FLOOD!
Yeah, I had a flood on Saturday night. I had just taken off to a BBQ at my brothers house, James stayed home and worked. He was unloading lumber from his truck for his project and heard water flowing by the tiny house. He came to examine and found an inch of water covering my whole floors and pouring out! I am so glad he didn’t come with me to the BBQ, I left about 6:30, everything was fine. I got a call from him at 7:30 that the place was completely flooded and he turned off the water. I enjoyed the rest of the night and made it back home around midnight. He estimates that ‘whatever happened’ was only happening 10-15 minutes before he caught it and it completely flooded the house! I can’t imagine the problems we would have had if he had come to the BBQ and it was going for five hours! 15 minutes did a lot of damage! OYE, I may not have a habitable house if it were 5 hours! So grateful he was around to catch it!
So, I wake up this morning determined to find out what was going on. I turned the water on for a second and completely soaked the floor. It was long enough to tell that the water heater had broken. Opening the cupboard water was just pouring out the bottom of the water heater. Unplug and mop up.
Called my dad, aka the best plumber in town! He comes over, we dismantle the hookups and pull the unit out. It is a TIGHT space, took a bit of craftiness!
As soon as we remove the unit the inlet literally falls out of the unit The water intake appears to have completely broken off. Dad and I both cannot figure out why. It has been working great for over a year and it just decides one saturday night to just snap off. If I had moved the house anytime recently I suppose I could see that happening but there has been zero stress or extensive use, no crazy water pressure no hiccups whatsoever until the unit just broke and flooded my house! Now that I know the issue I have looked up eccotemps (I have the eccotemp FVI 12-lp) warranty, it states there is a 2 year warranty, I have put in a ticket and hopefully they will cover it and get me some hot water again soon. For now it looks like I’ll be homesteading style (boils some water!) for Hazels baths and maybe just shower at my families house… rather inconvenient. Even though it was bad it could have been SO much worse! I left a towel on the ground in the bathroom which prevented a bunch of water from going down into my toilet and messing with that! I am super glad I did rigid insulation in the floor, had I done batt or some other kinds I would have to potentially fix that, they get destroyed with moisture. Most definitely go with rigid or spray in insulation in your floors! I am so grateful things weren’t worse! I’ll keep you updated on the status of my hot water :). I would love to hear what others’ experiences have been with Eccotemp, I have heard very good things overall, thoughts?
Wow! So glad that things weren’t worse!
Oh no, how was Denver during the flood? I hope you will be able to get things fixed soon!
I *love* your stylish new railing. Clever idea to make it look more like a divider!
D goes with me almost everywhere so he was BBQing it up too, man he would have freaked out!
Wow, water problems everywhere. I just discovered rusted a pan in my ac unit below a condenser assembly. Water that was suppose to be going down a drain pipe was leaking on to the floor. It was a slow leak and over time it caused mold on my sheetrock walls that alerted me to the problem. I managed to cut the bad sheetrock out and get it out of the house. But fixing the ac is cash intensive and out of my realm. Fortunately I have a friend who is in the business and he will give me some guidance.
There are some water warning devices available now. They sense water or mositure where there is not suppose to be water. They can sound an alarm which is fine if you are home. But I think they also have some smart units now as well that will call your cell phone or a service. Zircon has a basic battery powered unit. You place it in areas that are susceptible to leaks, under water heaters, near ac units. They sound an audible alarm until reset. More sophisticated is the Wally: http://www.wallyhome.com/ and the Insteon: http://www.insteon.com/2852-222-leak-sensor.html
I think there must be one that will automatically turn the water source off if moisture is detected where it is not suppose to be. I will see if I can find it.
Big house or little house, water can do a lot of damage really quickly. Glad you minimized the damage.
Prayers going out to you that all will be well!
Oh dear! I wonder if the ground beneath your home settled unevenly, just enough to jar the pipes? Probably a nonsensical guess… I must say, that railing is a brilliant and stylish piece! How very clever you are.
The house is still level as can be! I wish it would have settled, it would have pushed water to one end or the other! 🙂
Hey Macy. Sorry to hear about your flood. You should give Gabriella a heads up about this because I believe they have the exact same water heater in their tiny house.
Macy, I just happened upon this this morning. Hope it helps.
http://www.justrightbus.com/2014/06/EccotempReview.html
Kelly sent me that, that is downright scary! Fire scares me a whole lot more than water!
No kidding that it’s a water problem kind of week! Your floor looks nice even after being soaked, thank goodness. James was kind of a hero, right? I hear you on the insulation choices, but I’d like to add one more if I may ~ wool insulation. It is fine with being wet, and doesn’t lose insulative value, or get moldy, or pack down or anything…it just waits patiently until it dries out.
I know this for sure because I discovered a water-soaked floor of my own this week. It really is going around!
That’s a cool safety rail you have. Did you build it or is it some kind of pre-manufactured thing? It looks really well made and strong.
Man. Glad it wasn’t worse for you guys.
Parker
Oy. I stayed away from those Ecotemp units because I read a lot of nightmarish reviews about their customer service. I hope that this will not be the case for you! Glad you caught the leak early and hope there’s no lasting damage.
Gah, now I’m scared to install the one I bought (exact same model as yours).