Indoor Plumbing

You may have heard me comment that the biggest mistake of mankind was inventing indoor plumbing.

I still believe that to be true, but recent events have caused me to modify that. I still believe that indoor plumbing is a result of a communist plot to drain (no pun intended) off our resources and, as we learn in “Dr. Strangelove”, our precious bodily fluids.

A few years ago gas became available to this area and the owners of this four unit condo elected to retrofit their electric baseboard heater systems with Rinnai gas wall heaters. The units are small and one heater mounted on an exterior wall works just fine. Earlier this year, I replaced my electric water heater with a Rinnai tankless natural gas water heater.

By placing it in a bedroom closet, the gas supply line and interior plumbing was accomplished with minimum hassle. I quickly decided to use a local plumber for the whole job. The whole job was accomplished in one day using the owner of the plumbing company and one apprentice. All I had to do was saw off half of the shelf and rod in the closet and provide a few mounting boards.

Here’s the installation:

By installing it on an exterior wall, the gas supply line (yellow) and combustion air supply and exhaust (large white pipe) were easily done.

The only drawback was the water lines (red and white lines running up the corner) added over 20′ to the distance the hot water had to travel to get to the bathroom and kitchen. This was wasting a lot of water (and time) waiting for hot water at the kitchen sink.

After living with this system for a few weeks it dawned on me that if I drilled through the back wall of the closet, I would drill into the corner of my kitchen cabinet right next to the sink. So I drilled a 2″ hole through the wall (being careful to avoid the inevitable electric line) and back side of the kitchen cabinet. Then I installed 1-1/2″ ABS through the wall with a coupling on each end to keep it from coming out. My next move, the smartest one yet, was to call the plumber and arrange for he and his helper to stop by with a few fittings and five feet of pipe some afternoon at his convenience.

With the pros on the job, it went slicker than snake snot. $300 and ZERO trips to the hardware store later, I had the kitchen sink hooked up to the heater with a five foot run. One hundred fifteen degrees in 15 seconds. To paraphrase what a wise man once told me, “There are some things worth spending your money on.”

Did I mention that there were zero trips to the hardware store? That’s three better than my previous record. The whole project has lowered my electric bill by at least $200 per month. That represents a payback time of less than 14 months.

I have advised many a young man to consider a career in plumbing. It is a noble vocation that will someday be recognized as saving mankind from their biggest mistake.

Virtual hugs for all plumbers.

Stay safe out there.