I'm having a new natural gas water heater installed. My old one was sitting right on the concrete floor of the basement. There is no floor drain in the basement.
The old one sprang a leak, hence the new one. Fortunately I was home at the time and not too much water leaked out before I discovered it. I have an idea that an aluminum pan would be a good idea because the bottom of the tank would be less likely to rust or corrode if not in direct contact with the concrete floor. Does that idea have any merit? If a leak occurred, the pan would fill up pretty quickly, but it would buy me a little time to drain it out the back door with a hose.
Two questions:
- would you bother with the pan?
- if so, for a 21.5" diameter tank, how big a pan? They come in 22",
24" and 26" diameter sizes.