 | ||||
| ||||
| | ||||
| ||||
| Moderated by: Admin |
|
||||||||||||||
| Drip Pan in cold Climate | Rate Topic |
| Author | Post |
|---|
| Posted: Mon Sep 6th, 2010 05:03 am |
|
1st Post |
|
jamesbroadway Member
|
Background: I'm installing an electric hot water heater for my father-in-law in New Hampshire. It's a summer vacation home so the hot water heater is turned off and drained in the winter. The current water heater is 30 years old, in a crawl space, with a concrete floor and currently sits on three bricks. My understanding is the bricks prevent condensation from forming on the bottom of the heater and rusting. It does not have a drip pan This is my question: When installing the new water heater I'd like to install a drip pan but want to make sure i address the condensation issue (if it even makes sense that condensation is a big deal?). 1. Does it make sense to install a drip pan that sits on the concrete floor without the bricks ? (assumption is a plastic drip plan would serve the same function as the current brick concept and help prevent condensation). OR 2. No drip pan and just use the bricks as before? OR 3. Use a Drip pan but put bricks under the water heater (inside the drip pan) Sorry this is so long but want to make sure I do this right for the in-laws and not make them want to turn into the out-laws many thanks Jim 
|
||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
| Posted: Mon Sep 6th, 2010 05:21 pm |
|
2nd Post |
|
eleent Member 
|
Hello: Until somebody who actually has dealt with this weighs in, I'll put up a few thoughts: *Sitting on concrete may actually keep the bottom of a tank wet if the concrete is on damp ground. A test is to tape plastic to the surface of the concrete and check back in a few days to see if the plastic is wet on the underside. *For condensation to be a problem, the bottom of the tank would need to cool below dew point and in a damp environment. This could allow condensation to form. *Bricks may be there to allow air flow around the base of the heater to let water that somehow got there to evaporate. *In other cold climates, people put electric heaters down on a pad of rigid foam. This helps to prevent heat loss from the bottom of the tank and a warmish tank couldn't stay wet and rust. *Sometimes electric heaters have the drain valve so low, it's hard to get to when sitting in a drain pan. Putting the unit up on bricks will make access to the drain better. I'm not a fan of bricks as they can fail and they also act as a sponge. Plastic wood, like Trex makes for better blocks to put a heater up on. *The questions seems to be "Where is the water (if any) coming from?" And, "How to protect against it?"  A good answer might be to put the tank in a plastic pan, up on Trex blocks or on rigid. closed cell foam. Yours, Larry
|
|||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| Posted: Sun Sep 12th, 2010 06:44 pm |
|
3rd Post |
|
jamesbroadway Member
|
Larry - sounds like great advise. Many thanks
|
||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
| Current time is 10:14 am | |
| thetankatwaterheaterrescue.com > Forums > The Tank > Drip Pan in cold Climate | Top |
