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Donna Ohl, Grady Volunteer Coordinator

On Wed, 13 Feb 2008 15:10:03 -0800 (PST), wrote:
add be prepared to replace drain valve, which may not shut or drip
when closed, espically the plastic ones. some valves will clog replace
tank drain valve with a ball valve at new tank install time

Thank you for all the advice!
You've given us the courage to tackle this ourselves!
Bill and I read *every* post here!

To replace our dripping 40-gallon (65-gallon FHR) home water heater, we
bought the best water heater I could find.

This turned out to be the $450 Sears #33154 (actually manufactured by AO
Smith) 97-gallon First Hour Rating (FHR) and 0.63 Energy Factor (EF),
nominally with a 50-gallon tank and coming with a (rather useless) 12-year
warranty on parts and a slightly useful 1-year warranty on labor.

We're going to do the job tomorrow so I'm reading *everything* I can find
on the net on how to properly remove and install a natural gas home hot
water heater. I'll summarize the steps we plan on taking in a subsequent
posting.

So far, Bill bought $686.47 in parts while I write up every step for him
before we do the work tomorrow, together. He will return any unused parts,
but here is what he bought from Sears today to get ready for the job.

$449.00 Sears #33154 50-gallon 12/1 year hot water heater 97FHR .63EF
$ 2.19 1-ounce TFE paste (for the gas pipe fittings)
$ 9.59 3/4-inch quarter-turn water valve (replaces plastic drain valve)
$ 8.99 3/4-inch CSA gas ball valve (for the gas line)
$ 15.99 3/4-inch swing check valve (for additional heat-loss protection)
$ 7.99 18" 3/4-inch by 3/4 inch FIP corrugated copper/brass flex pipe (x2)
$ 7.49 15" 3/4-inch by 3/4 inch FIP corrugated copper/brass flex pipe (x2)
$ 5.99 12" 3/4-inch by 3/4 inch FIP corrugated copper/brass flex pipe (x2)
$ 12.99 18" 3/4-inch stainless-steel water-heater connector pipe (x2)
$ 10.99 12" 3/4-inch stainless-steel water-heater connector pipe (x2)
$ 8.99 3/4-inch by 3/4-inch Dialectric Union B (x4)
$ 3.59 1.5-inch long 3/4-inch male:male brass pipe nipples (x4)
$ 2.39 1.0-inch long 3/4-inch male:male brass pipe nipples (x3)
$ 52.32 sales tax at 8.25%
--------
$686.47 total

The reason for *both* the copper flex pipe and stainless steel pipe is
because the stainless steel might allow us to not need the dialectric
unions which are huge. Remember, the new tank is five inches taller than
the old tank so we are going to have problems with the plumbing most likely
so having fewer nipples and dialectric unions will shorten the lines a bit.

Do we really need to isolate the copper from the brass from the steel?
We assume so.

Also, we bought the extra one-way check valve even though the water heater
apparently comes with heat-loss protectors and we can s-kink the flex lines
(not the steel lines, just the copper lines).

Do you think the one-way hot-water-outlet check valve will work to slow
heat loss?

Note we didn't buy the insulating blanket for the water heater, nor the
insulation for the hot-water pipes yet. We figured we could do that later.

Our biggest question is whether we really needed the dialectric unions.
Since they were female:female, that necessitated brass nipples on each
side, further lengthening the lines which we need to shorten.

What do you think?
Donna & Bill

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