OT - What are you doing now? (2025)

DoubleEgger · June 9

shtgunal3 said:

DoubleEgger said:

Power is back on. Way sooner than expected. Hallelujah.

Mine too. Went off around 6pm Saturday. Back on around 12pm Sunday. Back off 10pm Sunday. Back on 9am today.

Glad to hear you have power again.

Botch · June 10

Sigh.
Got my new tankless water heater installed today. Guys showed up ten minutes into their 4-hour window (definitely not cable guys) and were finished in about 4 hours, nice job of cleaning up. They showed me the features, and when the sales guy told me I'd need a "water treatment" component ahead of the heater, I was expecting a water softener like my folks had; instead it was an in-line "ionizer" in the incoming water line, about the size of a straight banana, no mx required.
Showed me how to adjust the temp with the electric controller, but then learned they couldn't find an outlet in the unfinished portion of my basement, and ran its cord into my basement bedroom (ie junk room) and just plugged it into the wall. I don't close the door to that room, so it probably shouldn't matter, but that doesn't sound at all like it meets Code. My new HVAC system is right next to the new heater, and IT was tied right into my wiring, why not this water heater??
I haven't found the appropriate section yet in my copy of the NEC, but it's dated 1986, so I should either buy a new copy or just call an electrician.
Sigh.

zaphod · June 10

when I had my tankless put in, they pulled power from the furnace right beside it. Made sense to me, still working to this day.

One thing ... if you have a power failure you have no hot water. Your tankless needs to have power to the exhaust fan for it to run. otherwise you can get exhaust build up and boom. i'm assuming a gas tankless, if not, don't worry

I keep looking at the Hugo UPS for tankless heaters. It only draws from battery in an outage and when the water is flowing. So you don't eat up your battery by running the circuit board in an outage. our last outage I put my 1700 pure sinewave cyberpower UPS on it and it only lasted a few hours in standby. The Hugos have a car battery (12v i think, not the little 6V) and are rated for something like 3 days in standby.

Botch · June 10

zaphod said:

...One thing ... if you have a power failure you have no hot water. Your tankless needs to have power to the exhaust fan for it to run. otherwise you can get exhaust build up and boom. i'm assuming a gas tankless, if not, don't worry ...

I asked the installer about that, and he said the unit had enough of a reserve that I could finish my "current shower", but no hot water the next day; I can live with that. If any power outage goes beyond 4 days I probably have bigger problems.

Something that retirement has taught me is that daily showers, meals, and even clothing are becoming less and less important...

Gulfcoastguy · June 10

Remember when you were a kid and thought that old people smell funny?

alaskanassasin · June 10

Wire a outlet @botch it’s not very difficult

Canugghead · June 10

@botch That's too bad, did the sales guy not go through the site specific requirements with you? If push come to shove and you are not afraid to go DIY here's an option that might work for you. Assuming you have an external stand-alone switch for the HVAC in close proximity, you can replace the switch with a switch-receptacle combo thingy, easier and safer than tapping into the HVAC junction box.

Think of the light bulb as the HVAC, the switch will continue to control it as before. The water heater can be plugged into the always-on receptacle. Do not break the jumper tab.

Disclaimer: I'm not an electrician, don't sue me if things go south

zaphod · June 10

HVAC likely needs a ground.

fishlessman · June 10

Canugghead said:

@botch That's too bad, did the sales guy not go through the site specific requirements with you? If push come to shove and you are not afraid to go DIY here's an option that might work for you. Assuming you have an external stand-alone switch for the HVAC in close proximity, you can replace the switch with a switch-receptacle combo thingy, easier and safer than tapping into the HVAC junction box.

Think of the light bulb as the HVAC, the switch will continue to control it as before. The water heater can be plugged into the always-on receptacle. Do not break the jumper tab.

Disclaimer: I'm not an electrician, don't sue me if things go south

is it always ground down in canada. seems like electricians here argue one way or the other. up makes more sense if you use a wire to hang a painting on it

DoubleEgger · June 10

Botch said:
Something that retirement has taught me is that daily showers, meals, and even clothing are becoming less and less important...

That’s a mental picture I didn’t need to paint.

