Off Heating Topic- Water Heater Install

Ex Maine Doug

I went to VA for a family Thanksgiving Day. Was touring the house and was shown the new water heater install and saw this.  Opened window, turned off the heater and called the contractor.  Much discussion about interrupting Thanksgiving Day. We compromised. I would pull/pry the new piece down to meet the hood and keep the heater off overnight. He would come and fix install the next morning.  And install 3 screws to replace the one that was holding air.

Larry Weingarten

That's the new...

... supercool technique.  by spilling out all that excess heat into the living space and drawing relatively cool indoor air into the exhaust, they don't overheat the vent.  Very cool!



Good catch!



Yours,  Larry



ps.  As long as the guy is fixing things, how about a ball valve and unions on the lines?  Heck, ask for insulation.

Timco

mechanically fastened

besides the issue of the vent needing to be mechanically fastened, can you explain the difference between that gap and the draft hood below it? If there was no draft, then the draft hood would allow spillage. With good draft, the gap would make no difference but looks bad. I agree it must be held with 3 screws but likely was not spilling any CO.  I personally do not like draft hoods and think my district should require barometric dampers like the east coast does...



Tim

KevinCorr

No duct tape?

"...ps. As long as the guy is fixing things, how about a ball valve and unions on the lines? Heck, ask for insulation..."



yah, and dielectric unions.

Ex Maine Doug

Draft hoods etc

The heater vent is cut into the larger pipe above it. A hole was cut into the elbow from the furnace to stick in the heater section.  So while it may draft correctly under some conditions, it may not draft correctly under all conditions.  I was not happy with the whole installation and suggested my SIL get CO detectors in pronto. 

I suspect they had pulled down the entire stack from the furnace when they installed the little extension and thought the one screw had gone into the hood. Then when the furnace heated the entire mess, it worked its way back up and pulled off from the hood. There was a lot of slop in the arrangement. 

Robert O'Connor_12

also

Depending on the state you're in and which code(s) they adopted, the connection to the heater "may" have to be 4" based on the btu's of the appliance. I would think a permit was required as well as a chimney cert. Just my 8 cents.



Robert O'Connor/NJ

Slimpickins

also

Nice solder joints!

Timco

cubic feet

How many BTUs is the heater, and how many cubic feet is the room it is in? Any combustion / make-up air? Very important. Other equipment in the same room?



Tim