On Tue, 07 Jun 2011 12:43:28 -0600, Robert Neville
wrote:

wrote:

Might be "code compliant" but still a very foolish installation.

No, it isn't. "Code compliant" is another way of saying energy efficient.

Not necessarily - code compliant means it meets code - which is
"safety" related.

Engineering a good house isn't just applying a few rules of thumb and calling it
a day. In the case of a hot water heater, you need to look at the degree days
for the location and decide if it makes sense to have the water heater located
inside or outside of the thermal envelope.

Degree days do not mean a thing when you have extremes. It can go
above 92F in the summer and down to -20F in the winter - both for days
on end. The degree days can be the same as somewhere where it stays
above 30F and below 80F year round. Different construction is required
- and definitely different plumbing practices.

In this case, we see far more "warm days" than we do "cold days", even with the
extremes of temperatures. Given the price of electricity (used for cooling) and
the price of propane (used for heating), it makes much more sense to have the
heater located in the garage. Any ancillary heat loss serves to keep the
insulated garage warmer in the winter and isn't fighting with the a/c in the
summer.

The insulated tank itself isn't going to freeze - it's heated! The lines,
correctly insulated and routed to the nearest insulated wall are likewise not
going to freeze.

Tell that to people who's pipes freeze on the outside wall of a
heated interior space