Fixing things

In the world we live in, we rely on "things".  Things break.  When they do we have to make some choices.  I think there are 5 choices:  Forget about the thing.  Replace the thing with another thing.  Fix the thing yourself.  Live with the broken thing.  Pay someone else to fix the thing.  

Three nights ago my hot water heater went out.  That is to say, it would shut off before the water was entirely heated.  I would go check it and the pilot light would be out.  Lighting the pilot was difficult.  In fact, I couldn't keep it lit except once every 10 trys or so.  And when I did get the burner fired up it would just shut off after a few minutes and not relight.

It wasn't the worst time of the year for this to happen.  But the temps here are at freezing during the night so something needed to be done.  I decided to take the "fix the thing yourself" option.  Most of the other choices were not an option.  I could hire someone to fix it but there was that added expense.  This was plumbing related so the parts would cost double and the labor would not be cheap.  Fortunately, I am somewhat mechanically and electrically inclined.  I did have the tools (mostly) and I was motivated to get the job done.

The reason for the failure could have been one of three things:  1)  Soot in the burn pipes (0$).  2)  Bad thermocouple (temperature sensor) - ($10) or 3)  Bad gas regulator/shut-off ($100).  Naturally, I choose to clean the pipes first.  That solution was free and required minimal dis-assembly.  I used a pipe cleaner and swabbed out the accessible pipes.  There didn't seem to be any obstructions.  And that solution didn't work. 

Next I bought and installed a nice shiny new thermocouple.  Also to no effect.  So I then investigated the regulator.  This was a $100 part, according to the dealer.  I checked on the internet and verified this was indeed the price.  Further checking revealed other posts of people running into the same type of problem. Unfortunately, this particular regulator is no longer made by the manufacturer (a White Rodgers 37C14U-5).  But there was an equivalent unit available - and I picked one up.

This is what the heater unit looked like before the replacement - The offending thing is the square looking box with the round blue knob. Gas comes in from the left and out the bottom through a propane orifice.  It is mixed with air and runs through the silver tube to a flame at the burner head on the lower right.

To replace the regulator, I had to remove the burner assembly, the inlet gas line (turn off the GAS!), the pilot gas line, and the thermocouple line.  That was the easy part.  Then the water tank had to be drained. and the regulator unscrewed from the tank.  That actually proved to be the hardest part as the clearance available was not the best.  I ended up using a small pipe wrench with a extension on the handle to get enough leverage.  But it did eventually come off.  Amazingly I didn't injure my hands - but I was careful to avoid doing anything that might cause that to happen.

Hooking up the lines to the new unit proved slightly challenging.  The new regulator was larger and of a different form factor than the old one.  The inlet gas line had to be re-bent in order to fit and it was still a very awkward connection.  Here is what it looks like with the new parts:

The whole operation took about 1.5 hours.  But it fired up immediately.  I was very pleased.  It is definitely fixed.