I needed to have a water heater installed in my family’s house on short notice. If I had a bit more time, I’d have done the work myself. Called a local plumber, guys who came out were as American as apple pie, so please no whining about immigrants and quality of work…
Turns out:
(1) They upgraded the vent pipe from 3″ to 4″. They said that 4″ is no longer code, but the township inspector “likes to see it.” Only problem was, when they sealed it to the chimney, they left huge gaps, which fortunately, I noticed.
(2) They used crimp/o-ring fittings on copper pipe, didn’t sweat the pipes. Surely a metal-metal joint would last longer than a crimp with an o-ring that will deteriorate.
(3) They put the water heater directly on the cement floor, with no standoffs. They said they’d have to shorten the gas pipe to put the standoffs, but they did anyway.
(4) Put an expansion tank, with no support. They grudgingly put in a copper strap that is barely even tight.
No inspection yet — it takes time for the town to give an appointment. That’s not true that it’s OK if the inspector passed it. It has to work, not leak (long term) and be safe. Inspection is just the minimum standard to meet.
Imagine if they did if for someone else who didn’t have a clue, and a leaky chimney caused a CO leak or fire.
Immediate water heater replacent is a pain and more costly. I like to replace them before they blow up Home Depot and lowes often have open box items. That’s when I buy them.
I’m not sold on this. It’s $1000 vs $400-600 and has both the disadvantages of a tank and tankless.
Plus it requires 120VAC to operate — if power goes out, no hot water. At least the “inefficient” old tank heaters use a thermopile (gas flame) powered control that works no matter what, and is standardized.
You can buy a Honeywell control box which works for many heaters and swap it in if it fails.
[quote=FlyerInHi]
Isn’t interesting that educated DIYers are better than the tradesmen?[/quote]
This aspect is irritating to me. There should be more stringent requirements for licensing. As it is, I think of the vast majority of contractors as trained monkeys, am positive I could do a better job, but don’t have the time to learn – either that or I would be so anal retentive that it would take me months to complete (like with a tile job). In many cases, you’ll find three or four different methods of doing something online, only one of which is really effective, long-lasting, and makes future maintenance easier. I tend to try the other three before I get it right, but the experience is invaluable.
Luckily I have a GC, tile guy, and plumber I trust for the stuff I don’t have time to learn. There are some things everyone should know, though. The movers hooked up our dryer’s gas line without sealant, for pete’s sake (untrained monkey?). I shudder to think of people paying a plumber $100 to come out for that 1-minute job.
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