snowdeal.org > ex machina: help odin get hot water!

ex machina

help odin get hot water!

our electric water heater was rapidly losing its ability to perform its water heating duties and some people recommended that i replace the lower heating element which had likely been damaged by mineral and salt sediment ( who knew that you're supposed to drain your water heater every 6 months to a year to prevent this from happening? not me! ).

i successfully drained the tank ( indeed, the drain was clogged with sediment ) without electrocuting myself and procured a special octagon-shaped element wrench for removing the heating element but the thing won't budge. it's hard to really crank on it because there's only about an 1/8th of an inch ( 3 millimeters ) of the octagon-shaped silver nut available for wrenching.

am i missing something obvious? everything online makes it seem like removing the element is easy-peasy.

update: the good news is that attaching a vice grip to the heating element and banging like mad with a mini sledge hammer worked like a charm to loosen the element. the bad news is that the reason why it was difficult to remove is that is was caked solid in lime sediment, which has filled the bottom 6 inches of the heater.

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9/16/2007 12:27:00 PM 0 comments

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[ rhetoric ]

“"it is hard to be brave," said piglet, sniffing slightly, "when you're only a Very Small Animal." rabbit, who had begun to write very busily, looked up and said: "it is because you are a very small animal that you will be Useful in the adventure before us."”

the complete tales & poems of winnie the pooh

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this site chronicles the continuing adventures of my son, odin, who was unexpectedly born on the fourth of july at 25 weeks gestation, weighing 1 pound 7 ounces.

he's quite a fighter and you can always send him a postcard to the most current address listed here if you're inspired by his adventures. see the postcard project/google maps mashup to see a map of the postcards.

if you're new, you can browse the archives to catch up. and don't forget to watch a few movies that i made while we were in the neonatal intensive care unit. or if you want the abridged version and you can find a copy, you can read about his adventures in the november 2005 issue of parents magazine.

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