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B/W EF100T199E3N nat gas commercial gas water heater condensing in first heat exchanger.

bob eck
bob eck Member Posts: 930
in Plumbing
Contractor installed a commercial B/W EF100T199E3N nat gas water heater into a laundromat. Unit worked good for 5 days and shutoff. Found PVC exhaust 90 ell installed wrong fixed that and got the condensate water out of that part of the water heater. Unit still would not fire. Checked main heat exchanger and that was full of condensate water that could not get out of the water heater. He pumped that water out. Fired the water heater it ran good for another 5 days shut off. Contractor found water in primary heat exchanger. Pumped it out unit is running fine. Owner of laundromat ran his business on two A O Smith Cyclone BTH 199 commercial water heater for six years then one failed and he then ran the business on just one A O Smith Cyclone BTH 199 commercial water heater for a year and one half. He thought he could get away with just one B/W EF100T199E3N water heater.
B/W tech told us that he should have two 399,000 BTU gas water heaters for the amount of washers he has. B/W told him only using one water heater that is way under sized with all the cold water running through the water heater is causing the flue gas to condense in the first heat exchanger and it is not supposed to condense at that point in the water heater. Has anyone installed this type of B/W water heater and had this problem of flue gas condensing in the first heat exchanger. All I can suggest is that the contractor needs to sell and install the two EF100T399E3N water heaters or install storage tanks with pumps if that would work.
Any other suggestions to keep the water heater that the contractor installed from condensing in the wrong heat exchanger.

Comments

  • aircooled81
    aircooled81 Member Posts: 205
    Over 500 gallons per hour at a 40*F recovery rate, are you getting that? I'd suggest contacting BF white 800-334-3393, and ask them about the temp you are going to create too much condensate. Measure water temp entering, and leaving, and see if they say your wh is undersized.
    Is there a drain on the leaving side of the flue pipe, like a tap to a drain, for condensate to travel through a trap before it enters the water heater?
    scottm
  • aircooled81
    aircooled81 Member Posts: 205
    On the storage tank idea,
    If you have time when the wh is not being used, i assume a storange tank resircing into the wh would help keep the condensing temp up. But thats only if you have adequate time to build this storage up, out of peak hours, and still have large enough storage to assist when needed.
    Just thinking out loud,

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