Water Heaters - I got a biggin

**SKWrapper** · 09-26-2018, 05:07 PM

I read that some of you don't collect water heaters because they are light? I still do because of the brass, aluminum and potential copper. I recently got 5lbs of brass from water heaters alone in a week (part time scrapping), I take the pressure relief valve, the drain valve and the connector on the back of the aluminum temperature control/pilot light box. I know it's brass because the first water heater I took apart I sawed off the control box instead of unscrewing it and it's definitely brass, comes off with 4 screws. @ .96/lb it's worth saving, I also save the control box.

I picked up this water heater the other day. I don't know if I could pick it up by myself, I know I didn't want to and glad I didn't have to. You can see it on the left next to a standard home water heater. The description in the ad just said "water heater that leaks for scrap" or similar. It didn't say, "load this on your truck and watch it curl your plastic bed-liner".

**hills** · 09-26-2018, 05:48 PM

That one's a beauty. Is it possibly stone lined ? Some of the high end ones are.

I've got an 85 gallon stone lined tank that i use to store the hot water produced by my woodstove. It dates back to 1965 and i expect that it will probably outlive me.

**SKWrapper** · 09-26-2018, 07:19 PM

Originally Posted by hills

That one's a beauty. Is it possibly stone lined ? Some of the high end ones are.

I don't know but it was heavy. It was made in 1998 - same as my truck.

**KzScrapper** · 09-27-2018, 06:10 AM

Some water heaters that use hot water from a boiler to heat instead of a burner and use a copper coil to transfer the heat. I've had to replace a few large tanks like yours in apartment buildings and it is no fun getting those things out of the depths of a boiler room.

**eesakiwi** · 09-27-2018, 06:49 AM

90% of NZ Hotwater cylinders are 100% Copper. Ranging from about NZ$65 - NZ$150.
Normally ~ NZ$80. (US$60+)

There's some steel lined ones if it's set up for gas heating (rare) & some glass lined Steel ones that already had a bad reputation by the time they hit the showroom floor.

When they had the huge earthquake in Christchurch a few years ago, Hotwater cylinders were being stolen left-right-centre from abandonded houses.
In the end the Insurance company's just said "Take it out if you want to & sell it for scrap $, it'll give you some money & there's less chance of the house being broke into from there on"

**greytruck** · 09-27-2018, 12:10 PM

How many gallons was it?

**SKWrapper** · 09-27-2018, 02:04 PM

Originally Posted by KzScrapper

Some water heaters that use hot water from a boiler to heat instead of a burner and use a copper coil to transfer the heat. I've had to replace a few large tanks like yours in apartment buildings and it is no fun getting those things out of the depths of a boiler room.

I don't claim to know anything about these but I do know this had a burner in it, if you look close at the pic you can see where I removed the "control box" (have to call it that cause I don't know what it's called) and the gas pipe from it to the burner is sticking out of the hole. if it's not a burner then I don't know what it is. It had a bare copper wire connected to the pilot light that all the small ones do, an aluminum one and a small insulated wire as well. The guy I got it from said it was no fun moving it downstairs.

I don't know how many gallons it was. I actually chuckled when I saw it. It was like seeing a giant chair no one could sit in. The strangest things make me laugh I suppose. This and Smart cars are inanimate objects that do it.

**KzScrapper** · 09-27-2018, 07:32 PM

Sorry SKW, I wasn't trying to argue...more of a BOLO for other ones you might come across.

The control box is the gas valve. Copper wire is a thermocouple that is by the pilot light and when it senses flame it produces a very small current to keep the small valve open for the pilot. There's also a stem that protrudes into the tank that when the temp drops below temp it will open the main valve to fire the burner...but only if the pilot has been verified the TC.

Modern day furnaces and boilers use a spark ignition or hot surface igniter but many water heaters still use a standing pilot.

**SKWrapper** · 09-27-2018, 07:49 PM

Originally Posted by KzScrapper

Sorry SKW, I wasn't trying to argue...more of a BOLO for other ones you might come across.

The control box is the gas valve. Copper wire is a thermocouple that is by the pilot light and when it senses flame it produces a very small current to keep the small valve open for the pilot. There's also a stem that protrudes into the tank that when the temp drops below temp it will open the main valve to fire the burner...but only if the pilot has been verified the TC.

Modern day furnaces and boilers use a spark ignition or hot surface igniter but many water heaters still use a standing pilot.

I wasn't trying to argue either, thanks and I apologize too if you thought I was arguing - I sincerely appreciate your advise and expertise from your past and current posts on here. Thank you!

I still am very green at scrapping, I still feel like I play a scrapper on TV and am not a real one. Thanks for the BOLO.

My brother-in-law owns a construction company (has since he was a kid and he's older than me) and he picks fun at me (rightfully so) when I try and work on things in or on my house, so I admit to not knowing much about that type thing LOL

Speaking of water heaters, I could tell ya some embarrassing things that I did or nearly did when I was younger that involve a live gas pipe, a hack saw and the water heater in my mothers house but... I'll let it go. The good thing is that I don't have to say anything to get him back sometimes cause he doesn't know computers/networking very well, and when I fix something for him he gets pretty mad. "That was it? Man that makes me so mad" cause he had been trying to figure it out for hours and I fix it in less than 5 minutes depending on what it was.