DIY Water Heater Installation

When your h2o heater begins to leak, you accept to install a new one fast.

Time

A full day

Complexity

Intermediate

Cost

$101–250

Introduction

When your water heater begins to leak, you have to supplant it fast. We'll show you how to install your own gas water heater in less than a 24-hour interval. Even if you don't demand a new h2o heater right now, chances are you will within the next few years. Water heaters tend to last seven to 15 years. If yours is getting old, this article is also for you. Replacing a h2o heater isn't difficult if you're handy with basic tools and accept a bit of experience soldering copper.

Tools Required

Materials Required

  • Discharge pipe
  • Fittings
  • Pipage thread compound
  • Pressure relief valve
  • Solder
  • Venting piping and connectors
  • Water and gas piping

Getting Started Installing Your New Hot H2o Tank

Nosotros're replacing a natural gas water heater in our demonstration. The steps for replacing a propane h2o heater are exactly the same, and those for an electrical water heater are similar.

In any case, when you're planning a water heater replacement, play it rubber. Call your local department of inspections and ask if you demand a allow. And make sure a plumbing or electrical inspector checks your work.

Installation Costs and Labor

Plumbers typically charge $45 to $65 an 60 minutes and tin usually install a water heater in a twenty-four hours or in six-8 hours.

Most residential h2o heaters cost $150 to $400 for either gas or electric, plus $200 to $450 if yous have a plumber install it. More expensive gas water heaters with special venting systems also are bachelor. But they're more than difficult to install, and we won't deal with them here.

Water Heater Parts and Breakup

  • Flue pipe
  • Cold h2o shutoff valve
  • Typhoon diverter
  • Temperature and pressure relief valve
  • Overflow pipe
  • Hot h2o outlet
  • Anticorrosion Anode Rod
  • Dip tube
  • Elements
  • Insulation
  • Drain valve
  • Thermostat or command valve
  • Burner
  • Thermocouple
  • Gas supply valve

When to get a new water heater

Your h2o heater is dead when the tank leaks. The telltale sign that your water heater needs replacing is a ho-hum drip underneath, usually showing up as a trail of rusty water. This ways that the steel tank has rusted through and can't be fixed. Other symptoms, such as insufficient or no hot water, normally betoken other water heater repair problems that you can ready.

If you spot a drip, program to supersede the water heater correct abroad. Don't wait until the leak gets bad.

New water heaters come with installation instructions and lots of warnings to make sure yous handle the gas, electrical and other connections safely. In this article, nosotros'll supplement those basics with techniques and "existent earth" advice from several professional plumbers.

But accept heed: You'll be working with natural gas, propane or electricity, all of which are chancy. If you don't feel confident, phone call in a pro to accept care of the tough parts. And have your work inspected when information technology's done.

Plumbing codes vary past region. Describe your planned installation to your local plumbing inspector, including the types of materials you intend to employ for your new connections. Ameliorate to get guidance get-go so you don't have to alter things later!

Figure A: Gas Water Heater Details

Water Family unit Handyman

To print out this image, see the Additional Info at the end of this article.

Figure B: Connections for Steel and Plastic Piping

Family Handyman

Many homes have galvanized steel or plastic (CPVC) water supply pipes. Galvanized steel pipes are hard to replace. We recommend that you remove the pipes back to the nearest tee, screw on a plastic-lined galvanized nipple and complete the connections with copper every bit shown in our photo serial.

Considering of potential heat buildup, keep plastic pipe at least 6 in. abroad from the vent and tank. Make a transition from plastic to copper with a special coupling that's bachelor wherever CPVC is sold.

Flexible copper connectors are easier to install than solid copper, particularly when the existing pipes and the tank inlets don't line up. Just not all local codes let them. If yours does, take special care not to pinch or kink them. You lot could get a leak.

Projection step-by-step (12)

Step 1

Shut off the gas and water

gas

Plow off the gas to the water heater by turning the nearby shutoff valve a quarter plow. When off, the handle should be at a right angle to the pipe. Shut off the main water supply every bit well and drain the lines by opening a faucet on the lowest floor.

Step 2

Drain the water in the tank

hose

Attach a garden hose to the bleed valve and bleed the water left in the tank. Caution: The water will exist scalding hot! Disconnect the gas line at the nearby union with a pair of wrenches and unscrew the pipe from the gas control valve with a pipe wrench.

