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Just about every day here in the Tri-State somebody's water heater fails
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I don't care whether it's an electric one or a gas one, and I'm also talking about traditional storage type tank water heaters like mine
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But when you go to have one put in, whether you do it yourself or you're going to have a professional
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there are some very important things you need to know so that you don't have a hazard in your home
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One of the first things to consider with a water heater is to make sure that you have
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just one control valve on the water lines going into and out of the hot water heater
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This particular valve should be on the cold water side only. Notice on the hot water side, I do not have a valve here and you do not want to put one there
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The second thing is where the copper lines attach to the water heater, I highly recommend
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that you use a thing called a dielectric union. When you connect two dissimilar metals such as copper and iron together in the presence
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of water, you get what's called electrolysis, and that can cause corrosion, which eventually leads to a leak
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These fittings called dielectric unions prevent that because they separate the two materials with a rubber washer behind this nut The extra benefit of this particular fitting is it allows you to disconnect the copper lines from
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the water heater in less than 15 seconds. If you have a gas water heater like mine
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you have to pay attention to the vent pipe. It is very important that it is sized correctly with
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this vent hood. Make sure it's the same diameter. If you make it a smaller size and reduce it
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you can have a backup of exhaust fumes in your home and that's a very bad thing
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Finally, when you get ready to install the new heater, don't try to save money and
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reuse your old pressure relief valve. They're very important because these are
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the safety device. If the water heater overheats, the superheated water goes
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through the relief valve then into this pipe down to the floor and flows into the
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floor drain. Safety is an important concern with water heaters. You have to
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to make sure you do everything right when you install one or you might be in a lot more
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hot water than you want to be. I'm Tim Carter, Ask the Builder. If you want to discover more home improvement tips, go to askthebuilder.com
