Richard's first cutaway, a water heater 1982

[@user181]

It’s a blast-from-the-past to hear someone being budget-conscious on TOH.

[@11sfr]

This is back when the show owned the house and sold it after filming to recoup some of the budget. It was all WGBH/PBS money they were spending on this.

[@musicmanfelipe]

@@11sfr A few seasons later they would get people with existing remodel projects and encourage them to do a lot of the work themselves to save money, calling it “sweat equity.”

[@SenileOtaku]

Budgets? Bob was *always* blowing through budgets.

[@oldtwinsna8347]

The show should go back to this home and see if that contraption is still there!

[@AlBeebe]

i actually have that same blue tank,and furnace in my house still

[@Craigthepope]

It's interesting watching these old videos and seeing how cast member's accents and speaking style evolved throughout the decades.

[@mattlreese81]

That system from 1982 is better then half the units installed today

[@quiteactually]

The Honeywell controls on some of those models were horrible, the Weil Mclain gold upgrade is usually the fix for those.

[@VinylToVideo]

Taco zone valves rather than the Honeywell ones seen mostly now.

[@ekop1778]

SOME NEW UNITS LIKE TANKLESS ONES USE LESS WATER BUT USE IT WHEN YOU TURN IT ON DEPENDS

[@John_Lee_]

First of all they still install those same peerless boilers and that burner was eclipsed by Riello decades ago. And oil sucks anyway. You really need to stop romanticizing the past.

[@kdaltex]

Mmm leached plastic

[@TheGhettoLobster]

Love these old heating videos as an HVAC tech. Keep it up

[@unjohn]

Thanks Richard. Bob Villa don’t miss you at all!

[@bmanwpg]

I say Richard needs to bring back that mustache!!

[@Casey-uk3wy]

Wait that’s Richard? 🤯

[@kentkirkpatrick7953]

Then, nearly 40 years later a guy named Steven shows up and says, we gotta real shit show here mamma. She needs a little how you doing to be good enough for this neighborhood again.... Only few will know this reference haha.

[@jblyon2]

Kick the can down the road

[@VinylToVideo]

@@jblyon2 What do you mean? Some of that old stuff was built to last.

[@erikj.2066]

That’s a real Taj Mahal mama.

[@doubleentendre87]

She’s loose as a goose

[@VinylToVideo]

@@erikj.2066 Why would you wear gloves? I could never figure it out!

[@jetmech1495]

"That blows the budget totally" Glad to see at one time there was a budget. I guess there is one now, but it's so astronomically high, that there might as well not be one at all.

[@NickCBax]

And a genre is born!

[@bsm6776]

$3,000 in 1982 is $8,000 in today’s dollars

[@tombomombodombo]

It would cost more than that today to get the same thing,

[@bsm6776]

@@tombomombodombo nah I don’t think so

[@stephenzies8867]

You Are Correct

[@willysnowman]

About ten years ago my tankless was $100 on craigslist and my goodman furnace was about $800 + ductwork.

[@jmhm17]

@@tombomombodombo a new boiler that size with an indirect water heater would be about 8k today.

[@Casey-uk3wy]

He sure does love cut a ways

[@russellmoore8187]

Bob always sounds so unimpressed 😂

[@cowboy9257]

😆

[@quiteactually]

Interesting that the maker Beckett was taped over.

[@fadetounforgiven]

Funny how so many years later, now Richard says it's best to have hot water on demmand instead of having a container with hot water. Which to me it's the way to go as well if possible. Time changes things.

[@lukpac]

That's not necessarily true. Usually the tankless water heaters are replacing gas fired tank water heaters, which aren't that efficient. But when the homeowner has radiant heat, Richard continues to use super insulated indirect tanks heated using the boiler. They just used one for the Cape Ann project. The issue is simply that in houses with forced air heat, installing a boiler just for domestic hot water really isn't practical.

[@fadetounforgiven]

@@lukpac I thought I had answered your comment. I meant that's the best option for water you're going to use for drinking, showering and cooking. If you're considering heating then you'll have to work out what is best for you. There is no "one fits all".

[@fadetounforgiven]

@@dawright1988 about "cheap to run"... I don't know your circumstances but, unless you have some kind of "intelligent" system that "learns" when you need heat and when you don't, keeping it running all along is not efficient. Maybe your bill doesn't go up too much, but it's not efficient.

[@fadetounforgiven]

@@dawright1988 well, "cheap" is kind of a subjective concept many times and this is no exception. Where I live I can heat water for cooking and showering (no house heating) for well under 15€ a month. That is using butane bottles (some 14-15 kilos each or so). Should we connect to the gas company and that price would skyrocket.

[@lukpac]

@@fadetounforgiven I am also talking about "drinking, showering and cooking". Richard continues to use indirect water heaters where the house is heated by a boiler. They are extremely efficient when coupled with a high efficiency boiler.