Step 3

Cut off the water lines

Unscrew

Unscrew the vent pipe from the vent hood and motility it to the side. Then cut the hot and common cold water lines with a tube cutter. (Unscrew unions for galvanized pipage or the nuts on flexible connectors if you have them.) Slide the old water heater out of the way.

Step 4

Attach the relief valve

Wrap

Wrap the threads of the new temperature and pressure relief valve with Teflon tape (three turns). Screw it tightly into the tank with a pipe wrench. Attach a copper discharge pipe (see Fig. A for routing details).

Step v

Attach pipage assemblies

Solder

Solder new copper adapters to 6-in. lengths of three/iv-in. copper and screw the assemblies into the hot h2o outlet and cold water inlet ports in the top of the tank. Add short, plastic lined nipples to shield confronting galvanic corrosion, especially if you lot have hard h2o or if they're required by local codes.

Step 6

Adhere the water lines

Slide

Slide the new water heater into place, recut or extend the quondam tubing to meet the new, and solder the tubing together using copper slip couplings. If the tubing doesn't line upward, offset the lines equally needed with pairs of 45-degree elbows.

Step vii

Reattach the vent

Reconnect

Reconnect the vent. Shove it tightly over the typhoon hood and anchor information technology with three 3/8-in. No. 6 canvass metallic screws. Predrill the holes. The vent should ascent at to the lowest degree 12 in. vertically before turning at the first elbow.

Footstep viii

Utilize two wrenches to attach the gas line

pipe

Reconnect the gas line. Coat the threaded ends with piping joint compound and spiral the showtime nipple into the gas valve. Use 2 pipe wrenches to avert stressing the valve. Reassemble the remaining nipples, finishing up with the union (Photo 2). Then follow these 4 steps to fill the tank: (1) Close the drain valve; (2) plow the water dorsum on at the chief shutoff and open up the common cold water valve to the water heater (get out it open); (3) turn on a nearby hot water faucet until water comes out; and (4) audit all the joints and fittings for water leaks.

Step 9

Check for backdrafting

Most h2o heaters rely on a natural typhoon to describe combustion fumes up the flue. If the draft doesn't work, those fumes, mayhap containing deadly carbon monoxide, will spill out into your home. Subsequently completing your installation, check the typhoon.

Close all exterior doors and windows and turn on your kitchen and bath exhaust fans. Then open a nearby hot water faucet until you hear the gas burner in the water heater ignite. Later a minute, move a smoking lucifer around the edge of the draft hood (Photo vii) on summit of the heater. The smoke should be drawn upward the vent pipe. If the fume doesn't describe, the fumes from the burner aren't venting. Turn off the gas to the water heater and call a licensed plumber to correct the problem.

Stride ten

Check for leaks

Look for bubbles at connections

bubbles

Turn on the gas and cheque connections for leaks past brushing a 50-l mixture of dishwashing liquid and water over the joints. If the mixture bubbles, you have a leak. Tighten or reconnect joints that leak. Wipe the joints dry when finished. Call the plumbing inspector to bank check over your work. Follow the how-to advice that accompanies the photos to brand sure the connections are tight.

Step 11

Light the airplane pilot low-cal

Use a lighter to light the pilot low-cal

lighter

Calorie-free the airplane pilot light co-ordinate to the manufacturer's directions. (For electric water heaters, turn the ability on at the main panel after the electrical inspector checks your work.) Finally, ready the temperature to 120 degrees F., post-obit the installation instructions. Light the pilot light in the new water heater and adapt the temperature setting.

Installation Details for Electric H2o Heaters

First turn off the power to the water heater at your main electrical panel. Then follow the same draining procedures as for a gas water heater.

When the water heater is drained, disconnect the electrical wires from the screw terminals under the access console, which is unremarkably located near the top. (If you don't have electrical experience, hire an electrician to handle all the electrical wiring.)

Follow the manufacturer's instructions for wiring the new water heater. If the new h2o heater is shorter and the old wires won't reach, surface-mountain a 4-in. x 4-in. ten 1-i/ii in. metal electrical box on the wall or ceiling nearby, run the old wires to the box, then run a new section of armored cablevision or electric conduit to the water heater. Cheque the instructions and brand certain the rating of the old fuse or excursion breaker is loftier enough to handle the new h2o heater. In addition, the excursion should have a shutoff switch within sight of the water heater.

