Death to Whirlpool, Part 2

Water Heater Controller

For the second time in two days my older son has fixed broken appliances just by looking at them. Glory Be His Name! The new controller for the water heater was supposed to arrive yesterday. I spent all day waiting for it so naturally it didn't show. I finally gave up and decided to tackle the screaming fireplace fan. It shouldn't be too difficult, just a matter of pulling it out, cleaning it up, oiling the bearings, and stuffing it back in its hole. Get it out and spin the fan and there's no squeak. Okay, maybe it only happens when it's hot and when it's running full speed. Pull the motor loose and give it a spin by turning the nylon coupler on the end of the shaft. Squeak! Aha! Found the culprit. Pull the little nylon do-jobbie off the end of the shaft and examine it. The shaft has a half flat on the end that matches a half-flat hole in the nylon coupler. There is no way that thing could slip. We fool with it and fool with it and we aren't getting anywhere until older son finally notices that when he spins the shaft directly, that is, without the nylon coupler on the end, the motor still squeaks.What the deuce? The armature in the motor is not turning! Double aha! Take the motor apart and the shaft slides right out the armature.
    Wait a minute, haven't I been hear before? Yes I have. I have epoxy on hand, so I mix up a little dab, slather it on the shaft, slide the shaft back into the armature, and drive the tip of a toothpick into the little hole I made last time I was here. I thought about about cutting a piece of paper clip, but my fuse was a little short. The epoxy alone worked for six years. Maybe the toothpick will extend that a bit. I fired up the fan this morning and so far it is spinning happily, i.e. quietly.
    This morning the new controller for the water heater arrived and I set about installing it. I have a little trouble locating the necessary tools, but other than that everything went fine. (I still haven't found the big wrench I was using yesterday on the fireplace. Where could it have gone? Gremlins, I tell you!) Anyway, got the old one out, got the new one in and got it all hooked up, and now all we have to do it press the GO buttom. I press the go button and nothing happens. I take a break and come back a little later and try again. Still no go. Stomp off. When I got this heater two or three years ago, I had a little trouble lighting it. I called Whirlpool and the very nice lady told me the secret which was that you had to hold down one of the buttons for a longish time in order to get the gizmo to fire up, but that was years ago. Which button was it? Maybe Whirlpool can tell me. Call Whirlpool. They want my serial number, which is okay I guess, but then they want to verify my name and address. What? Why? I hang up, I've had enough of this phone call protocol. A little while later older son stops by to see how I'm doing. We go out to the garage and I am about to give him a rundown on the action so far when I notice the little blinky light on the controller is blinking! Hallelujah! It is working! I turn the knob to ON and we hear the wonderful roar of the main burner lighting off. So older son fixed it just by showing up. Weird thing is that I could not see the pilot light through the little window. I could turn the main burner off and check again, but after five days without hot water I am loath to touch that dial.

This 50 gallon water heater heater is rated at 40,000 BTU's (British Thermal Units). One BTU can heat one pound of water one degree Fahrenheit. "A pint's a pound the world around", so 50 gallons weighs 400 pounds. We want to raise temperature 100 degrees, from 50 to 150. 100 degrees times 400 pounds is 40,000 BTU's. Okay, this all kind of fits together, but how long is it going to take to heat that 50 gallons? Hmmm. BTU doesn't tell you that, but eHow does:

Significance

• A water heater is ranked by BTU input, but really means BTUs/hr; thus a 33,000 BTU heater can heat 33,000 pounds of water by one degree in an hour; or, 330 pounds by 100 degrees.

Update: Two hot showers in two days! Paradise, I tell you. I went back to look at the pilot light after it finished heating its first tank of hot water (took an hour and a half). Being as it is a new fangled, electronically controlled gizmo, you can't see into the burner area directly. There's a little window you can peer through. When the burner was on I could see the flame easily, but now the main burner is off. Only the pilot light should be on. I look in the window and I see nothing. What the devil? I look a little closer, I look to the right, and then I look to the left, and aha! There's the little devil. Confounded designers, they need to have their hands slapped.

Update July 2019 replaced image that disappeared when Blogger 'fixed' some bad html.