What a weekend

[Jeff]

Yesterday morning I heard the words.  "There isn't any hot water"  Went and checked, the second water heater here since we built the place in 1984, which was installed in 1998, finally succumbed.  Turns out, now, the water heaters have all changed. The codes, have all changed. Our water heater was a natural gas closet installation. No longer allowed. The new water heaters have some wort of safety device that disables them if they get one little sniff of  co or other gas.  We have no other area the heater can go. So, the only option is to go electric.

Our 100 amp service was occupied other than one breaker. I had to shuffle some things around, switch sides on something and create a place for the 220 breaker.  That was the easy part.  The breaker box is on the far west side of the house. What used to be the garage. It is in what is now a finished wall. The floor is cement slab. The service is also on the far north corner of the gable end where there is little to no room to access from the attic above.  This is where I am now, trying to get a wire in the box.

Then it gets harder. Between the box and the water heater is a cathedral ceiling. Filled with blown insulation.  Once I get to that part, I plan of feeding pvc conduit across in 5 foot sections. They have to be short to get up into the access hole. hopefully, then, once across the cathedral part, I can then pull wire through the conduit, into the regular sized attic on the far side of that. Then I have to fish it down into the closet where the new water heater is. 

I may not be on for awhile. :-\

[Holmes]

  Tough job.. You may be able to bend longer pieces of pvc conduit thru the access hole  pvc can bend  a foot or more

[jargo432]

I need to buy a hot water heater but the one I need cost $450.  (propane)  I hadn't heard about any new changes but I'll sure check it out before I spend the money.  Thanks for the info.

[Autocar]

Try putting a small breaker box below the meter base and dig it in along the foundation to where it has to go. But after this winter the ground will be like cement probably  :-\.

[Freedom6178]

I'm surprised..  Did you look into a water heater for a mobile home they generally are in a closet sized room sometimes with the furnace.. Just a thought..

[SwampDonkey]

Jeff that sounds like not much fun.  :-\ I need to sit in my easy chair, that wears me out thinking about it.

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

Like my Dad says.......if it ain't one thing, it's another.
If I was there, I'd help you....but since I ain't, take your time and good-luck! 

[21incher]

Have you looks at the natural gas tankless water heaters? They don't require much clearance and just a simple vent.

[Bill Gaiche]

Also you may want to run some kind of cord thru the pvc as you go so you can pull the wire . bg

[sprucebunny]

Is it legal to run a conduit outside under the eaves ?

[Jeff]

I just finished. Hopefully I don't catch some sort of lung ailment from all the fiberglass and blown insulation. I had a mask, but kept inadvertently taking it off. What a chore.  Putting #10 wire through two inch pvc is a snap. ;D  The hard part was getting it in the panel box. had to come from the top, and the insulation would not let the fish tape through. I finally had to cut a small 1" by 3" long chunk of drywall out so I could pull insulation off the top of the box. Once I did that, we got the wire in, and I packed insulation back up in the hole. I'll have to mud that up eventually. Not worried about it right now as there is a big cabinet that sits in front of it any other time. Out of sight, out of mind.

The water is warm already. I may not wait for it to get hot to get cleaned up!  I know once I sit still for much more than a few minutes, I'm going to be history. Not sure if I might not need help to stand up after I post this. :D

[SwampDonkey]

Early to bed tonight. :D

[sprucebunny]

That was speedy  8)

[Alcranb]

Sounds like Murphy's Law kicked in just in time to help you celebrate St. Patty's day  :
Glad to read your finished. Sure there was a sigh of relief when you felt that warm water   ;D

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

I can do without a lot of things.......HOT WATER isn't one of them.  :D

[Texas Ranger]

right along with cold beer after a job like that.   smiley_alcoholic_01 smiley_alcoholic_01

[SwampDonkey]

Heated water all last summer into the end of October by Coleman stove and 5 gallon pot out in the tent camp. And the sun to heated the solar shower bag. ;D

[isawlogs]

 Losing hot water is never a good thing. Glad to hear you got it all back together.
I had the water line freeze here this winter, had to get it thawed out and have a heated cable put inside the line. Expensive that 70 feet of wire,    What are the options,.. melting snow.... : 

[Corley5]

Remodeling suxs ;D   Glad to hear you were successful  8) 8)

[LeeB]

probably too late now, but duct tape before you bathe will help pull out fiberglass from your arms. Consider ptuuting a panel of some sort instead of mudding over incase ou ever need access again. I have several wooden frame and panel covers about the house with interesting and unusal woods in them that look like art work to the uninformed.  :D

[Brucer]

Didn't have to pull any wires when I replaced mine, but all the plumbing standards had changed since I installed the first one.

I thought I'd be smart with the original installation and put in unions on the copper lines going to and from the heater. Of course nothing lined up properly so I ended up removing the unions, redoing the piping, and reinstalling the unions. No doubt the next one will be different again.

[SwampDonkey]

Have learned to do what Lee suggests even with the plumbing to showers. ;D

[LeeB]

Did I mention that I have several of them around the house? Most of them are for plumbing access.

[Jeff]

I do know one thing, that I've heard some negative things about big box stores in posts, and I can tell you that the journeyman plumber working at our local home depot was a life saver for me on this and saved us a ton of money and potential grief. First, he explained in depth why the installers had refused to install a new water heater I had bought. He then explained in depth what would have happened had I installed it. He went over every detail I had, and every question. He led me to every single item I was going to need to change things over to electric. I was worried about my ability to sweat new copper fittings, he led me to a product called shark bite connectors. Holy crap, it don't get any easier than those things, even on copper.   

I know he will never see this, but a giant solute to Ed V. at the Mount Pleasant Home Depot. 

[LeeB]

Glad you had a good experiance. I occasionally run across a person like Ed at the big box stores I go to. Not often, but sometimes. Even in Wally World.  :D  I figure it's kinda like the old saying, you get what you pay for. Hard to hire an expert for minimum wage. I guess that's why they call them DIY stores.