Installing a gas water heater

We all dread that day when any of our appliances breaks down and we are forced into replacing them, which usually means spending an unnecessary ammount of money on both the appliance itself along with installation fees. With this hub I will explain the steps needed in order to remove your old water heater as well as installing the new one yourself.

Tools needed:

Pipe cutter

Copper fittings (either 3/4 or 1/2 depending on the size of the pipe)

2 feet of copper pipe

flux

souder

torch

Emery cloth

pipe wrench

garden hose

(2) 3/4 threaded copper nipples.

(2) 3/4 reducing couplings for nipple

1/2 or 3/4 flex pipe depending on the size of your pipe.

Step 1. You are going to have to shut off the water to the cold pipe on the water heater. Once you have located and shut off the water, you can drain the tank by connecting a garden to the drain at the bottom of the tank and turning the drain valve on. You are also going to have to take apart the gas piping. This is very easy. All you have to do is break apart the union using two wrenches (one at the base of the union and the other on the nut to spin it off), and spin the pipe off from the tee and the gas valve. You will also need to remove the flue pipe and draft hood.

Step 2. After you have drained all of the water from the tank you are readyto cut the copper pipes from both the hot water and the cold water side. Make sure you make a nice straight and clean cut so it fits well into the fittings.

Step 3. Now that the water is drained and the pipes are cut, you are ready to bring in the new tank. To install the new tank you are going to have to position the tank under the water pipes the same way the old one sat. What you want to do is clean off all copper pipe that is going to be soudered with the emery cloth. You are going to want the pipe to be nice and shiny. Once you have the pipe cleaned you will need to apply some pipe dope to the 3/4 nipples and just tighten them onto the cold and hot water side of the tank. Next you will rub flux onto the copper that will be going into the fittings. You are going to need to measure and cut off some copper from the two foot length and fit it into the fittings. Once you have the fittings on and all the copper attatched you are ready to souder. Your are going to use the 3/4 reducing fittings to screw on to the nipple and then souder the copper on to the other end.

Step 4. Now that your copper is cleaned up and the flux is applied, all thats left to do is is grab your torch, aim the flame at the middle of the fittings and just hold your souder to the top of the fitting and then the bottom of the fitting so you seal both sides. The heat will draw the souder into between the pipe and fitting allowing it to seal the pipe and prevent any water leaks.

Step 5. Once the soudering is complete you have turn your water back on, make sure nothing is leaking, and as the tank fills up just pull the lever on the relief valve to vent the tank, and crack open a few hot water faucets so you dont crack the tank. You only need to open the hot water faucets a little bit. You will also need to re-attatch your gas pipe. You mught get lucky and will be able to use your old gas pipe, or you will need to attatch the flex pipe from the fuel line to the gas valve. Finally you need to put the flue pipe and draft hood back on. The new tank should come with a draft hood, but you can use the old one as long as it is in good condition.

After you have completed all the steps your tank will be filled up within the hour along with the water getting hot.

After having read this you should know the materials you need to complete the task, the proper steps in which you need to complete the task along with peace of mind you need to finish the task. I hope this was helpful, and I do appreciate all forms of feed back whether it be positive or negative. If there is something anyone thinks I have missed please let me know and I will edit accordingly.