No Hot Water Heaters over 50 gallons now at Lowes or Home Depot

[Kenneth in Texas]

reading all these posts makes one think the goberment doesnt want free thinking DIYers to exist.

 

[ultrarunner]

In my short life span it is easy to remember back to a simpler time...

I don't want to get too far off topic but it ties into a conversation I was having tonight that started with all the low NOx water heaters and sealed combustion with igniters mandates...

Really every aspect of home construction is heavily regulated and it is not just construction but design review as to how the home will look... how many feet of straight uninterrupted wall is permitted, energy calcs, seismic engineering... even for water heaters... etc.

Water heaters here typically involve two of three trades... plumbing and then either mechanical or electrical. Any permit also triggers other requirements such as smoke and CO2 detectors inspections....

A permit or licensing grants third party control to another.

 

[cat fever]

Just another way of getting more of your paycheck without calling it a tax. I think overall the public is ruled and regulated to death just to provide a paycheck for those collecting the money. With that said, our living circumstances are far better than anytime in history. But come on, we have enough of government taking our paychecks!

 

[Tomtint]

We have well water that is actually very good except that it has a low PH level, aprox 5.5-6.0 depending on the time of year. Our last home had a 80 gallon water heater that lasted just under 7 years before the bottom corroded and leaked. The last 3 years there was a filtration system on the water supply. Our new home has the same water and PH levels. We opted for a Rinnai ( spelling ? ) on demand propane fired unit. ... I love it. Heats water in seconds and never runs out. ..and I don't heat water all day long when I'm not home.

 

[clemsonfor]

How many lawsuits were brought against yanmar for people being hurt or killed on 1 of their tractors ??? Many..
work on your car ,and wreck into someone,, they will sue you
Install a gas water heater wrong, blow up your home and your neighbors home and you'll be sued, the wh manufacture will be sued, the gas company will be sued, and the place that sold this person a gas appliance that didn't know what he / were doing will be sued.... Been in the bus a long time.. Have seen it happen..

Saw a shop that sold a person a 4 wheelers get sued when the operator got hurt because they did something stupid.. they also sued the maker of the 4 wheeler..

I don't know of any HVAC supply houses around here that will sell you anything unless you are certified..

Just open an account with Grainger... only need the card to purchase refrigerant.

If you really know what you need... get it online.

When i went to fix my heat pump i just bought the capaitor on ebay. Never left the house or my cell phone and it arrived at my house for what i thought was a fair price , especially since i was only buying one and they shipped it.

 

[LD1]

cat fever....

Was that $500 total for the new blower+ install + diagnosis?

Or was the $500 just for the 30 min service call to tell you the blower was bad?

If the later....yea I would be upset too. But if that included replacement of the bad fan as well.......well that might not be too terrible because how much of that was the actual re-diagnosis?

If they are showing up to replace a blower, and want to take ~30min to confirm your findings before proceeding....I cannot argue with that, but cant see that portion costing more than $40 or $50 since they are there to do the install anyway.

 

[kenmac]

When i went to fix my heat pump i just bought the capaitor on ebay. Never left the house or my cell phone and it arrived at my house for what i thought was a fair price , especially since i was only buying one and they shipped it.

sure,, you can buy an entire system on line, but most of the manufactures won't warranty, unless you can prove a certifies contractor installed the unit.... The local supply houses here won't warranty any of the parts of a unit ,that's purchases on line...

Supply houses are starting to charge contractors (like myself) a warranty fee to return a part off a unit that wasn't purchased from them..The amount of the fee depends on the warranty part returned

I have told the guys / gals at the supply houses that I really don't care who they sell to, They say they don't like having to deal with the public, that buy parts install them, and want to return the part when that doesn't repair the unit.. Parts changers

 

[Gale Hawkins]

We have well water that is actually very good except that it has a low PH level, aprox 5.5-6.0 depending on the time of year. Our last home had a 80 gallon water heater that lasted just under 7 years before the bottom corroded and leaked. The last 3 years there was a filtration system on the water supply. Our new home has the same water and PH levels. We opted for a Rinnai ( spelling ? ) on demand propane fired unit. ... I love it. Heats water in seconds and never runs out. ..and I don't heat water all day long when I'm not home.

We have the same pH level of well water.

 

[cat fever]

cat fever....

Was that $500 total for the new blower+ install + diagnosis?

Or was the $500 just for the 30 min service call to tell you the blower was bad?

If the later....yea I would be upset too. But if that included replacement of the bad fan as well.......well that might not be too terrible because how much of that was the actual re-diagnosis?

If they are showing up to replace a blower, and want to take ~30min to confirm your findings before proceeding....I cannot argue with that, but cant see that portion costing more than $40 or $50 since they are there to do the install anyway.

She didn't break it down except for the new motor. It was like 150 bucks. So over 350 bucks labor for a little over an hour of total time. Just seemed a little steep for me. Especially when I assured her the motor was seized. It just hummed when it should have been turning and with a long screw driver I could not make the fan move. I even said if that's not the problem I'll eat the cost of finding out the real problem. Basically I will not be calling that company in the future. They got me once, shame on them......

 

[ultrarunner]

I've had many good vendors where time and material worked out well... not so much anymore.

Found time and material always ends up costing more except for vetted vendors.