Call your local electrical inspector before you lot brainstorm the job. You'll probably demand a let. And then, when you're finished, have the electric inspector check your piece of work.

Aluminum wiring requires special treatment. If you have aluminum wiring, call in a licensed pro who's certified to work with it. This wiring is dull gray, not the ho-hum orangish that'due south characteristic of copper.

Stride 12

How to Dispose of a Water Heater

Jeff Gorton, an editor at The Family unit Handyman, will show you how to remove and dispose of a water heater in our video tutorial. He volition also show you the easy way to carry a water heater out of your habitation, even if you are working alone.

These tips will make your work go faster and easier:

  • Measure the acme of your old water heater and buy a new i the same acme so you don't have to change the length of the h2o, gas or electrical lines.
  • The drain valve (Photo ii) on old h2o heaters frequently clogs upward. If the h2o drains slowly, be patient. Caution: It's scalding hot! TIP: Turn your water heater off 2 hours in advance to allow the water to absurd.
  • H2o heaters counterbalance about 150 lbs. You'll demand a strong helper or a dolly when you move the old i out and bicycle the new ane in. Garbage services typically charge most $25 to have the one-time one.
  • Before you start, buy the tools and materials shown hither at a plumbing supply or hardware store or a dwelling center. Cheque the sizes of the h2o supply pipes (most will be 3/four in. like the ones in our photos) and purchase the right-size fittings. With everything on hand, you'll demand four to six hours to complete the job (bold no big hitches!).
  • The temperature and force per unit area relief valve is a condom device that limits tank force per unit area and keeps it from exploding (Photo 4). A new i must be included with every installation. For the valve to work properly, the discharge pipage must exist kept free of obstructions (Fig. A).
  • In regions with highly mineralized water, or where required past local codes, employ iii/4-in. plastic-lined nipples (nearly $2 each; Photo 5 and Fig. A) for joining different metals, normally copper tubing to the steel tank. This slows corrosion.
  • When connecting the water lines, solder the copper fittings before y'all spiral them to the tank then you don't oestrus the tank itself while soldering (Photo 5).
  • Use "slip" couplings to connect the old and new lines (Photograph 6). Unlike regular couplings, they don't take an internal stop. You can slide them on, align the copper tubing, and so slide them back and middle them over the joint.
  • The new inlets and outlets on the tank don't always line up with the old supply lines. Solder in a pair of 45-caste fittings to start each line if necessary. Too supervene upon the onetime shutoff valve with a new brawl valve while y'all're at information technology (Photo 6). Vent diameters are sized according to the oestrus output of the water heater. Yous might take to increase or decrease the vent size to ensure the best draft. Caution: If y'all're unsure if your chimney has a liner, enquire your plumbing inspector.
  • Make gas connections with solid steel pipage (Photo 8) or soft copper with flare fittings (Fig. A). Both are more than reliable and less expensive than flexible stainless steel connectors, which are non always permitted. Utilize rigid copper rather than flexible copper water supply lines for the same reasons.
  • If you locate your water heater replacement where leakage could cause damage to the floor or other parts of the house, set a pan of an canonical size under information technology (metal for gas water heaters). The pan must have a drain tube that leads to a house bleed or other canonical location (outdoors where permitted). The temperature and pressure relief valve belch tube too must atomic number 82 to a bleed if leakage would impairment the floors. If routing is difficult, talk over options with your local plumbing inspector.
  • If you lot live in an earthquake-prone region, strap the water heater to the wall with special straps (Fig. A; available at plumbing stores and habitation centers). Your plumbing inspector will tell y'all if they're required.
  • Set the new h2o temperature setting to no more than 120 degrees F. to avoid scalding.

Additional Information

  • Effigy A: Gas water heater details

Farther Reading

Water Heater Maintenance: Extend Your Hot Water Heater Lifespan

Set H2o Heater Leaking

H2o Heater Installation

Water Heater Repair: How to Supercede the TPR Valve

DIY Solar H2o Heater

How to Repair or Replace Defective H2o Heater Dip Tubes

How to Flush a H2o Heater

Choosing a New Water Heater

7 Tankless Water Heater Myths You lot Demand to Stop Assertive

The Pros and Cons of Tankless Water Heaters

Originally Published: November 28, 2019