Hot Water is Easier Than It Sounds

 We've been talking/arguing with plumbers. Kevin Holloway sounds great on the phone, but he doesn't want to come all this way from Issaquah. We've been around and around.

He says, go electric.

I had decided to go gas. because electric needs more than 240V x 50-amp = 12kW. A lot more. We have a convenient 50-amp, 240V line right there, but 12kW's the limit.

This afternoon, Mr. Holloway suggests the Rheem RTEX-11 11kW 240V Electric Tankless Water Heater. Amazon sells it for $260. As Mr. Holloway says, "Buy a couple for spares." It serves up to 2.68 GPM, which should be enough for a shower. It's the size of a piece of paper and 3-5/8" thick (8.25" x 12.625").

Looking at the user manual, it must be mounted inside with 12" clear above and below, 6" to each side. That's 20.25" and I'm not sure we have that unless we mount it on the east wall of the closet. It requires no venting.

Greenwood is coming out tomorrow (10/15/20) at 11am, but they already said they want too much and won't consider a cheaper water heater than the upsell they put in their bid. But bid guy doesn't talk to field guy, apparently. I also talked to Fischer Plumbing--they don't bid, they do time and materials. So I could get the Rheem from Amazon and Fischer would put it in.

Trying to understand Rheem's data table. It seems to say that this model, at 2 GPM (a typical shower, I think) can raise the temperature 38 degrees. Is tap water 55 degrees? Then you get a 93-degree shower.

Do we install the tankless unit inline with the old tank? Do we remove the old tank and hope the Rheem keeps up? The User Manual says we might want a Flow Regulator to "prevent the exit temperature from becoming too cool." The manual says if the inlet water temperature is 60-degrees, we want a 1.5 GPM Flow Regulator. The water here is about 59-degrees, as measured by the kitchen thermometer.

I like it as a solution (it costs thousands less), but it's right on the line of working. I like Rheem (that's what I bought for the main tank), and they actually make a smaller one, just 8kW.

If we go this way, we just have to bring the 50-amp wires into the house. That means opening the wall, removing the closet shelf and figuring out what the conduit has to do.

Should be simple enough. If the wires don't reach, we'll need a j-box. Maybe we cover these wires with the j-box and run the new wires back in the house from there. They must be individual wires and in a metal conduit, I think, but that's doable.

Possible deal-breaker: the User Manual calls for 6-ga wire (I don't know what we have, maybe 8-ga) and a 60-amp breaker. That seems odd because the same table says the max amperage draw is 46 amps, so you would think a 50-amp breaker would suffice.

Deck Complete Except for Punch List

Well. We slowed down a lot at the end, and I was hoping for a more polished look from the cable rail, but I have to say that I'm quite satisfied with the results.

Punch List Items

• Clean off remaining tree sap
• Some deck boards are not screwed down everywhere; need to backfill screws
• Need a block under one of the lower deck boards--it comes to an acute angle that barely rests on the joist
• Tighten stair cable rail--make lines more parallel
• 2nd coat of black stain on understructure
• Final placement of patio lights, tuck in extra wire--lots o' cable ties
• Tension patio light support wires, cut off excess
• Hardware cloth critter barrier under both decks--2x2 frame?
• Handrail at house for upper deck

Rain Storm Strikes

We got a lot of rain Friday afternoon, September 25.

The deck and patio lights survived the rain storm quite well. The drainage swale at the street, however, filled with mud and plant debris and completely clogged the pipe under the driveway.

I filed an online report with the City of Seattle on Saturday (confirmation #20-00193731). They expect to respond with 5 days. In the photo, you can see that the street runoff created a river across the grass, down the driveway and through the backyard to the ravine. My property, by the way, starts at the brick post light thing.

The 118th Street River

We had some mist on Saturday, but it's been dry (sunny, at times), for days (I'm writing this on Wednesday).

