So, I was installing a hot water heater for one of my customers today, and somehow managed to almost blow my face off.
She bought the heater from Ace Hardware, no biggie to me. Well I get all the pipes ran to it, bla bla bla, and start filling it, ok now it's filled.
Now let me explain something, this hot water heater has a "chamber" at the bottom for the burner, well it is lit by the clicker button like you see on gas grills, and there is no way to light it manually.
Well I turn the knob to pilot, press it down, push the button, nothing happens, I do this repeatedly (pushing the button) and it won't light, so I turn the knob to off, grab the instruction book and see what it says, it said "if the pilot light fails to ignite wait at least 10 minutes for the gas to clear out, and try again" So I do this, finally an hour goes by and the damn pilot finally lights.
Here comes the good part, I light the pilot it's burning, I turn the knob to on, turn the thermostat to the desired setting, poof, burner and pilot go out, I am like wtf?? So, I turn the gas off and decide well I am gonna go outside have a smoke, drink of water, and take a break, I was outside, prolly 15- 20 minutes and I go back in, turn the knob to pilot push it a few times and BOOM the SOB shoots a fire ball right at my face, I just rolled over fast and screamed oh SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIITT and then the fireball was gone.
It scared the hell out of me, the reason it scared the crap out of me was the only way to see if the pilot is lit and the burner is burning is through this little window, which I was right up next to, when the damn thing combusted, scaring the hell outta me, but I waited a half hour this time, went in retried it and it worked fine, I told the customer before I left that if she had any problems to call my cell this weekend, she said no prob and I left.
Man what a perfect end to an already shiitty week.
-C
She bought the heater from Ace Hardware, no biggie to me. Well I get all the pipes ran to it, bla bla bla, and start filling it, ok now it's filled.
Now let me explain something, this hot water heater has a "chamber" at the bottom for the burner, well it is lit by the clicker button like you see on gas grills, and there is no way to light it manually.
Well I turn the knob to pilot, press it down, push the button, nothing happens, I do this repeatedly (pushing the button) and it won't light, so I turn the knob to off, grab the instruction book and see what it says, it said "if the pilot light fails to ignite wait at least 10 minutes for the gas to clear out, and try again" So I do this, finally an hour goes by and the damn pilot finally lights.
Here comes the good part, I light the pilot it's burning, I turn the knob to on, turn the thermostat to the desired setting, poof, burner and pilot go out, I am like wtf?? So, I turn the gas off and decide well I am gonna go outside have a smoke, drink of water, and take a break, I was outside, prolly 15- 20 minutes and I go back in, turn the knob to pilot push it a few times and BOOM the SOB shoots a fire ball right at my face, I just rolled over fast and screamed oh SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIITT and then the fireball was gone.
It scared the hell out of me, the reason it scared the crap out of me was the only way to see if the pilot is lit and the burner is burning is through this little window, which I was right up next to, when the damn thing combusted, scaring the hell outta me, but I waited a half hour this time, went in retried it and it worked fine, I told the customer before I left that if she had any problems to call my cell this weekend, she said no prob and I left.
Man what a perfect end to an already shiitty week.
-C