Do heat traps work?
- Thread starter NavySuit
- Start date
Users who are viewing this thread
I don't like the ball check heat traps. Nothing but problems.
On the large Rheem tanks, they have flaps for that. I'm okay with those. They don't seal tight, and are just meant to slow things down on heat transfer.
On the large Rheem tanks, they have flaps for that. I'm okay with those. They don't seal tight, and are just meant to slow things down on heat transfer.
Sponsor
Paid Advertisement
Jadnashua
Retired Defense Industry Engineer xxx
By making convection slow down from the restriction, yes, they can help, but not a huge amount, especially if you've insulated the pipes. It's probably a mute point if you have a hot water recirculation system. If the WH is in heated space (fairly common), the heat it loses there is used in the structure, but can be more of an issue in the summer if you're running the a/c. There, the pipes, if not insulated, have a bigger temperature difference (delta T), and you'll get more convection and therefore heat losses.
Master Plumber Mark
Sensitivity trainer and plumber of mens souls
We usually take them off the Bradfords, they appear to be too cheap to trust not to break down over time...
The Rheems have a flap in them that I worry about but appear to be ok... Just make a loop with flex copper off
the top of the heater and it does about the same thing.....
TERRY... On a side note .... BEWARE of the RHEEM 75 gallon gas heaters.... They are great heaters but
. You must remove the DIP TUBE and
take out the crappy plastic plug inserted in the bottom of the dip tube ...then re-install the tube....
This plastic plug will come loose and blow out the bottom over time and act like a CORK and float up to the hot line
and actually plug up the hot side of the heater....... We installed a new residential 75 in a restaurant in town and two hours later
they call me and claim they have absolutely NO hot water... I thought they meant the water was not hot but the water was
just not coming out of the heater at all....... I had flex connectors on this unit so I was able to take it apart FAST and find the
problem . I had to take out the hot nipple and pry out this plastic plug that got wedjed in the nipple.... then it was all good...
I totally stressed out about this because it was a busy place...... Now I remove them all
The Rheems have a flap in them that I worry about but appear to be ok... Just make a loop with flex copper off
the top of the heater and it does about the same thing.....
TERRY... On a side note .... BEWARE of the RHEEM 75 gallon gas heaters.... They are great heaters but
. You must remove the DIP TUBE and
take out the crappy plastic plug inserted in the bottom of the dip tube ...then re-install the tube....
This plastic plug will come loose and blow out the bottom over time and act like a CORK and float up to the hot line
and actually plug up the hot side of the heater....... We installed a new residential 75 in a restaurant in town and two hours later
they call me and claim they have absolutely NO hot water... I thought they meant the water was not hot but the water was
just not coming out of the heater at all....... I had flex connectors on this unit so I was able to take it apart FAST and find the
problem . I had to take out the hot nipple and pry out this plastic plug that got wedjed in the nipple.... then it was all good...
I totally stressed out about this because it was a busy place...... Now I remove them all
