Setbacks...

[Mick_VT]

I went anodeless - a 100% plastic tank. Apparently its a much better option for well water as you can get a sulfurous smell from an metal and anode tank when on a well

[Texas_Ranger]

Our tank was installed in 97-ish and still has its original anode. Our plumber just told us to stop worrying about it since we might replace the tank anyway or it might just die. I suppose since we've had such hard water for most of the time all the guts are caked in lime scale anyway, giving a certain amount of protection. It's a ridiculous setup, the genius who planned it mis-used a gas-fired water heater to fuel the hot water central heating via an external heat exchanger!

[Duffy666]

I went anodeless - a 100% plastic tank. Apparently its a much better option for well water as you can get a sulfurous smell from an metal and anode tank when on a well

Yes but the sulfur odor could also be due to sulfates or an overpopulation of Heterotrophic Bacteria Click Link in the well or hot water heater.

[lovesickest]

Some good advice about basic tank maintenance:

https://www.thisoldhouse.com/how-to/how ... ter-heater

Texas Ranger - Toronto has some hard water, too. Your tank sounds like it is near the end - 19 years is a mighty long life - but for the replacement some yearly DIY stuff can help to make it more efficient. I don't know what a new water heater costs where you are - here a basic electric 40 gallon tank can be purchased for about
$ 300.00 +/-. However - the HASSLE factor of getting the (big, heavy, awkward) thing delivered (up several stairs into the house, then down a flight of stairs to the basement) and installed and the old one taken away(weighs a ton with the scale build up - needs to go UP that flight of stairs) is high IMO.

Hard water scale can be dissolved with white vinegar, which is cheap and non-toxic. It needs to sit for at least 6 hours, and then get flushed out. A pretty small drag in the overall scheme of things, though ?

http://greenlivingideas.com/2014/12/18/ ... g-vinegar/

(Vinegar also works great to degunk shower heads and aerators from the hard water crust).

[Texas_Ranger]

Electric tanks are dirt-cheap but this is a gas-fired one. Total replacement is somewhere in the future, I just hope it'll last long enough. I think next time it'll be a tankless. Thankfully it's on the ground floor so we can wheel it out on a dolly, only one step down.

[Daniel Meyer]

Well I figured since ohhh 6 months has gone by it was time for an update...

You'd think I'd be able to say, "It's all fixed! Woot!"

Ha!

The wife's car is fixed...they had to cut the roof off of it...to the tune of $10,000 in damage.





AND...Cupola Art's roof is replaced...that one was all out of my pocket gack!)



More pics of that here:
http://cupolaart.com/2016/07/18/a-new-roof/
...and that's it.

Due to the absolutely massive amount of structures damaged in the area...roofers (good ones anyway) are hard to come by. My roofer still has over 40 houses scheduled in front of me. We still haven't even finished the settlements with the various insurance smucks involved...

So...no roof yet for the Old Vic (s'okay...it's NOT leaking...but I'd sure like it done), no roof on the Suburban Blah House (it's starting to leak), both my trucks were totaled but not insured for hail so I just get to drive beaters...and get this...we still haven't gotten any of the dozen or so windows we have out...fixed. Too much damage, not enough time, etc...

Y'all are gonna hate me because I'm replacing the tower windows in the Old Vic...the curved ones were smashed beyond repair...and by smashed I mean "splintered" sashes and split frames...we really DID get clobbered...and rebuilding them is way outside the budget today...the insurance company decided I could just cover them in plexiglass for $35.

I did spring for some custom wooden windows at least. They are here and next up on my project list...yes I have pics and measurements and etc so that if I *ever* recover from this debacle...perhaps when I'm old (uh...older) and retired...I can reconstruct the curved ones.

Oh, and the hail cracked all the high fishscale on the Old Vic...I really need to replace it as well...insurance there just shrugs and says, "It's over 100 years old...probably old damage. We won't cover it and oh, by the way, you need to replace it or we're gonna drop you."

No rest for the wicked. I'll post pics of the new windows if y'all won't chase me with pitchforks....

[lovesickest]

Daniel, you can only do what you can reasonably do. No one is going to fault you for some new windows, given your horrible high drama. Your situation sounds overwhelming, frustrating and expensive.

[Don M]

I would be so devastated & overwhelmed if I had to deal with everything you have to I probably would throw in the towel and go elsewhere. You do what you can, I am impressed with your attitude!

[Daniel Meyer]

We figure we have about $100,000 in damages on everything. Keep in mind that happened inside of 7 days, in TWO cities that are 150 miles apart.

Insurance stuff still isn't settled, but it looks like they'll cover about $55,000 when all the smoke clears.

So, yeah...a very annoying setback. Financial-wise AND project-wise...I'd have been better off sitting on my butt watching TV for the last 6 years or so...

As far as my attitude...heh...it's the weather. What do ya do? Flip it the bird and then quit worrying it and get to work.

Besides...we've been through worse.

[Daniel Meyer]

Starting to get the tower dried in....

http://theoldvictorian.com/2016/10/11/w ... ow-breaks/