Venting a water heater
This past Sat. evening our hot water tank (Propane) stopped heating water. It's 12 years old and has been serviced once before so I opted to just replace it. (We just bought this house last summer). The old tank was a Ruud Power Vent Model PVP50-1P. My father-in-law came by to install the new tank, since I've never done this before, a GE Smart Water Model GP40T06AVG00. Here's the problem. The original tank has a blower motor to vent the unit. My father-in-law never saw one before and said we'd be ok without it. So we bought the GE unit and have it installed. He called today and said he found out that we might need it because the tank wasn't being vented out the chimney. Instead it is vented out a 3 pipe to the outside wall. The furnace is vented in the same manner so there's no access to the chimney stack in the basement. So my question is this... With the new tank installed, it is currently direct vented thru that 3 pipe. The vertical runs about 18 from the tank exhaust to a 45 elbow and then about 20 on the horizontal thru the side exterior wall. The tank is in the basement approx. 10' from the furnance. It is in the open not in any type of closet or such. Am I ok with this direct vent set up or do I need to look into power venting it? If I have to power vent it, what do I need? I ask that because the old power vent works, but it has a vacuum line running to the vacuum switch in the old unit. The new one obviously does not. Thanks, Rich The current set up is not ok. First, what kind of exhaust pipe do you have? Typically, power vent water heaters use PVC or CPVC. Standard vent water heaters (the new one) have to be metal vent pipe. If it goes through any walls or ceilings it has to be double jacket vent pipe with a wall thimble. Second, power vent water heaters are perfectly fine to go on a horizontal run and to outside and stop. Standard vent must have a minimum 1/4 inch per foot upward pitch and be vented above the roofline. Any thing less will create exhaust to back up into the basement. You can not take a powervent off one water heater and install it on a water heater not designed for it. From the sounds of it you have two options: 1) Replace the current water heater with a new power vent water heater. This would be my recommended option. 2) Replace the current vent pipe with the proper type and vent it above the roof. I typically don't like venting long runs of vent outdoors as you can get excessive condensation in the pipe as the flue gasses cool off. This will prematurely rust the pipe. Yea it's 3 PVC. I understand what you're saying about my options. Thing is, now I'm stuck with a new water heater that can't be returned and being in the basement with two floors above, venting out to the roof line isn't an option. Shot in the dark, but is there no third party power vent that I could use? Dumb question probably but I'd hate to eat $350. Thanks. That is exactly why my father in law touches nothing at my house. They always seem to find a way to cut corners. Your family could have been poisoned with carbon monoxide with that setup. There is no water heater, that I'm aware of, that you can safely retro into a power vent unit. I've seen several attempts made but I've never seen one work right that doesn't create a health/fire hazard. Additionally, the water heater you now have is not safe to use with PVC pipe. The flue gasses are too hot for the PVC. On power vent units the gasses are cooler entering the vent pipe. A power vent water heater is more than just the blower on top. There are several safeties in place. They include the burner not igniting unless the blower is running and there is usually a limit switch built in to these that isn't on standard water heaters. The moral of this story: Don't listen to someone who doesn't know what he's talking about. There was a reason the power vent water heater was there before. It should have raised a red flag when you're father-in-law said he's never seen one before. Not to start a family war but see if he will chip in on a new water heater since he got you into this mess. Ok well I'm going to replace the tank then. The $350 is nothing compared to our safety. Thanks to everyone for the help. RichS, It MAY be possible to sell the heater. Just explain what the problem was. Yes, you will take some loss, but you may recoup most of the investment you have made. Good luck.
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