FullySprinklered
In the Trades
Installed two water heaters last week. Had space problems with both of them. The replacement units were bigger just enough to keep the pipes from lining up with the new heaters. The second one was one inch larger in diameter that the old one. I was able to line up the cold inlet with the new heater, but had to rework the hot side to make my connection.
The first one had more room, but it was in a pan in an upstairs installation, and the heater jammed against the male adapter on the drain pan and prevented me from lining up the pipes for an easy install using repair couplings. Again, I got one pipe to line up, but had to add pipe and fittings to get the other side properly connected.
Not a big deal in either case, but let it be known that if you're working in a tight spot, the replacement may not exactly line up with the house piping. I've had to hack out the sheetrock on one job to cram the replacement into the alcove they left for the w/h.
Second water heater was a Whirlpool from Lowe's. Rare bird for me since mostly I get my water heaters from HD. Couple of things about the whirlpool that don't exactly make life worth living; It's got three legs, and that don't jive with my hand cart. You get one leg on the cart and the water heater rolls from side to side until it rolls off and crushes the customer's shrubbery. I thought all that was over when they went to the new air inlet system. Nope, Whirlpool is still using the milking stool support system, then they give you this ridiculous web belt air filter that you have to drape around the bottom of the heater, which hooks back on itself with an elastic band with a little buckle that has teeth on it which supposed to grip the web belt and stay forever. It's crap.
The first one had more room, but it was in a pan in an upstairs installation, and the heater jammed against the male adapter on the drain pan and prevented me from lining up the pipes for an easy install using repair couplings. Again, I got one pipe to line up, but had to add pipe and fittings to get the other side properly connected.
Not a big deal in either case, but let it be known that if you're working in a tight spot, the replacement may not exactly line up with the house piping. I've had to hack out the sheetrock on one job to cram the replacement into the alcove they left for the w/h.
Second water heater was a Whirlpool from Lowe's. Rare bird for me since mostly I get my water heaters from HD. Couple of things about the whirlpool that don't exactly make life worth living; It's got three legs, and that don't jive with my hand cart. You get one leg on the cart and the water heater rolls from side to side until it rolls off and crushes the customer's shrubbery. I thought all that was over when they went to the new air inlet system. Nope, Whirlpool is still using the milking stool support system, then they give you this ridiculous web belt air filter that you have to drape around the bottom of the heater, which hooks back on itself with an elastic band with a little buckle that has teeth on it which supposed to grip the web belt and stay forever. It's crap.