[@gsent56]

Look at this young buck

[@jefflebowski918]

"It should last indefinitely" lol

[@ryanroberts1104]

Wonder if that setup is still in service? From tankless to tanks and back to tankless again now...

[@quiteactually]

Looks like an Amtrol, which is a RI vendor, probably sponsored. HTP (was Super Stor) is a far better unit, lifetime warranty to boot.

[@VinylToVideo]

If so I'd imagine they've been converted to natural gas.

[@benkeysor7576]

Three Grand for the Oil boiler, water tank AND all that copper w/ ball valves, that is an excellent price for all that. Now days just a similar boiler installed with all that copper, you're going to spend at least 10-12 grand easily.

[@blakenetter]

$3,000 in 1982 is the equivalent of a little over $8,000 in today’s dollars, so the difference in cost isn’t as big as it seems.

[@DevengerKott]

It's also possible that the TOH crew and production company were able to shave off some of their overhead costs with donations and discounts from the companies that manufactured the equipment, or even the local distributors.

[@PatrickWagz]

3:25 "should last indefinitely" no, no, no, we can't have that. We need stuff to break after only a few short years, so we need to continually buy the same stuff. Keep that economy going!!

[@00crashtest]

That's why I only buy Japanese cars. Especially bulletproof Toyota and Honda.

[@allentoyokawa9068]

China: Hold my beer

[@yaosio]

40 years later and we're not using plastic lined tanks. Guess there was a problem with them.

[@ryanroberts1104]

They do sell plastic water heaters. They're still expensive but they last forever.

[@VinylToVideo]

I'd be concerned with BPAs and whatnot being in that 70s/80s plastic. Would prefer a copper lined one!

[@851995STARGATE]

@@VinylToVideo wouldn't that defeat the purpose and advantage of it lasting long.....

[@VinylToVideo]

@@851995STARGATE What? There are 80 year old copper hot water tanks still in service out there.

[@erikj.2066]

Old grey cabinet Weil-McLain boiler. Just replaced mine from ‘76. Tiny little breach to brush it down with if it ever sooted up, but was a good boiler otherwise.

[@dariogiannetti1452]

Nice and simple

[@Cravz69]

And so it began.

[@turtuhl]

Vila was always his namesake.

[@cowboy9257]

"There goes the budget!"....simmer down Francis.

[@Kauppamopo]

27 years old

[@alonzojohnson7955]

Wow

[@Mister006]

The Copper pipes... those alone that's probably 3k now.

[@VinylToVideo]

That old one being replaced nearly looks like it had been an oil conversion.

[@1dogpobo]

tankless system with a reservoir . makes sense

[@joearchey6410]

The way Bob was complaining about the budget. You think he was paying for the heating system.

[@simplestatic3751]

It just means that is less money left to spend on things that excite Bob, like nice cabinets and such

[@erikj.2066]

Back when TOH still cared about silly things like budgets.

[@11sfr]

He sorta was, since they didn't work with real homeowners yet. The show bought the house, fixed it up, and sold it when filming was over, and they did go way, way, over budget on the previous project before this one, and still hadn't sold most of the condo units in it by the time the Woburn house came along, so the budget was much tighter and had to be watched carefully.

[@u-shanks4915]

AHaha Richard was hunky before he went chunky

[@Hever73]

Is this Richard the plumber of the Old House with hair & mustache ?

[@TOHClips]

Yup. This is one of his earlier appearances. We also have his first full appearance uploaded and soon we will upload his Season 1 cameo appearance. :)

[@uncouthboy8028]

Completely different guy. You see, there was another Richard who was also a plumber but everyone forgot about him.

[@lukewalker8515]

poptart gang

[@chamkila911]

20 cent oil!!!!!!!!

[@TheKnifed]

Yeah, those silly tankless systems firing their boilers to heat on demand!

[@joffrecueva5662]

Do i sense some tension between these two young folks?🤔

[@EdEdelenbos]

You know it’s a water heater, right? It’s not a hot water heater.

[@TOHClips]

Fixed. Thanks :)

[@EdEdelenbos]

@@TOHClips just being a smart aleck.

[@gene8172]

It takes water and heats it so it’s hot. So, yes indeed, it is a “hot” water heater. If it heated only to tepid, it would be a “tepid” water heater....

[@EdEdelenbos]

@@gene8172 but it doesn’t heat hot water, it takes cool water and heats it. It is a water heater. If the water is already hot, why bother heating it?

[@gene8172]

@@EdEdelenbos It takes cool water and makes it hot. So it is a “hot water heater”. It heats water until it’s hot. Which would you rather have, a cool water heater that heats water to an unknown temperature or a hot water heater, that heats water until it’s hot?

[@CharlesCoaston]

$2000 for all that man thats cheap

[@mrlibowski493]

Richards voice sounds like he didn't hit puberty yet