Ohio & Penna Coal Co. HOn30

[mcjaco]

I'm going to derail/hijack Chris' thread.  Do you guys do any maintenance to your water heaters?  I had a plumber tell me one time that it's not worth draining the tank to replace the sacrificial rods, because that invites the drain to leak when the sediment gets caught up in the shut off.  So, in other words, I do no maintenance, which is consistent with my laziness.  At present, my water heater is approximately nine years old.

DFF

Not sure there's consensus on it.  The usual contract plumbers always tell me I should do it once a year around here.  My Grandfather and Uncle worked building maintenance with 65+ years between them, and they said it was a bunch of BS.  So?????

[Chris333]

If you use the Googler. The average life of a water heater is 8-12 years. I got 9 out of mine without any maintenance and I'm sure it was the cheapest model at the time. 9 years later the cost of the tank is about $125 higher. Might be wise to buy a few to keep in stock at home 


With the new tank I will do a better job at draining it once a year. Whatever sediment that is in my water might have something to do with the lifespan. I installed a whole house water filter and it has never been clogged so the brown crust is only inside the house. The whole house is plumed with CPVC pipe. Maybe it is just hard water.

[Steveruger45]

Hey Coaltrain welcome to the Railwire! 


As for the water heater. I've drained a few buckets of water out of mine. But what I'm reading now is you should shut off the burner and drain all the water. Then when drained, fill it up and drain again. Most of the crap will come out last.

For fun I tried un screwing the rod of the old heater and it was stuck. I got a breaker bar, but couldn't stop the whole tank from spinning and gave up.

About once a year I need to clean out all my faucet screens for sediment. After the new heater was installed and I turned the water back on the sediment clogged my kitchen faucet deep inside. I tore it out and blew air backwards through it, but it was still clogged. So a day to replace the faucet and a day for my back after crawling under there. Now it seems like a week since I've worked on the layout. And looking out side the leaves will be calling me soon.

Hi Chris.  Yes. Before draining, flushing, or working at all on a water heater, shut off the electric and/or the gas as applicable. Let it cool down some.  My heater is up in the attic, so I connect a garden hose to the drain valve and run that outside. Turn off the water supply.  Open the drain valve. Remove the anodes (easier said than sometimes done) usually they need  a 1.1/16” (27mm) socket wrench. If they are stubborn to remove some wd40 or similar and some patience often helps.
When putting new anodes in clean up the threads on the tank first and seal with PTFE thread tape.  Some use a copper washer to seal the anode plug.   With the drain open and water draining into the garden via the hose intermittently turn the water supply valve on and off, this helps dislodge the sediment and hustle it out.  Failing that flush out with a garden hose down the Threaded holes for the anodes with Water pressure from another garden hose.
Failing all that Stuff your wallet with money and call a plumber 😉

[Chris333]

Plumber?  never heard of her. 

[Chris333]

Well I raked some leaves, but it was more like raking mud 

Lots more scenery done. In fact some is drying now, but nothing worth a photo. I did do some more work on the Climax. Added rivet decals from Micro Mark and they laid down much better than the Archer rivets I've tried. I even added the 4 bolt heads along the letter board that Shapeways filed off.



And I made a thin cover over the motor. I have a nice 3D 2 cylinder engine to put here, but in reality it would be below my cover and not sticking up. So I'll just add more piping and hope a couple figures hide the big block.

[Chris333]

No not working on the layout and these have nothing to do with it, but I'll share here. In Rockland ME there was a standard gauge limestone railroad with these cool little dump cars:


But right down the way at Rockport ME there was a 3' gauge limestone railroad that used the same type cars.

[DKS]

I can see why these were called "dump cars."

[davefoxx]

Well, if there's one good thing about that pile-up, you got a shot of the top and insides of the cars.    Looks good!

Kudzos!
DFF

[Chris333]

New loco alert!





Only 50 of these were made in HOn30 back in 1979.

In real life there were less than 50 Dunkirks made and some of those were class A instead of class B like this loco. The company was only in business for 5 years. They were the precursor to the Climax and Heisler.

On the layout I did finally Dullcote my rock work, looks much better, but I doubt it would show in photos. In person the rocks were shiny from 20+ coats of matte medium.

[Steveruger45]

Stunning loco and only one of fifty to boot. I’m jealous.  Thanks for sharing.

[wazzou]

Man, that's in really nice shape considering the age of that, Chris.

[Chris333]

And it came from a famous HOn30 shop owner Al Sandrini who got it from another famous HOn30er in Ireland. It was first Peter Bartlett's. His HOn30 layout was on the cover of the Gazette around 1996. He has sinced passed away. He was a cameraman  for the BBC.

The model itself was designed by David Hoffman, another famous HOn30er.

[davefoxx]

You’re telling me that loco is 40+ years old?  Wow!  Looks like new.

DFF

[Chris333]

It runs great as well. Here is more on Peter:
http://www.crayvalleyrailroad.com
If you go go gallery-steam locos-page 4 you will see my loco.

[wm3798]

That's a nice piece to have.  Are you going to paint it up?  How does she run?
Lee