Water Heater Tips

Tim Carter, of http://www.askthebuilder.com, demonstrates some helpful installation tips for gas and electric water heaters.

Just about everyday here in the Tri state, somebodies water heater fails. I do not care whether it is an electric one or a gas one, and I am also talking about traditional storage type tank water heaters like mine. But when you go to have one put in whether you do it yourself or you are going to have a professional, there are some very important things you need to know so that you do not have a hazard in your home. One of the first things to consider with the water heater is to make sure that you have just one control valve on the water lines going into and out of the hot water heater. And this particular valve should be on the cold water side only. Notice on the hot water side, I do no have a valve here and you do not want to put one there. The second thing is where the copper lines attached to the water heater; I highly recommend that you use the thing called the dielectric union. When you connect to this similar metals such as copper and iron together in the presence of water, you get what is called mitralizes and that can cause corrosion which eventually leads to a leak. These fittings called dielectric unions prevent that because they separate the two materials with a rubber washer behind this knot. The extra benefit of this particular fitting is it allows you to disconnect the copper lines from the water heater in less than 15 seconds. If you have a gas water heater like mine, you have to pay attention to the vent pipe. It is very important that is sized correctly with this dent hood, make sure it is the same diameter. If you make it a smaller size, and you reduce it, you can have a backup of exhaust fumes in your home and that is a very bad thing. Finally, when you get ready to install the new heater, do not try to save money and reuse your old pressure release valve. They are very important because these are the safety device. If the water heater overheats, the super heated water goes through the release valve then into this pipe down to the floor and flows into the floor drain. Safety is an important concern with water heater. You have to make sure you do everything right when you install one or you might be in a lot more hot water than you want to be. I am Tim Carter, ask the builder. If you want to discover more home improvement tips, go to AsktheBuilder.com