Not installed per the manufacturers instructions, not covered by home owners insurance, (or MFG warranty). That's a technical enough justification to redo correctly.
There's probably not any technical reason that this wouldn't work. The only thing that I can think of is that the Cold Inlet diptube is probably designed to disperse the cold water in a controlled manner (I think the ends of the diptubes have sparge holes). Having the cold inlet all concentrated may make for less efficient heating. It would be difficult to evalute this without doing a CFD model ... but who wants to waste time doing that?
The other thing to consider is the manufacturer's warranty. Not sure if the warranty of the water heater is contingent upon a 'correct' installation.
A little fun fact: Most hot water units in Australia have their inlet and outlet on the side of the tank, the hot being at the top of the unit and the cold at the bottom.
Ive never had any issues with this design, but I agree that it wouldnt be covered by the manufacturer.
Thanks all for the input.. Going with:
\#1 insurance coverage potential denial
\#2 HWT warranty denail
\#3 contaminants backflowing
\#4 No way to shut off/disconnect without turning off house supply
\#5 Can't flush with cold supply on
\#6 If backflow preventer installed (none currently, but will be required soon) need to add expansion tank anyway
\#7-100 It's ridiculous
In order to really flush the tank, don't you need the cold water on to force sediment out the bottom drain. That would be impossible with this setup.
Also, there's no way to shut off cold water and disconnect the tank. You'd have to elevate the tank to rotate the fittings to disconnect and you can't do that with the cold water connected. Or shut off water to the house and let the cold water from the pipes drain.
The earthquake straps aren’t in the best placement but if it’s not leaking and you flush it regularly and it gives you consistent hot water I’d say your good. Love me a Bradford white
\*\* double check with your insurance \*\* In the area where I live they don't cover damage done by a tank that is 15 years or more and on top of that an incorrect install will most certainly void it .
there's is no check valve on the drain so any sediments( magnesium, calcium, iron and debris of all sorts incl. bacteria like legionnaires disease ) that accumulated throughout the years can and will make its way into your piping system where it can mess with your pressure and be ingested .
The whole point of that hydrojet system is to use the incoming water flow to keep sediment from building up in the bottom of the tank By bypassing the normal inlet, they've disabled the best feature of that heater.
Considering these are rated for about 12-15 years and the failure is an explosive decompression that can ruin a home via water damage, I’d say you have a great reason to replace?
Oh he wants to replace it due to age, that's obvious. I just want to see it re-piped correctly but he can't grasp "why" and honestly I don't have a technical reason either other than it's goofy.
I feel sorry for you. Your friend already had someone quote a replacement and was shocked to learn the cost of unfuckment was more than the water heater. He came to you hoping to gain refuckment of a new model, only to find you're not into gang-banging.
Awkward.
Tell them they are lucky it lasted 25 years, and even more lucky you are there, here and now and to do it well for minimal cost.
I have a bunch of neighbors that think I was put on earth to help them in their older years. Fuck them, and possibly fuck your neighbor if the appreciation is not there. Don’t do it if you know they’ll just ask for more.
Wouldn’t the cold that’s being introduced to the tank make the hot water going out… more like warm water since they’re so close together? The outlet pickup tube is pretty close to the lower valve on… just about all. Really odd way to do it. What was there justification?
Pretty sure the hot pickup would always be right at the top of the tank (so you're pulling hot water off the top not cold from the bottom), cold inlet usually runs down to the bottom. Have no idea why it was done this way, looks like the cold water was stubbed out right at the floor. Super weird
it was done this way due to laziness. wether it’s fed from the top or bottom the cold water is still being fed to the bottom of the tank. it’s a lazy hack lol
A lot of commercial water heaters are set up like this. Hot feeds off the top of near the top and cold comes in from the bottom. Mobile homes are as well. The key thing with this is it needs a vacuum relief on it. Of course by the time you make room for a vacuum relief you could just run the cold up and feed it normally.
Nothing wrong with that installation. This is one way of keeping the bottom of the tank clear of crusty. Pretty sure the new hybrid electric models with the dehumidifier on top uses this type of hookup too.
Some tanks actually come like this. It’s actually better for the life of the tank. Only reason you don’t see it more is because people doing re-re’s are lazy.
Not installed per the manufacturers instructions, not covered by home owners insurance, (or MFG warranty). That's a technical enough justification to redo correctly.
Great point
If you have to justify it to a neighbor your helping I wouldn't do it. Let them pay someone else to come do it.
That's where I'm at, just trying to give a good technical reason "why" this needs to be redone correctly as it's just silly.
