Hi, my water heater decided to start leaking heavily this past weekend. I'm reasonably handy with tools, have done quite a bit of plumbing and such, but some of the finer details escape me. I am looking for suggestions on how to address relocating my water heater vent.
I went out and bought a new 50 gallon tank to replace my 35 year old 40 gal tank. I have not yet installed it, but have no issues with unions, sweating copper, even reconnecting the gas line. I bought a drain pan and a thermal expansion tank. I even bought pipe strap to support it (it's not allowed to use the pipe itself in my city). Point is, I've done my research. There's just one issue I didn't consider. The new tank is about 10 inches taller than the old one. Not a big deal for modifying and reusing the water lines, but if I reuse my vent connection, it'll slope downward to the flue instead of up. Now I've read enough to know that that's bad. I know atmospheric venting relies on the thermal properties of airflow rising, and I know that my vent needs to slope up at a rate of a quarter inch per foot to avoid back drafting. Problem is, I can't move my flue. I am hoping someone will have a reasonably quick fix for this issue or creative idea that won't be too difficult to implement. I've attached some photos for reference. Any advice on how to remedy this last connection would be greatly appreciated.
The new model purchased is a Rheem performance platinum 50 gal 40kbtu model with a height of 59.25in. I did not measure the height of the old tank, but it's about 10 inches shorter than the new one.
I went out and bought a new 50 gallon tank to replace my 35 year old 40 gal tank. I have not yet installed it, but have no issues with unions, sweating copper, even reconnecting the gas line. I bought a drain pan and a thermal expansion tank. I even bought pipe strap to support it (it's not allowed to use the pipe itself in my city). Point is, I've done my research. There's just one issue I didn't consider. The new tank is about 10 inches taller than the old one. Not a big deal for modifying and reusing the water lines, but if I reuse my vent connection, it'll slope downward to the flue instead of up. Now I've read enough to know that that's bad. I know atmospheric venting relies on the thermal properties of airflow rising, and I know that my vent needs to slope up at a rate of a quarter inch per foot to avoid back drafting. Problem is, I can't move my flue. I am hoping someone will have a reasonably quick fix for this issue or creative idea that won't be too difficult to implement. I've attached some photos for reference. Any advice on how to remedy this last connection would be greatly appreciated.
The new model purchased is a Rheem performance platinum 50 gal 40kbtu model with a height of 59.25in. I did not measure the height of the old tank, but it's about 10 inches shorter than the new one.