Hello From Little River, South Carolina

I bought a small condo in Little River, South Carolina in 1996.

I have always been a do-it yourselfer, and have only called a plumber one time, and that was when I needed a new hot water heater.

I call myself shackdweller, because my condo is so small, and because I remember on the TV show Gunsmoke/Marshall Dillon, a lot of the people in and around Dodge City Kansas lived in what they called "shacks."

Maybe my shack is in Little River, but my heart is in Dodge City.

to House Repair Talk!

Welcome, podner. Run into Chester recently?

Last time I saw Chester he was being chased by an old 18 wheeler down rt66. Now Festus is the guy I haven’t seen in a coons age.

Well shackdweller welcome to the forum. I have a feeling you might fit right in here. But for gawd’s sake don’t pay anyone again to put in a hot water tank. What were you thinking?

Thanks for the welcomes, everybody.

Chester followed me, as he caught me in the fog . . .

He said, I will fix your rack . . .

Main reason I didn't try to install the new hot water heater was that the Condo Association has a rule that no one but a licensed plumber is allowed to cut of water at the street cutoff, which would have been necessary to install the hot water heater.

In the past, I have, in my own individual house, cut off the water at the street, on many occasions.

I have taken a toilet bowl off of a bathroom floor, and put it back on the floor with no problems, among other plumbing chores.

And, other than a lack of needed equipment, I probably might have tried installing a new hot water heater myself.

Or, I might have just put on a bypass, and left the hot water heater as a future project.

Until someone directs me elsewhere, I suppose the intro thread is as good a place as any to give background on my current shack.

I did rush into getting a new hot water heater, because the old one had started to leak, and my first experience after moving into this shack, was a water leak from my condo into the one directly below it, the morning after my first night there.

And, I didn't want a repeat of that fortunately stopped before it turned into a real disaster experience.

One problem is that all of the appliances are too big for a shack as small as mine.

The hot water heater was, and sorry to say still is, 40 gallons.

I wanted a 30 gallon replacement but was told it was special order.

Maybe I could have waited however long it took to get the 30 gallon hot water heater, but, after that first experience . . .

Considerinig that the old hot water heater was leaking, although probably not too badly, how would you other more experienced homeowners handled such a situation any differently?

I would have changed it right away too. I would have had the plumber add what ever was need so next time I wouldn't have to go to the road.

There should be at minimum a shut off directly inside your unit or home or even shack. No reason to go to the road unless you are digging up the yard or the main valve needs replaced.

I do everything with PEX now and it’s made life really good for me. The thing with water heaters is the one going in is heavy the one coming out is super heavy and each year older I get they both get heavier.

I might just start calling plumbers just for that reason alone.

Thanks for the post, Bud. I have two shutoff valves in the laundry closet where the hot water heater is. One shuts off the cold and one the hot water, but there is not one shutoff valve to both, and their is a bypass where the incoming water goes directly to the hot water heater and cannot be cut off until the exit pipe from the hot water heater.

That's the best I can understand it right now.

There is no shutoff valve to the apartment building itself as far as I know, but I will ask to be sure.

"Now wait a minute Chester..."

is there an access panel in the wall near the heater? You may have a master shutoff there.

You should always be able to isolate the heater incase of a leak.

I have not posted in awhile but I still am interested in household improvements.

shackdweller said:

I have not posted in awhile but I still am interested in household improvements.

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back....

Thanks for the welcome back, bud.

I have enjoyed getting caught up.