a breaker box installed on the wall. Cold goes in, hot goes out. Somehow it superheats the water as it goes through the box and without a tank you can literally never run out of hot water.

Not sure what the initial cost was but my mom is a poorfag and she could afford it.

>> No.717566

>>717367
I used that very type of water heater when I lived in Japan. Works great,instant hot water results, and can actually see the water heater flames during its operation.

>> No.717677

>>717367
Tankless hot water heaters. Come in electric and gas, propane or natural.
They are damn proud of them, so maybe your mom got some credit from the electric company for converting from gas to electric.

>> No.717679

>>716742
Some current commercial kitchen grills/griddles have standing pilots with no safeties.

I have a customer who just bought a brand new grill and it had no safety on the pilot. After I explained what that could cause, it does now.

>> No.717717

>>717677
>Tankless hot water heaters. Come in electric and gas, propane or natural.
The electric tankless hot water heaters are less efficient than the tanked electric hot water heaters.
Electric elements simply don't have enough BTUs for a tankless hot water heater to work better than a tank.

Unless of course the price per BTU of electricity and natural gas or propane in your area are imbalanced.

Also be aware that a significant portion of the cost of installing an electric tankless hot water heater is the run of large gauge 240v wire you have to make between the breaker box and where it will be installed.
Any further than 15 feet from the breaker box and the cost of the wire will be higher than the cost of the tankless unit.

>> No.717753

>>717717
You are wrong there mate.
Tankless electric hot water heaters use 60A circuits, and that is either 4 or 6 according to the length of the run. And unless OP runs more than 300' or so, 4 or 6 is much less than the ~700 USD he is going to spend on the heater.

Plus,since you can't read, OP can't afford propane, and if he is having to buy propane, that means there is no natural gas available. So oil or electricity are what he has, excepting solar which is so costly that it isn't worth considering.

OP can't afford propane, so doubt he can afford an oil fired hot water heater, especially since he will also need to get a tank, tubing, etc.

And I'll say this once again, the significant part of any job you are paying for, is the amount of profit the contractor wants to make.