No expansion tank?
First time ever installing a water heater, or doing any plumbing...
Submitted 1 year ago by AnotherPerson@lemmy.world to [deleted]
https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/73c2547c-ee49-4ace-b6d5-40f60ffe50b8.jpeg
Comments
altima_neo@lemmy.zip 1 year ago
AnotherPerson@lemmy.world 1 year ago
What’s an expansion tank? I set it up like the old one was set up. Oh I did was disconnect the old one and reconnect the new one to the same pipes coming out of the wall.
rockSlayer@lemmy.world 1 year ago
An expansion tank is necessary for water heaters, because the process of heating water causes it to expand. Without a reserve tank, pressure could build to unsafe levels
Not_Reddit@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I’m not a plumber but that looks pretty clean! Good job. I’m hoping to upgrade to a hybrid electric water heater sometime in the future. Currently running on regular electric (boo!).
nowwhatnapster@lemmy.world 1 year ago
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 is needed.
As others said: drain pan, straps
Had a nicer formatting post writen but lost it when trying to post during site outage.
Tylerdurdon@lemm.ee 1 year ago
No drain pan for when it eventually pops? Rest looks good!
altima_neo@lemmy.zip 1 year ago
The drain pan thing seems to only be code in certain places. Over here they just need the foam block at the bottom.
LordOfTheChia@lemmy.world 1 year ago
While not code, a drain pan + a leak sensor in the pan are useful in mitigating potential disasters.
Doesn’t have to be fancy either, they make smart leak sensors or basic ones that are just ear piercingly loud.
GoTeamBoobies@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Was going to say, everything looks nice except missing drain pan, which I’m sure is code.
AnotherPerson@lemmy.world 1 year ago
It’s in a concrete garage, and a foam pad is recommended over a pan.
Bitswap@lemmy.world 1 year ago
No straps? Middle of the US somewhere?
AnotherPerson@lemmy.world 1 year ago
They arrive Wednesday.
dan@upvote.au 1 year ago
It’s not on a stand that elevates it off the floor either, so I’m guessing it’s not in California.
Psythik@lemm.ee 1 year ago
120°F is too low for a water heater. 135°F is the minimum necessary to prevent bacteria growth inside the tank. And like the other person said, your hot water will last a lot longer with a higher temperature. Just don’t crank it too far beyond 140° so you don’t accidentally burn yourself.
Brkdncr@kbin.social 1 year ago
120 is the lower limit for killing stuff off. Not much will live or grow at a sustained 120.
I leave mine at 120 and every Sunday it kicks up to 135 for an hour for peace of mind.
nieceandtows@programming.dev 1 year ago
Wow this is a major undertaking!
burrito@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
Nice job! I have had the same unit for about 3 years now and I have been very happy with it. The amount of electricity it requires compared to a convention is a heck of a lot less. It also has the nice side effect of cooling and dehumidifying my garage during the summer time.
AnotherPerson@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I was surprised how noticeable the cool effect in the garage was. Granted it wasn’t that warm of a day but I’m curious what it will do on 90+ days.
Landmammals@lemmy.world 1 year ago
You don’t need earthquake straps?
AnotherPerson@lemmy.world 1 year ago
They arrive Wednesday
teejay@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I have this exact model, and I wish I didn’t. It turns out there’s a flaw in the logic that controls the heating elements. When in “Energy Saver” mode (the default mode), the lower heating element won’t heat the water. So when you start to use the hot water, as the hot water goes out, the replacement cold water coming in isn’t getting heated at the bottom. This drops the temperature of the existing hot water in the tank, and it takes several hours of no hot water use for the tank to get to your desired temp. For my family it means we get about 1 1/2 showers (showers last about 7 or 8 minutes) before the water starts coming out lukewarm. You can see this happening on your unit by activating the diagnostic mode on the panel and watching the lower element water temp.
I went several rounds with Rheem’s customer support (including have two separate techs come to my house to inspect it) before someone finally acknowledged in writing that there’s a known defect in the logic of the controller board. They tagged my unit as defective, but so far have not been able to replace it since they haven’t engineered a fix and started producing a new version of the water heater with said fix.
My advice, stay away from Rheem hybrid water heaters for a while until they get it sorted out. Also, pro tip: Keep it on the “High Demand” mode so that it’s always using electricity + heat pump to heat the water. That gives you the most aggressive heating profile and does not contain the flaw where the lower heater element won’t activate. This was the advice their engineer gave me, and it’s allowed us to have hot water for more than a shower or two.
jubilationtcornpone@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
I was considering buying one so this is good to know. I wonder if AO Smith hybrid water heaters are any better.