Installing Hot Water Heater Drain Pan
The drain pan sits under the water heater and should have a pipe attached to divert water into a drain should the tank develop a leak. Sizing a water heater drain pan is a simple task that helps ensure you purchase the proper size for your unit. Pans shall be installed under storage-type water heaters or water storage tanks installed in attics or above ceilings. The pan shall be galvanized steel having a minimum thickness of 24 gauge, or other pans approved for such use.
Installing Hot Water Heater Drain Pan Home Depot
Re: Drip pan under water heater If your concern is what to do if there is a leak and you can't drain the pan the solution is to put the water heater in a pan, and then install a water detector alarm. Battery operated item, fairly inexpensive with a sensor that you can put in the pan. Hopefully your home when it goes off. If want to spend a few dollars, you can install an electronic cut off valve on the inlet side of the water heater which would shut off the flow of water if water was detected in the pan.
A final solution if you have an elevated water heater would be to install a small pump that actuated when water got to specific height. Basically you would have a drain pan installed that had a drain that went down into a small bucket.
AC units use these when they can't gravity drain condensate. You would have to find a pump that could handle hot water. Just did a google search and here is an example of something you might be interested in.
Installing Electric Water Heater
From our experience here in the big KY, whenever we installed any type of drain pan under a water heater or air handler in an attic, we would always terminate the drain line to a noticeable place for the homeowner, such as above the garage entrance or main entrance to the home. Water damage is bad enough, but high water bills in the case of a water heater ain't no fun either. This way they could call someone when they noticed water where it shouldn't be. JONESYI have a customer that I wish I'd have terminated the drain line in his freekin mattress. The floodstop like the anti flood supply line look like great ideas.
I like the principle of the idea.What does the forum know about them.Like,are the automated ball valves full port.And everyone knows to have a backup valve in case the floodstop fails.I don't see any problem with them as long as the home owner actuates them on occassion. Unfortunately we all know that won't happen. Download toy story 3 pc. I can't tell you how many times we do an industrial project and we instruct the engineering staff that at least once a month they need to actuate every butterfly and ball valve as PM courseof action. A year or two later we get a call and go out to the job only to find balls, and butterflys that you literally need to put an extension bar on the handle to get them to turn, and then they rarely ever seat. I go through my house every couple of months and turn every 1/4 angle stop. I also go to the water heater and actuate the ball valve, and the ball on the incoming line to the house.
Every major manufacturer of tankless water heaters specifies that a catch pan and drain piping be installed under the unit if leakage would cause damage to the immediate area, and that is certainly the case when one is installed in an attic. Also, the International Residential Code (IRC) requires that a drain pan be installed “where leakage of the tanks or connections will cause damage.” A tankless obviously does not have a storage tank, but it does have pipe connections that can leak as the unit reaches the end of it serviceable lifespan. So a drain pan is definitely required for attic installation.
One hapless plumber, or perhaps a handyman masquerading as a plumbing expert, installed the drain pan shown in the photo below under an attic tankless water heater in a home we inspected today. Yes, it is a drain pan and it is under the water heater, but the TPR valve drain piping was routed through a roughly cut-out hole in the side of the pan, so the pan will immediately leak when water drips into it and it has no drain to exterior even if it was watertight. This would be a good example of how NOT to install an attic drain pan.