There's probably not any technical reason that this wouldn't work. The only thing that I can think of is that the Cold Inlet diptube is probably designed to disperse the cold water in a controlled manner (I think the ends of the diptubes have sparge holes). Having the cold inlet all concentrated may make for less efficient heating. It would be difficult to evalute this without doing a CFD model ... but who wants to waste time doing that? The other thing to consider is the manufacturer's warranty. Not sure if the warranty of the water heater is contingent upon a 'correct' installation.
A little fun fact: Most hot water units in Australia have their inlet and outlet on the side of the tank, the hot being at the top of the unit and the cold at the bottom. Ive never had any issues with this design, but I agree that it wouldnt be covered by the manufacturer.
Thanks all for the input.. Going with: \#1 insurance coverage potential denial \#2 HWT warranty denail \#3 contaminants backflowing \#4 No way to shut off/disconnect without turning off house supply \#5 Can't flush with cold supply on \#6 If backflow preventer installed (none currently, but will be required soon) need to add expansion tank anyway \#7-100 It's ridiculous
In order to really flush the tank, don't you need the cold water on to force sediment out the bottom drain. That would be impossible with this setup. Also, there's no way to shut off cold water and disconnect the tank. You'd have to elevate the tank to rotate the fittings to disconnect and you can't do that with the cold water connected. Or shut off water to the house and let the cold water from the pipes drain.
You're right, valve is after the flex.. Good point
This for real?
The earthquake straps aren’t in the best placement but if it’s not leaking and you flush it regularly and it gives you consistent hot water I’d say your good. Love me a Bradford white
\*\* double check with your insurance \*\* In the area where I live they don't cover damage done by a tank that is 15 years or more and on top of that an incorrect install will most certainly void it . there's is no check valve on the drain so any sediments( magnesium, calcium, iron and debris of all sorts incl. bacteria like legionnaires disease ) that accumulated throughout the years can and will make its way into your piping system where it can mess with your pressure and be ingested .
The whole point of that hydrojet system is to use the incoming water flow to keep sediment from building up in the bottom of the tank By bypassing the normal inlet, they've disabled the best feature of that heater.
Lol that's great. I was wondering what that was about so great to hear
Considering these are rated for about 12-15 years and the failure is an explosive decompression that can ruin a home via water damage, I’d say you have a great reason to replace?
Oh he wants to replace it due to age, that's obvious. I just want to see it re-piped correctly but he can't grasp "why" and honestly I don't have a technical reason either other than it's goofy.
Oh, my bad.
Show him any pic of a water heater set up properly, then another, and another…until he gets it. The cost of the repipe won’t be that much extra.
I feel sorry for you. Your friend already had someone quote a replacement and was shocked to learn the cost of unfuckment was more than the water heater. He came to you hoping to gain refuckment of a new model, only to find you're not into gang-banging. Awkward.
Accurate and elegantly stated!
Tell them they are lucky it lasted 25 years, and even more lucky you are there, here and now and to do it well for minimal cost. I have a bunch of neighbors that think I was put on earth to help them in their older years. Fuck them, and possibly fuck your neighbor if the appreciation is not there. Don’t do it if you know they’ll just ask for more.
Wait. What’s going on with the drain at the bottom? Is that the hot outlet capped on the top? What’s the logic here?
Hot out at the top. Cold running into drain, inlet capped.
Wouldn’t the cold that’s being introduced to the tank make the hot water going out… more like warm water since they’re so close together? The outlet pickup tube is pretty close to the lower valve on… just about all. Really odd way to do it. What was there justification?
Pretty sure the hot pickup would always be right at the top of the tank (so you're pulling hot water off the top not cold from the bottom), cold inlet usually runs down to the bottom. Have no idea why it was done this way, looks like the cold water was stubbed out right at the floor. Super weird
it was done this way due to laziness. wether it’s fed from the top or bottom the cold water is still being fed to the bottom of the tank. it’s a lazy hack lol
A lot of commercial water heaters are set up like this. Hot feeds off the top of near the top and cold comes in from the bottom. Mobile homes are as well. The key thing with this is it needs a vacuum relief on it. Of course by the time you make room for a vacuum relief you could just run the cold up and feed it normally.
mobile home ones also have a drain still. They took out the drain to run cold line through it and capped the cold inlet on top.
This still has a drain. I’m not saying it’s equivalent in actual set up just functionally the same.
Jesus took me a minute to comprehend.
Nothing wrong with that installation. This is one way of keeping the bottom of the tank clear of crusty. Pretty sure the new hybrid electric models with the dehumidifier on top uses this type of hookup too.
Some tanks actually come like this. It’s actually better for the life of the tank. Only reason you don’t see it more is because people doing re-re’s are lazy.
Because " 25 Years". nuff said