Tag: electric

January 18, 2023 – How Hot is Hot Enough?

January 18, 2023 /

Recently, I noticed a problem. It seemed like the first five minutes of the shower was hot and then it went lukewarm. I didn’t think that I was imagining things so I started to ask some questions. Did my wife take a shower before me? Are the kids here? And the answer was no. Hmm, seems like we might have a problem with the hot water heater.

I looked at the date on the water heater, it was dated 1994. So, that is 29 years old folks. The common stated lifecycle is 10-15 years. That means that when we bought the house, we were at the end of the expected duration. But, that is crazy, as long as the tank is not leaking (meaning rusted throughout), then there should be some serviceable parts and some way to check it.

Electric water heaters have two elements at top and a bottom. I surmised that there was a problem with the bottom element because there was some hot water. A quick aside on how water heaters work. Because of the temperature gradient, hot water is on top and cooler water is on the bottom. As you draw from the tank, hot water comes off the top while cooler water is added to the bottom. This actually pushes the hot water out. Time to test things out.

First, take the covers off of the tank. This exposes the elements and thermostats (one per element). Then, with a multi-meter set to resistance (that is the ohm’s symbol omega, sorry I cant add special characters) put the lead on each wire terminal and measure. The expected result depends on your particular element but I was expecting around12 and 13 ohms. From the picture, you can see that the top element measured 13.4 and the bottom measured 0.7 ohms.

If you remember you basic physics and circuits, 1 ohm is a broken circuit. What is likely happened that the element is all gunked up with mineral build-up. But, the element could be burned out and the circuit is completed with the mineral build up, at least that is my speculation.

Had I gotten two good resistance measurements of the top and bottom elements, I might have turned my attention to the thermostat. In theory, those could be tested too, but it is more complicated and I didn’t do it so I am not going to talk any further about it. I am going to attempt to replace the elements.

I say attempt because I hope that I can get the bottom element out. There is a lot of corrosion around the element and who knows what the inside is looking like. I will probably look at the top element and will make a decision as I get there. The replacement I ordered comes with two elements and is billed as a ‘tune-up’.

End Your Programming Routine: If you are interested, stay tuned to follow up on this project. What I am trying to get across today is that things like this are not out of reach of the average homeowner. A little knowledge of how a hot water heater works and what is possible can lead to saving a lot of money. I don’t know this for a fact, but my guess is that a plumber would replace the whole thing because after all, it is three times older than it’s expected life.

October 19, 2022 – Electric Yard Tools

October 19, 2022 /

I will be honest, I have had a long held prejudice against yard tools that are powered with a cord. Things I have used would be things like chainsaws, hedge trimmers, string trimmers and leaf blowers. I can now add rototiller to the list.

It’s not that these items don’t work, they do. And quite frankly they are often times significantly, more inexpensive then the cordless relatives. I guess my opinion stems originally from a Black & Decker hedge trimmer that my dad has owned my entire life. This was something we usually had to deal with once a year as kids. And multiple times the cord was cut because you are thrashing around in the brush and the cord gets tangled in the brush and around other plants.

With the advent of battery powered yard tools and my older age, I am starting to change my opinion. For one, I don’t own enough property or do enough work to justify gas powered tools. The truth is, I don’t do enough yard work to replace my gas tools with battery tools (or even own either type of them). My Stihl chainsaw has been really good but other things like lawnmowers and trimmers gum up, crack up or fail due to lack of use.

The nice thing about electric is that there is very little maintenance required, so it is ready to go when you want it. Whereas, I am often wondering if my gas powered equipment will start or run every time I go to use it.

Last year, when I was cleaning out my father-in-laws stuff, I took his electric cultivator. I forgot that I even had it until I was trying to figure out how to get some ground worked up quickly to do some overseeding. I have to say that I was pretty impressed at how it did. My mom has had Mantis tiller for years and I really thought it was worthless from what I have used.

Yes, the cord was in the way but based on my usage pattern, the small inconvenience is worth not trying to do it by hand. This is definitely not something I would have ever purchased, however maybe this is the kick in the ass to get a proper garden in next year. It is getting my juices going.

End Your Programming Routine: For homeowners or occasional users that are close to a power source, having a corded tool is highly preferential to not having anything at all. For this category of user, I think the battery powered tool is probably the best compromise on most yard tools. Only serious, frequent users would benefit from gas tools. If that is you, then you probably already know all of this. But, reconsider the stigma corded tools, I know that I am.