Water Heater in Shed

[RG123]

Hi,
I have a summer home that does not have insulated pipes. Every year we drain the hot water heater for the winter. The hot water heater is currently in my bedroom, and I would like to move it elsewhere. A contractor suggested moving it to my (uninsulated) shed, insulating the pipes and running them underground to the house. Is it crazy to do this? Or could it actually work, since the hot water heater is drained during the winter anyway?

Thanks.

 

[Dana]

Gas, propane, or electric?

 

[Sponsor]

 

[RG123]

Electric.

 

[Dana]

That's do-able, as long as the pipes are buried below the 100 year frost line, which could be pretty deep in the colder parts of the PA hills. It will be impossible to fully drain the pipes without using compressed air. But you're already familiar with what it takes to properly drain the tank. If it's a long run to the shed you might consider installing a demand-type recirculation loop to get the hot water to the house faster.

If it were propane or gas you might consider installing a tankless unit inside the house to save space. An electric tankless would require a 200A panel and could be pretty hard on the transformer serving the house. Electric tankless water heaters are not recommended (not even in warmer-water places than PA), since it requires a lot of grid infrastructure to support an extremely high but extremely intermittent load.

 

[RG123]

Thank you, that's very helpful. Sounds like it's more complicated than what I really want to deal with to move it.

 

[Dana]

I'm sure it's not too cheap to trench 50' or more of pipe out to a shed, but if the shed was 10' from the house it might be more tractable.

 

[Jadnashua]

Ever consider making it a 4-season place? Having a WH in an outside, unheated space would not make a lot of sense with the considerably greater standby losses imposed and the risks of pipes freezing. A brief power outage on a nasty deep freeze could spell disaster when things thawed out, and the slightest air leak in a shed in the cold could freeze things up quickly.