eugene89us
New Member
Good morning, everyone! I have been lurking on Terry Love forums for over a decade, decided it was time to join. I went from hiring a plumbing professional to doing all of my plumbing on my own. Terry Love is to thank for a lot of valuable information I learned.
To make long story short, I decided to replace an aging 28 year old tanked water heater. It was starting to show a few random leaks, and I felt it was better to replace than to clean up the mess once it decided to fail. Instead of replacing with another electric tanked water heater, I decided to go with tankless heater that runs on natural gas. Atmos energy was ready to run NG line for no charge, so it made sense to make the jump.
I learned how to work with black iron pipes by using these forums, pulled a county permit, ran my own lines, passed the inspection. The rules were that the line must hold 3 psi of pressure for 15 minutes. I inflated them to 15 psi and left them overnight. The line gained about 1 psi with changing weather, but needless to say, inspector was pleased. Used both Blue Monster Tape as well as Blue Monster Dope.
I then insulated stud bays with R-15 Rockwool, sheathed the wall with plywood (it is detached from the house in its own closet) since I did not want to deal with drywall (been there, done that), and installed the new water heater. The trouble was that I had no interest in running the vent through the roof since I didn't want to deal with roofing shingles (also been there, done that for lifetime). Decided it made sense to run through wall. Running to the right or the back would not be good, as the vent would be less than 6 feet above the walkway or above the patio, respectively. Most recommendations call for at least 7 feet above patios/walkways and that would not be possible. So I ran the vent to the left where there is just plain dirt. That was not an issue - Rinnai makes a 21-inch option for their venting system. However, that meant that the line would have to be run about 6 to 7 feet to the left of the existing copper plumbing. I am good with soldering copper, but decided to sweat on the 90 degree copper sweep and then ran PEX-B from copper input line to water heater. To minimize restrictions, I decided to do a sweep over a straight run with 90-degree fittings. It worked well, I think:
Figured it would be frowned upon if I did not support the 7-foot run of the pipe. I got these stainless streel pipe supports from Amazon (Akihisa pipe bracket clamps) which worked really well. The question I have is related to them specifically. I hand tightened the bolts that tighten the clamps. However, I know that PEX tends to expand and contract with temperature changes. This utility closet is insulated, but not heated or cooled. Should I leave some slack in the support clamps or tighten them snug? They have a rubber material between clamp and pipe, so I am sure they really can move when needed, but I cannot force them to move by hand as it still creates a decently snug fit. I wrapped the pipes in insulation to further reduce movement. Thank you all in advance for suggestions!
P.S.: Don't pay attention to the box with old 220-V wiring. That will become a 220-V surface outlet next weekend.
To make long story short, I decided to replace an aging 28 year old tanked water heater. It was starting to show a few random leaks, and I felt it was better to replace than to clean up the mess once it decided to fail. Instead of replacing with another electric tanked water heater, I decided to go with tankless heater that runs on natural gas. Atmos energy was ready to run NG line for no charge, so it made sense to make the jump.
I learned how to work with black iron pipes by using these forums, pulled a county permit, ran my own lines, passed the inspection. The rules were that the line must hold 3 psi of pressure for 15 minutes. I inflated them to 15 psi and left them overnight. The line gained about 1 psi with changing weather, but needless to say, inspector was pleased. Used both Blue Monster Tape as well as Blue Monster Dope.
I then insulated stud bays with R-15 Rockwool, sheathed the wall with plywood (it is detached from the house in its own closet) since I did not want to deal with drywall (been there, done that), and installed the new water heater. The trouble was that I had no interest in running the vent through the roof since I didn't want to deal with roofing shingles (also been there, done that for lifetime). Decided it made sense to run through wall. Running to the right or the back would not be good, as the vent would be less than 6 feet above the walkway or above the patio, respectively. Most recommendations call for at least 7 feet above patios/walkways and that would not be possible. So I ran the vent to the left where there is just plain dirt. That was not an issue - Rinnai makes a 21-inch option for their venting system. However, that meant that the line would have to be run about 6 to 7 feet to the left of the existing copper plumbing. I am good with soldering copper, but decided to sweat on the 90 degree copper sweep and then ran PEX-B from copper input line to water heater. To minimize restrictions, I decided to do a sweep over a straight run with 90-degree fittings. It worked well, I think:
Figured it would be frowned upon if I did not support the 7-foot run of the pipe. I got these stainless streel pipe supports from Amazon (Akihisa pipe bracket clamps) which worked really well. The question I have is related to them specifically. I hand tightened the bolts that tighten the clamps. However, I know that PEX tends to expand and contract with temperature changes. This utility closet is insulated, but not heated or cooled. Should I leave some slack in the support clamps or tighten them snug? They have a rubber material between clamp and pipe, so I am sure they really can move when needed, but I cannot force them to move by hand as it still creates a decently snug fit. I wrapped the pipes in insulation to further reduce movement. Thank you all in advance for suggestions!
P.S.: Don't pay attention to the box with old 220-V wiring. That will become a 220-V surface outlet next weekend.
Last edited:
