Holy cow! I took a closer look at the cold water inlet and hot water
outlets on top of the tank and to my surprise it looks like the plumber
sweated/soldered the copper pipe to the fittings!
So although he initially screwed the fittings onto the protruding in/outlets
he then just soldered the copper pipe to the fitting nut (as the in/outlets
have external/outside threads)..

Why would anyone do such a thing, unless of course this is standard
procedure? What gives!?

In any event it looks like the fittings at the nut will need to be heated up
so the solder flows before actually twisting them off the tank. Actually as
the tank is being replaced it doesn't much matter I guess if I cut the pipe
or sweat/heat the fitting.

The overflow valve just has a 30" length of copper pipe leading straight
down towards the floor - no connections or anything at the bottom end of the
pipe; guess if it did ever overflow it would dump right onto the floor right
next to the heater and potentially (if the water level rose more than 4 or 5
inches) snuff out the pilot light, etc...
Again, this overflow pipe was just soldered onto the end of a fitting and
screwed into the overflow valve (as the valve has inside threads).

Walter

"Joseph A. Rich" wrote in message
...
Definitely get the flexible fittings with the universals already built in.
Also, in the kit you can also get nippled inserts which will take care of
the
galvinization problems of unlike metals. Throughout the years I've put in
probably 5 or 6 water heaters myself (have never had one professionally
installed). It's fairly easy - hardest part is getting the old heavy
(filled
with calcium deposits) heater out of the basement and disposing of it
(where I
live they have curbside large-item pickup twice a year - free!).

Take your time - you can do this!

Regards,
Joe

In article , "Walleye"
wrote:
Thanks.
My old heater has no flexible fitting for water or gas. The water
pipes/fittings onto the tank are copper and the gas is a typical black
color
pipe for natural gas.

Walter

"George E. Cawthon" wrote in message
...


Walleye wrote:

Time to get my gas water heater replaced and I'd like to tackle it
myself if
at all possible.

Any hints/tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Walter

As another said, it is no big deal since it is just a
replacement. An original installation is considerably more.
Unless you have a very old installation there probably will
be no soldering just connectors with wrench fittings. You
have 3 flexible water connectors (flexible as meaning you
can bend to fit but don't do much bending), so buy 3
replacements even if the current ones look ok. You will
have 1 flexible gas connector and you should replace that as
well. Be sure to measure the current set up so that the
height and width of a replacement will fit the space. And
measure the height and placement of water connections and
gas connections to make sure the new tank can be fitted.
You may need to get flexible connectors that are shorter or
longer than you have with the current set up. Also check the
measurements on the flue and you may need to buy a
replacement length of flue that is either shorter or longer
to get it to fit.

Turn off the water supply valve and the gas supply valve,
drain the tank from the bottom with a garden hose (open the
relief valve), disconnect the hot water, cold water, and
relief connectors, and remove the tank. If the water system
has any elevation above the hot water connection you will
need to open a hot water tap so that it can drain and not
pour out on the floor when you disconnect the hot water.

If you get a tank that has connectors in the same locations
and at the same height as the old tank, installation will be
very fast, if not you may have to fuss around a bit.
Waiting for the tank to drain (which could take up to an
hour) will probably be the most time consuming thing.