Leaning Tower of Pisa???

harleysilo

Any problems with this? I thought they should have at least attempted to make it look better, we got a new furnace, with a whole house filter which they had to "make room for".

harleysilo

Forgot, there has already been 1 problem. The pump you see mounted above the whole house filter is on a different circuit than the A/C unit. So one day right after they finished I needed to turn off some breakers for electircal work. Well I unknowingly turned off the pump, which overflowed and fried the a/c board. They fixed it, I suggested they move the pump, but as you see it's still there.

Should I relocate it to the floor? Could it also handle the drip pan of my hotwater heater if I re-install it a few ft. off the floor?

mickeyco

Aside from looking bad the only problem I can see with the duct work is that if the evaporator coil drain pan is on an angle you might have some leakage problems. As far as the pump it should not be mounted where an over flow will allow water to flood electrical components, I would relocate it.

" Could it also handle the drip pan of my hotwater heater if I re-install it a few ft. off the floor?"

Your water heater shouldn't drip, if it has a major leak I doubt that small pump would work.

I did see some other problems that you may wish to look at:

The gas supply for the water heater looks to be copper tubing.

The relief valve/ overflow pipe doesn't appear to be proper size or length (hard to tell).

Do both of the exhaust flue's from the hot water heater and furnace go into the same flue and continue to the chimney at the same size with out an increase in size after they meet (once again, it's hard to tell from the picture)? If they do that may also be a problem.


I would have these things looked at by a different professional to make sure everything is safe.

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harleysilo

I never even considered the coils could be off-center and condensation leak by the drip pan. That's a good point. It has been operating for almost 3 months now with no other issues except when I unpluged the condensation pump....

The two flue's connect but it's a step up in pipe diameter through the chiminey. I haven't had the heat run yet, other than at installation. Can I check for up flow when the heat kicks on and the hot water heater is heating? How, hold a lighter and look to make sure the flame is pulled into the flues? Sprinkle some baby poweder nearby and see if it travels up the flue? HOld a lite cig there and watch the smoke?

The blow off valve is copper pipe, 3/4" and is piped to outside the house, and currently dripping. I have installed and replaced many hot water heaters and plan to change out the blow off valve.

The gas line is copper tube, the gas company man didn't say anything was wrong with that. What is wrong with that?




You wouldn't have believe the crackheads that installed this unit. They were there for 16 hours the first day, and 8 the next. I could have installed this thing in a day if I had someone there to tell me exactly what to do........ You know it's bad when you offer both of the guys a beer, and both decline saying "Man I got sober like 5 years ago", and they are twitching and jerking from the crank. Oh, I like your diagram, but nooooooooooooooooo that would have required actually cutting and bending metal. I don't think these guys have ever worked with sheet metal before.............

mickeyco

"The two flue's connect but it's a step up in pipe diameter through the chiminey. I haven't had the heat run yet, other than at installation. Can I check for up flow when the heat kicks on and the hot water heater is heating? How, hold a lighter and look to make sure the flame is pulled into the flues? Sprinkle some baby poweder nearby and see if it travels up the flue? HOld a lite cig there and watch the smoke?"

Sorry for the delay in responding, I have been extremely busy. Glad to here that the pipe steps up in size. I use a combustible gas detector to check for flue and chimney leaks, you can use the cigarette smoke method but if you have a gap (the third red circle from the bottom on your picture that I reposted looked like it may have a gap, I forgot to mention that) or leak up the line you may still have a carbon monoxide leak, a combustible gas detector is probably best. Sometimes the gas company will check it for free or a small fee. I would at the very least make sure you (and everyone else reading this) have a Carbon Monoxide detector in your home.




"The blow off valve is copper pipe, 3/4" and is piped to outside the house, and currently dripping. I have installed and replaced many hot water heaters and plan to change out the blow off valve."

This could be a code and safety issue, depending on how far below grade your basement is (if it's even below grade), and where and how high above grade the drain is. Another problem is running flexible copper pipe through a wall to the outside where it may be damaged, crushed or punctured. The pipe size should be equal to or greater than the valve discharge outlet, if it's 3/4" then 3/4" drain is fine. Check you local codes to see what the requirements are. You really should replace the faulty (dripping) valve. If the dripping continues with the new valve take a look here: http://www.amtrol.com/thermxtrol.htm


"The gas line is copper tube, the gas company man didn't say anything was wrong with that. What is wrong with that?"

In many areas copper pipe is against code for gas, I think but I am not sure that flexible copper is not allowed at all for gas. I don't know where you are located so it might be OK in your area. There is a special type of copper (tin lined) for use with gas, regular copper can corrode from element found in natural gas. I have pulled copper lines that have been in a house with no leaks for many years, so it wouldn't be my biggest concern. . Check you local codes to see what the requirements are. I'm also a little more picky than most, I would have replaced the copper pipe and the valve when I changed out the water heater, but that's just me.

harleysilo

Thanks for your responses. The blow off valve copper line is rigid 3/4" copper pipe, and discharges about 6 ft above the valve. I don't see how that could be an issue (common sense wise not code wise) as the water pressure refilling the tank would easily force the water out the end of the pipe 50ft up in the the air let alone 6.

I'll check the flue carefully to inspect for leaks, we do have carbon dioxide testers, but not in basement.

We have flexible copper pipe feeding several gas appliances ( a wall heater in garage and hookup for nat. gas grill on deck as well as hot water heater.) not sure about code here, but inspector (home) didn't say anything was wrong nor did gas company when they came and turned everything on originally.

Double A

Does it ever freeze in your part of the country? If so, then that Temperature and Pressure Relief drain can present a hazard.

If the T&P leaks, and the water in the line cannot drain by gravity, then the potential for water to stay in the line and freeze exists. If this happens and the T&P opens because of a high temp or high pressure problem with the tank, it will not be able to discharge water because of the ice plug to relieve that over pressure or temperature problem. This is a serious condition and can cause catastrophic failure of the water heater tank.

Please consider that a water heater can fail, and all the water go to steam in an over temperature situation. This flash to steam can happen in milliseconds. Steam is much less dense than water and will expand to fill the space, pushing the air away from it and .... well... you have a potential bomb in your basement. I'm not trying to scare you, just letting you know you have a problem that should not be ignored, especially with winter coming on.

Please have a plumber look at this and make a recommendation to correct or reduce this potentially serious problem.

harleysilo

I hadn't considered the possibility of the drain pipe freezing up with all of the little drips, but now the you mention it that posses a problem.

I can, have many times before, replaced the blow off valve, so I guess that is what I will do.

Is anyone suggesting that the rigid copper pipe dischargeing outside of my house 6ft above the valve is incorrect?