Canugghead · June 10

@zaphod you're right, my bad. I picked the wrong random pic to illustrate the idea. Since it's an existing switch, hopefully the ground will continue to reach the HVAC

zaphod · June 10

well you did put in the disclaimer

Corv · June 10

When I went to the tankless, gas, I found that my gas consumption reduced compared to the old tank-type water heater. But I started taking longer showers since I didn't run out of hot water any more, so my water usage went up. Net cost difference was nil.

Canugghead · June 10

Canugghead said:

@zaphod you're right, my bad. I picked the wrong random pic to illustrate the idea. Since it's an existing switch, hopefully the ground will continue to reach the HVAC

@zaphod Haha, you got me second guessing myself because I did a similar mod to our gas furnace.

The white wire is the power supply, wire in metal corrugated sleeve from the furnace now terminates at the pigtail, the switch controls the receptacle. Plan is to plug pigtail into generator extension cord during power outage...

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/7m/ubcfoxvusnf0.jpg

Thank goodness, everything was grounded, phew! Not visible in pic, ground wire from power supply was also screwed to the box ...

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/ru/7o1dc2og6ell.jpg

zaphod · June 10

thumbs up for double checking!

Acn · June 10

Picking up take out for dinner. SWMBO Jr got housing assignments today, so she will be bursting to tell us a out her suitemates.

GrateEggspectations · June 10

Acn said:

Picking up take out for dinner. SWMBO Jr got housing assignments today, so she will be bursting to tell us a out her suitemates.

Nice to see you posting. Seems like it’s been a good while.

hoosier_egger · June 10

About to begin a new hobby. @alaskanassasin

zaphod · June 10

when in your bunny suit and you feel some sweat dribbling on your back think if it is going up or down. Up means it's actually a bee and not sweat...

GrateEggspectations · June 10

hoosier_egger said:

About to begin a new hobby. @alaskanassasin

I thought you meant stationary biking. Though its placement is also close to the trash items. Maybe that’s a good thing.

JohnInCarolina · June 10

hoosier_egger said:

About to begin a new hobby. @alaskanassasin

You know that you can't run away from a swarm of bees on a... stationary bike, right?

zaphod · June 10

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/jv/jiaum287n3q5.jpg

Acn · June 10

GrateEggspectations said:

Acn said:

Picking up take out for dinner. SWMBO Jr got housing assignments today, so she will be bursting to tell us a out her suitemates.

Nice to see you posting. Seems like it’s been a good while.

Thank you, it was a rough winter/spring for a whole host of reasons, but *knocks on wood* it seems like we have gotten through that patch and things should settle into a more normal situation.

GrateEggspectations · June 10

Acn said:

GrateEggspectations said:

Acn said:

Picking up take out for dinner. SWMBO Jr got housing assignments today, so she will be bursting to tell us a out her suitemates.

Nice to see you posting. Seems like it’s been a good while.

Thank you, it was a rough winter/spring for a whole host of reasons, but *knocks on wood* it seems like we have gotten through that patch and things should settle into a more normal situation.

Glad to hear. Bobbing and weaving and rolling with the punches is the name of the game - though some punches hit harder than others. Glad things are reaching some form of equilibrium.

DoubleEgger · June 10

JohnInCarolina said:

hoosier_egger said:

About to begin a new hobby. @alaskanassasin
You know that you can't run away from a swarm of bees on a... stationary bike, right?

A classic.

https://youtu.be/dU97w2DH5mc?si=hQyOPgYsrbJZEX2M

ColbyLang · June 10

Wife and kids left for the beach around noon. Just had 1/2 of a large pepperoni pizza. Tried to play golf this afternoon, Mother Nature denied me. Me and the pups till Saturday evening, gonna be miserable

SGH · June 10

I seen this and thought it was hilarious 🤣

Maybe I’m just getting old.

Gulfcoastguy · June 10

And be sure to watch your step around the floating logs.

Botch · June 11

zaphod said:

when in your bunny suit and you feel some sweat dribbling on your back think if it is going up or down. Up means it's actually a bee and not sweat...

This post is worthless without pics.

kl8ton · June 11

DoubleEgger said:

JohnInCarolina said:

hoosier_egger said:

About to begin a new hobby. @alaskanassasin
You know that you can't run away from a swarm of bees on a... stationary bike, right?

A classic.

https://youtu.be/dU97w2DH5mc?si=hQyOPgYsrbJZEX2M

Yep!

OT - What are you doing now? (2025)

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