this post was submitted on 08 Aug 2023
126 points (100.0% liked)
Home Improvement
8895 readers
48 users here now
Home Improvement
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Electrical panel clearance may be an issue. Think you need like 30" width clearance which can be off-center to push it up to the panel edge. Looks tight from the picture.
Add some fire blocking on the wall penetrations if that is going to an interior wall from a garage.
Is your pex rated to handle the pressure relief valve temperatures and is the inner diameter equal to or larger than the valve opening?
Is there an air gap on your pressure relief drain? (can't see where it terminates.
Might need an expansion tank
What is the square footage of the space it was installed in? There's usually a minimum requirements for heat pump units to function properly.
As others said: drain pan, straps
Had a nicer formatting post writen but lost it when trying to post during site outage.
I can't physically fit a drain pan and the foam block. It's in a concrete garage that slopes outward so I'm not too worried about water on the ground. Straps are getting installed later today.
My old water heater never had an expansion tank and my home was built before 1986 so as far as I can tell it's not needed. The pax is the same diameter as the relief valve and has tested just fine, and also is piped to the outside.
As for the relation between the water heater and the panel I'm not sure what to say as I didn't build the house. The house passed inspection when I bought it 3 years ago and the old water heater and panel were in the same exact location.
Things that were built to code in 1986 may no longer be up to code in 2023. When making improvements it is a best practice to bring things up to current codes, but not always a requirement.
Towns don't generally send inspectors around to enforce codes unless you've done major obvious stuff like add a bathroom. However, if you ever go to sell the house, smaller code violations can come up during an inspection.
My hot water heater doesn't have an expansion tank either, but it is on an open connection to the municipal water supply which acts as one. I plan to add a PRV which makes it a closed system and would necessitate an expansion tank. I don't believe there is any harm in adding an expansion tank to an open system, other than cost.
For the pressure relief air gap. The 2015 IRC code in New York for example requires that it discharge to an air gap inside the building. You can then drain it outside from there.
https://codes.iccsafe.org/s/IRC2015NY/chapter-28-water-heaters/IRC2015-Pt07-Ch28-SecP2804.6.1
I'm not sure why a drain pan would not fit. They add a negligible amount of height and aren't much wider in diameter than the heater itself.
Electrical panel clearance see section E3405.1 workspace clearance. 30" width, 36" depth, 6'5" height. The 30" can start at the edge of the panel if you've got the room on the other side. It's probably fine, but hard to tell from the picture angle.
https://codes.iccsafe.org/content/IRC2018/chapter-34-general-requirements
By all means, I think you did a great job and there likely won't be any issue with the installation. These are just observations from a code compliance perspective.
Thanks you for the info. I read this all and will be considering it. Oh, and the straps are installed. As for the pan I would have no where to drain it to without adding a pump or a garden hose across the garage, which I'm sure my kids would continually trip over and slowly destroy. I understand the risk at the tank goes but there is a 6-in concrete lip around the entire perimeter of the garage except for the door. Most of the water will go out the door and what doesn't can be squeegee out.
Again thanks for taking the time for typing all that out. I really do appreciate it.