A Date With the Scrapyard

Dan came by and installed the new hot water heater on the 16th. The old rust bucket (pictured above) didn't want to empty properly, so we waited a day. After enough 8.3 lbs gallons went down the drain, we hauled it up and out.

I want to take it to the scrap yard. I called and they'll take it, but they prefer if there's no water in it.

Well, it's been a week, the valve is open, and nothing else wants to come out. Dan told me that there would be "junk" clogging it, but I half hoped time would fix it.

It didn't, so now I get to break things.

That's FUN!

I love seeing how things work. I love solving problems. I love pulling out tools and getting hands on. Mix all of those together and you have highly preferred Mike work.

My next door neighbor, Lisa, pulled up as I was getting ready to go to town. She's mechanical too, and offered up a mini-sledge for extra muscle.

First, I tried flipping the tank over to see if anything would drain out the top.

Nope.

Second, I used a chisel to make a mark and then hammer a screwdriver in the side to see if it was an easy puncture.

The outer layer is thin, but the core is a little tougher. I could have drilled it, but I didn't want to make a huge mess if there was any refrigerant or coolant I didn't know about. Plus, it would have been work to look up schematics or fetch the drill.

Finally, I used Lisa's sledge and knocked off the front valve.

I found that "junk" Dan was talking about. I jammed a screwdriver around to clear out the hole some, but as you can see it's still less than pretty. No more water drained out.

"Good to know that's what you were drinking!" Lisa joked.

I gave it a quick try, and I'll just take it to the scrap yard as is. Maybe the liquid I'm feeling move around is coolant or something else. Maybe it's water. I don't really care. It was fun to poke around and I can show the scrap yard guys I fiddled with it. They probably charge a flat rate for reclamation anyway.

Good times! I was able to break something, check it off my to-do list, takes pictures, and throw up a blog post on it before leaving to get Shane from daycare. Great success!