I need to replace a natural gas water heater that is inside a modular home. It has no door on the "alcove" it is located in. There is plenty of room for a regular water heater not a direct vent one to be installed. The home has been added on to before and is clearly not mobile. Can't a regular water heater be installed? Why is this any different than a regular home at this point?
Gas water heater
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It cannot be installed in a enclosed area with out supplying combustion air. A lowered door would work.
I guess I'm also a little confused, too. The "alcove" is open and has no door where the existing tank sits, right? Is it visible and not in a closed, confined space? You kinda give the impression that it may be in a closed, built-in space, so some clarity is needed as John and I had the same impression. Your question is "can a regular water heater be installed?" and it seems that you already have a regular water heater in place, so what doubts are you having that a matching replacement cannot be installed?
I think that there is also some confusion about the type structure you live in. You say it's a modular home, but also state that it is clearly not mobile. A modular home is not a mobile home. It is simply a house that was made from complete prefabricated sections and put together like building blocks. It has never been mobile and is treated just as a normal house would be.
I think that there is also some confusion about the type structure you live in. You say it's a modular home, but also state that it is clearly not mobile. A modular home is not a mobile home. It is simply a house that was made from complete prefabricated sections and put together like building blocks. It has never been mobile and is treated just as a normal house would be.
The house was a double wide but after it has been added onto it is just a house to me.
The area where the heater is had a panel on the front covering the tank. The panel has been taken off and thrown away several years ago so the heater can be seen when in the laundry room. It has 3 walls around it but a regular heater will fit with the necessary 1" clearance around it. The vent pipe is straight up through the roof. The tank leaked and I have to repair the floor if I am going with a regular heater should I cover the hole under it the one used for intake on a sealed combustion? Do I need a higher vent pipe?
The area where the heater is had a panel on the front covering the tank. The panel has been taken off and thrown away several years ago so the heater can be seen when in the laundry room. It has 3 walls around it but a regular heater will fit with the necessary 1" clearance around it. The vent pipe is straight up through the roof. The tank leaked and I have to repair the floor if I am going with a regular heater should I cover the hole under it the one used for intake on a sealed combustion? Do I need a higher vent pipe?
What type of tank leaked and what type of tank do you want to replace it with? I know that you want to replace it with a "regular" tank, but it is unclear what you mean by a "regular" tank. There are gas fired, standard flu or gas fired power vented flu or electric or tankless gas fired or tankless electric or an indirect water heater connected to a boiler. To any person, any one of these could be considered a regular tank.
Also, maybe a few pictures would help to answer your questions.
Also, maybe a few pictures would help to answer your questions.
The water heater that is in there now is a sealed combustion unit. I want to replace it with http://www.homedepot.com/p/GE-40-Ga...er-GG40T06AVG01/100013742?N=c1tz#.UlrzUSR4MhM
Attached are some pictures also note that the tank is leaning due to the floor I have to fix
Attached are some pictures also note that the tank is leaning due to the floor I have to fix
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All new gas water heaters under 50 gal have sealed combustion chambers.
No, do not install a standard gas fired atmospheric water heater on a flu designed for a direct vent water heater. A direct vent heater flu is designed to use the combustion air from the outside. There are safety and corrosion risks if you use the same flu. Your best bet is to use another direct vent water heater. I know they cost more, but you would need a complete repipe of the flu to accommodate another style of tank.
I wasn't going to use the same flu. I was going to fix the floor and cover the hole there and use new flu pipe used for atmospheric gas water heater. I will most likely have a plumber redo the flu I just wanted to see if any body has done that and if it will work. In my mind without the tank being sealed and able to get air and with a flu for an atmospheric heater everything should work. I of course have co detectors in the laundry room because the furnace is in there also and no bedrooms are close. In your opinion will it work with a new floor and flu?
The thing to remember in in a modular or mobile home, they are not covered by regular plumbing code, they have their own codes to follow, to put in a regular atmospheric vented water heater you will need to cut in combustion air vents to outside, the correct size and heights for the new heaters. Items like kitchen exhaust, bathroom exhaust laundry machines, and worst of all swamp coolers will suck the inside air and exhaust it, which is why we are required to have additional vents. The sealed combustion like the one shown get there air from the bottom air vent that the heater sits on.
Also that fact that it's very easy to put a door on that alcove. That's one reason they put a sealed combustion unit I'm there it's designed to be isolated with a cover.
Also that fact that it's very easy to put a door on that alcove. That's one reason they put a sealed combustion unit I'm there it's designed to be isolated with a cover.
