The water heater showed up yesterday. I was thinking we'd just get the subpanel installed and do the plumbing tomorrow, but Ryan was game to do the whole thing... it took from about 7:00pm to 11:30pm to get all the wires run, stripped, old water heater out, subpanel hooked up, everything tested and read to go. It's in, and it works!
Here's a couple pictures of it. As advertised, it takes longer than if you have a regular tank water heater for the water to get warm... I imagine it's because since a tank water heater is always hot there's some conduction through the water and copper that keeps the pipe and the water in it relatively warm even when nobody's using any hot water. This thing only heats water as you use it, so there's nothing to even conduct some heat through the water when its off. So the pipes and the water in them cool down to room temperature after a while. That water needs to run out of the pipes before hot water reaches the faucet/tub. Anyway, once that water runs out you feel some rapid fluctuation and then the temperature stabilizes rock steady, and stays that way as long as you are using hot water. Once hot water is in the pipes it doesn't take any time at all for the water coming out to be hot because all the cold water's been flushed out -- just what's between the main line and whatever faucet you're using needs to be flushed if it's a different faucet you're turning on.
I think it just recently became real to Vicki how much storage space we're actually losing. She even talked about putting a cabinet up over the toilet -- something she wasn't so enthusiastic about when I first mentioned it. We'll do that, plus we'll can use the space under the stairs more efficiently now. And of course we recovered the floor space where the old water heater was. Plus the adjustable shelves in the new storage closet will allow for more efficient use of space. So I think we'll be fine.
We went to Lowe's and picked out fixtures -- pedestal sink, faucet, lights, and toilet. Need to pick out vinyl flooring for the laundry/bath. Got a mirror for over the sink.
Somebody (I assume Bart, but it could have been an "un-energetic" Theo) didn't quite seem to make it to the litter box last night and went instead on the floor in front of the toilet.
Oh, that we could get them to USE the toilet. I've heard of cats trained to do that.
The litter box's temporary quarters during the remodel is in the bath tub in the hall bathroom. Maybe Theo couldn't muster the energy to jump. Or maybe there was enough litter on the floor where Bart thought he was already in the litterbox -- I don't know. Fortunately, vinyl cleans up easily.
