New Water Heater & (Surprise) Furnace

It was only a matter of time before we needed to hire an outside company to come in on one of our planned projects. This is the first! The pipes in the house were galvanized steel and needed to be updated. There was of course absolutely no way we were going to try replacing the water pipes within our walls and crawl space by ourselves.

We received a referral for re-piping specialists by the company providing an estimate for a new water heater. Originally we were thinking about getting a tankless water heater instead of the traditional tank, but eventually decided against it. We have never run out of hot water with a regular tank, so needing endless hot water wasn't really an issue. We are going with one fueled by gas instead of electricity, which will be more efficient, and it's placement is right next to the furnace, so it's no longer taking up valuable space. Another benefit to a regular tank is extra water storage in the event of an emergency.

Here is the the original electric water heater and it's location in relation to the furnace (And ugly screen door that no longer exists:

Goodbye old water heater

And hello new water heater:

It fit perfectly between the furnace and the brick exterior of the fireplace, where there was even an existing exhaust port through which to run the additional duct work.

We thought all went well as they finished and cleaned up that Friday afternoon...until later that evening when temperatures dropped and the furnace kicked on for the first time. I heard what sounded like a door slamming in the garage. After turning on the light, then a fuse blowing, leaving me in darkness, I saw an orange glow and flames coming from the lower section of the furnace. It was on fire.

The small amount of gas that ignited burned out quickly, with Nick blowing out the remaining flame. He pulled into the driveway right when this was happening, and I had opened the garage door to air out the smoke smell that immediately filled the air.

Thinking this was probably related to the plumbing company tapping into the gas line shared by the furnace, we called them and the owner came to check it out and take some pictures on Saturday morning. Then his furnace guy came by a few days later and concluded that yes, it probably was something they did on installation of the water heater - likely not reattaching something properly. So the next day he was back with a brand new furnace for us. The original furnace was older and would have cost as much to repair as install a new one. Luckily this was all covered by the plumbing company. So instead of just a new water heater, we ended up with a new furnace as well. With all of the other necessary purchases on the house this year, we figured we'd use the old one for the winter and replace it in the fall. Now we don't have to! With this upgrade, every single appliance in our house - from furnace and water heater to toaster oven - is brand new in the past 6 months.

And I can't believe I forgot to take a picture of the old furnace post-fire, but it really wasn't that bad, Just a little charring on the metal and burned plastic coating on some wires. But here's the new pair:

And now the corner where the water heater used to be is much more open. Eventually we'll be finishing the garage and this will be a nice area of built in (upper and lower) cabinets with space for the mini-fridge, new sink and counter tops.