“Portfolio”? Is that what you call the dirty wad of cash you take to the casino?

This brings up my favorite example of the difference in philosophies between Windows and Mac.

Windows won’t do a goddamn thing without at least 3 steps and asking me if I’m sure I want to do that, except for shutting down or restarting.

Mac will do whatever I want with one step except for shutting down or restarting, where it politely asks if I’m sure.

Wait, you accept checks behind the dumpster?

Cuz people are gonna wake up and realize that Amazon is a big company.

I hand scratch out my own taxes with a few complications just so I understand it before I e-file and even I know there’s enough info here to determine there’s something fucky.

What does the line supply? If you open the tap just a bit, all it takes is a slow drip, it won’t freeze.

Theoretically the tanks are supposed to go vertical when that happens.

Rumor is that a fun redneck game is to take one out to a field, block the TPR valve, crank the thermostat and let her fly.

That's why I want to have it off and disconnected almost all the time.

Sorry if I came off as defensive, sure didn’t mean to. Just seemed that folks weren’t catching that I’m not trying to do a permanent install and I’m not trying to do it “right”.

Now this is the sort of common sense stuff I should have already considered! Of course pex. I even have some.

I’ll still disconnect since it will rarely be used but pex solves the suitability issue with garden hose.

Thanks!

Yep, I’ll empty it unless I’m going to use it the next day again. I think it’s gonna work just fine.

I’ve got power in the shop, so the water heater will be at the location where I need the hot water. There’s a frost free hydrant near the shop so getting water to the heater is easy.

Of course the “right” way to do it is trench and plumb to the shop but in order to make that work I need to also finish and heat an insulated area as well as bust up concrete to get water lines from trench to water heater. Maybe one day but for the 3 or 4 times a year I’ll use it that’s a lot more project than is called for.

> Just make sure the relief valve works... :)

Fo sho. I'll also make sure there's nothing important directly above it!

Yep, I'm just wondering about unhooking the supply like overnight when it's not in use but I would want to still have a tank of hot water the next day without having to refill or reheat. I'll wrap the tank with a bunch of insulation anyway so maybe I'll just experiment with unhooking the supply and killing the power.

All for it, except the location I want the water is about 300' from the house. I'd be 4x in garden hoses and new spigots than the $25 I paid for the water heater.

Primarily because for the very infrequent use it will get that's more time and $$ than the project deserves. So far I'm into this $25 for the water heater and I have everything else I need.

Of course the longer term solution which I intend to do eventually is trench and run water to the shop and insulate a small room.

I can totally understand your concerns here, but I'm not going to forget to disconnect.

I'm talking about using it like three or four times a year, primarily for things like my upcoming pig butchering and hopefully deer processing. Flipping on the breaker and filling the tank, then shutting it down when I'm done will be no different than the same process I use at a friend's cabin.

The shop is too far from the house to reasonably use a frost-free from there, not to mention that forgetting to disconnect that hose would absolutely cause a problem if it's cold enough to freeze. A closed hose hooked to a frost free spigot will break that spigot like it had never heard the words "frost free". Ask me how I know that...

The water heater will be in a place where even if it did flood, there will be zero consequences. Also, I wouldn't even be planning to do this had I not found a working water heater for $25.