Clearing the Front Yard

 The front yard was out of control, so Fidel and his guy worked from 9 to 3 yesterday to fix it. I paid $550 + $100 tip. All I know about Fidel is his phone number: (206) 476-3238.

In the street, looking at the drainage swale. Notice the house, cowering in the right rear.

What the Amazon delivery guy sees. Curb appeal, amiright?

Better, but I kinda knew it would be a two-stage process, if not more.

Before...

...and After.

Better this way...

Or like this?

That was a lot of work and a lot of hauling to get us this far, but it needs more. Maybe new planting, certainly more pruning (and more careful pruning). 

Before, looking east

After, looking west

Presentable. Bushes need pruning.

Hot water for the 3rd Bath

Casey finds that the hot water runs out when he tries to take a shower. Not a long shower, every shower. It's just a 12-gallon tank, so that's a 6-minute shower with a low-flow head, less at full strength. We discussed this last April and yada-yada-yada, now it's September.

Builder Matt Risinger just put out a video on tankless water heaters and he points out three drawbacks: 1) they don't work if the power goes out; 2) they encourage wastefulness; and 3) they need more maintenance than tanks. He left me with the impression that a tanked water heater is an anachronism for poor people.

In our case, if we install a unit on the outside (on the south or even the east side of BA3), we can run a gas line from the basement under the new upper deck and straight up to the tankless. This gets us six square feet free in the bathroom and allows us to replace the 36x36 shower with a 54x36 shower as phase 2. 

Something like a 155,000-BTU model with 6.5 GPM rating. Rinnai V65eN ($680 at Home Depot) for example. (They also sell a "value series" for $550 that's 122,000-BTU, 5.6 GPM.)

We need a plumber to extend the gas line and route the hot and cold water from the water heater closet outside. That's maybe 2 men, 2 days = 32 hours. (I've learned to be cautious with estimates.) So, maybe $3,500?

I can move the existing water heater power to an exterior receptacle. 

Among the positives that Matt Risinger lists is that if one goes away for a while (Casey sleeps at his Dad's, I don't rent the AirBnB), it costs nothing, unlike a tank.

Local plumbers include:

• Gene Johnson, who I don't trust
• Beacon Plumbing, who spend too much on advertising
• Washington Energy Services - their bid was too high for the furnace, but maybe. They sell Navien equipment, apparently
• 2 Sons
• Raymark Plumbing

HomeAdvisor is a waste of time.

Recommendations from NextDoor:

• Pioneer Plumbing (Ballard) - 2 reccs. pioneerplumbing.biz
• Kevin Halloway (206-854-3864) specializes in on-demand
• Archies Plumbing (Keith) - 2 reccs 206-339-0064
• 1st Response http://www.1stresponsehvac.com
• Rush Plumbing (Robert)

Handrail joints

 There are a lot of gaps in the Fiberon deck. Because it expands and contracts with the air temperature, the system requires large gaps between deck boards. Accordingly, I fitted the other joints with more of a gap than I might have. 

For the handrails, I thought that I would use Super Glue to fuse the miters so that the handrail would move as a single piece. That turned out to be basically impossible, so I left a gap at the miters.

Mockup of a typical miter joint

I wanted to test whether DAP Dynaflex Ultra black caulk ("advanced exterior sealant") would work to make these joints seem more finished.

I like the look; I think it works. It's waterproof and permanently flexible

The mockup looks bad, I think, because it got smeared on the surface of the Fiberon. I tried cleaning it up with Acetone; the packaging says it cleans up with "water," but it feels like tar. But, clearly, if I go ahead with this on all the miters (there are six), I'll use painter's tape to protect the finish.

Looking for opinions here.

Pre-cleanup. The stuff was born to smear.

Steady progress

 It's Sunday, so...here's a progress report. It's going. 

Second coat of black stain really helps. The Fiberon handrail/cap is in place everywhere. Moved the patio light connect at the SW corner.