During the chilled winter days, we all look for some warmth. In this regard, water heaters do provide a lot of relief. In the winter days, it becomes quite difficult even to wash our hands with the cold water. Fortunately, the price of a regular water heater is something that anybody can afford. Even though the working of an electric water heater is quite simple to understand, but the installation is not that easy.
In the installation of a water heater, both electrical and plumbing work is needed. Hence, when you hire a professional for this task, you need to make sure that he has the skills of a plumber and an electrician too. Once the installation has been done, it would take a lot of time and effort to modify anything. In this regard, let us enlighten you by jotting down the common mistakes you need to avoid.
# Avoid These Hot Water Installation Blunders
Soldering of pipes
When it comes to setting up a connection between the water line and the tank, soldering is certainly the most apt method. However, you need to keep in mind that the soldering should not be done too close to the water tank. Since tanks are usually made up of plastics, and soldering process generates heat; therefore, the tank might get damaged during the process of soldering. So, it is better to keep the propane torch away from the water tank.
In this regard, you can unscrew the nipples of the pipe from the tank. Now, make a small addition segment and solder it to the nipples. In this way, you will not have to bring the propane torch closer to the tank. Once the pipes get cooled down, you can reattach them.
Incompatible Metal Connections
When establishing connections between two metal pipes, some people do not pay close attention to the aspect of compatibility. Even a difference of 0.1 mm in the diameter of the two pipes can lead to a blunder. Such kind of connection usually speeds up the process of corrosion, and it is known to everyone, what happens to the metal pipes when they start corroding.
In case, you are using copper pipes for making the connections, you need to make use of copper connectors. You can also go with the idea of brass connectors. If you make use of galvanized steel connectors then it will lead to an issue which is called as dielectric union fitting. This issue is caused due to the incompatibility of two metal types, and can really affect the strength of your water heater system.
Relief valve
A relief valve is used for managing the pressure and temperature of a water heater. In case the relief valve has not been installed properly, it can lead to disastrous situation; the water tank inside the heater will most likely explode. So, you can understand the outcome of this kind of incident. The valve is generally fitted more or less 6 inches from the floor, particularly at the side region of the water tank. To increase its effectiveness, you can attach a threaded pipe to the outlet of the valve, and pass the pipe carefully through the corner of the wall to the floor.
Apart from the three common mistakes related to hot water installation, you should also keep few other things in mind. Dry firing is one such aspect you need to know about. This is a mistake in which a user turns on the water heater even before the tank is filled complete with water. Likewise, there are many important things you should keep in mind.