High Eff. Water Heater questions:

Have 2 questions on a blower fan type water heater. It is a big sucker.. 75 gallons (I have a lot of kids, and am willing to pay a few extra dollars upfront and operating costs to make sure I have a hot shower when I want one. Call it my sense of entitlement as an American)

1) First thing in the morning my "cold water" comes out warm at the kitchen sink. Not just the "not cold" that the stuff that has sat in the pipes overnight feels like, this is water is warmer then room temperature. When I look at the piping, that cold water pipe runs immediately over the HWH. Kitchen sink is up one level, and about 10 feet away from the HWH. I am guessing the heat is rising from the water heater as if cycles on overnight, and heats the water. When this was first installed, and we were only using the water minimally in the house due to the remodeling then the water would come out (of the cold) very hot. We told the plumber about it then , of course he did not believe it until he felt it one morning, then he mumbled something about fixing it, and went downstairs. Not sure what he did, but it was only marginally less of a problem. Now we use the water daily, it is much less warm(sits in pipe less time, so it does not have time to heat up as much, I am guessing) but it definitely is warm. My questions are this-- Is this a common problem? Should the cold water line be routed in a different way so this does not occur? If it is set-up wrong, where can I find a definitive source so I can give a reference to my plumber when I ask for it to be fixed ("some guy on the internet said so" is not a good reason to give a tradesman.)

My second issue, when that baby comes on it vibrates the floor in the kitchen (right above it) It also rattles the license plates hanging from the ceiling in the basement. I have looked and some copper pipes coming out come in direct contact with the wood joists. Common sense tells me that there may be a better way to install this so rigid appendages coming off from it do not transmit vibration directly to the frame of the house. Again any authoritive source on this would be great, so I can try to convince him to address this issue.

Reply to
Jack
Loading thread data ...

Pex plumbing systems seem to be much less prone to your problems. You do have copper pipe, right?

Joe

Reply to
Joe

You might want to check/install/replace the "flow preventers" that come with most new water heaters. There is one in the outlet and inlet at the water heater. Some are built in to the nipples at the top of the water heater and some come separately in 4-6 inch pipe nipples that come in a pkg with the heater. It usually just has a little plastic ball in it that stops the flow of water into and out of the water heater during the off cycles. Any open faucet easily moves the ball and lets water flow. Yours may not have these or they are not functioning properly. Bubba

Reply to
Bubba

any tips on how I would check to see if those are in place and functioning??

Reply to
Jack

Go buy a set of them. Shut off the water. Take the lines off the top of the tank and look. If they arent there, install them. If they are, clean them but I would still just replace them. Bubba

Reply to
Bubba

What you are buying is not a High Eficency unit at all, too bad...

Reply to
ransley

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.