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Discussion Forum

What’s Wrong With This Picture?

| Posted in General Discussion on November 17, 1999 04:29am

*
It’s an electric water heater. The vent is in case it breaks, and lets all the smoke out.

For the uninformed, smoke is what makes electrical things work. Therefore, when you let the smoke out, it stops working. It looks to me like the installer was well-versed electrically, and was just planning ahead.

Therefore, the problem is that he should’ve used electrical duct tape, not the structural duct tape.

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  1. Guest_ | Jan 04, 2000 11:33pm | #18

    *
    Another water heater pic: Comments welcome

    Bob

    1. Guest_ | Nov 14, 1999 06:10am | #1

      * Bob,

      Is this like a test?

      Joseph Fusco View Image

      1. Guest_ | Nov 14, 1999 06:11am | #2

        * Bob,

        Wait, I know. It has nothing to do with the duct tape. It's the picture, it's 174K and sideways.

        Joseph Fusco View Image

        1. Guest_ | Nov 14, 1999 06:19am | #3

          * Bob,

          This should help. Hey, maybe that 90 should have been two 45's, whata you think?

          Joseph Fusco View Image

          1. Guest_ | Nov 14, 1999 06:30am | #4

            *In our county, code requires red duck tape.

          2. Guest_ | Nov 14, 1999 07:29am | #5

            *C'mon guys, can't you tell? That's obviously 200mph tape and not the 500F exhaust tape required by the Jersey Motorhead Code. Hey, what's that smell?

          3. Guest_ | Nov 14, 1999 09:13am | #6

            *Dont worry about the 1 inch clearance on the B-vent A fire would be the best thing for that crappy install.

          4. Guest_ | Nov 14, 1999 09:19am | #7

            *I don't get it... that's the way I've always done it.

          5. Guest_ | Nov 14, 1999 09:56am | #8

            *Two things: 1) the temp is set too high, and 2) the house is clad in vinyl siding.

          6. Guest_ | Nov 15, 1999 01:02am | #9

            *Wait a minute, I always thought the duct tape was ok if you used it on aluminum vent, but you should use sheet metal crews if you're not going to seal the vent into the chimney.Actually, I think a lot of extra work went into the installation, the installer had to look around for the mismatched three-legged flue bonnet so it wouldn't match the 4 dimples and get stuck.Bob

          7. Guest_ | Nov 15, 1999 01:10am | #10

            *I think I've cracked the case!!! The picture is NOT sideways! I think I see a sill plate at the top of the pic. Then again, the block in the wall behind the tank are running the wrong direction if I'm right but maybe everything was OK until the house fell over! OOOORRRRR, maybe the real problem is that we have all spent too much time trying to figure what is wrong with the sideways rightsideup fallenoverhouse water tank....Although you would think that if someone was going to post a picture that big, they would have included more things in the photo. Pete DraganicWait a minute...Hold the phone....the picture is sideways so we can read the lable on the flex line that reads "for use with water in exposed location only" and the tank is not in an exposed location! That's it! The tank is all the way inside the basement inside the house!!! Aw hell, I give up......

          8. Guest_ | Nov 16, 1999 12:53am | #11

            *Back in cop school 101 we were taught that photographic evidence that we collected for lawyers should contain a unitof measurement to determine scale, case numbers and location labels. I'm sure this picture had all of the requisite info but it fell off when placed on the scanner...hummmm...no..it is supposed to be part of the photo...it fell off when the camera was rotated...rats... Got it! There was no duct tape, of the proper color, or aluminum magnets, or an extra bonnet leg (to tuck stuff under) to hold the info on the heater when the house tumped over causing the telephoto lens to make too tight a shot when poked through a vent hole in the totally enclosed basement until Joe turned it upright and by then...then....dang...maybe this is a test..sweat, sweat...I need a short recess!..uh, what's the definition of "what's"? Thor

          9. Guest_ | Nov 16, 1999 02:41am | #12

            *Thank you Joe, Turning the picture around made it easier for me to determine what was REALLY going on here. (I was getting ready to turn my monitor on its side)Aside from the wrong color duct tape, the copper supply lines coming from the upstairs toilet, the bonnet being from some other contraption, the vent stack run into the childs bedroom, and the temperature being set at 210 degrees (F), I really don't see anything wrong here... although I could be wrong...James DuHamel

          10. Guest_ | Nov 16, 1999 05:15am | #13

            *I tried to post a 370k'er once!

          11. Guest_ | Nov 16, 1999 05:49am | #14

            * Gaby,

            What happened?

            Joseph Fusco View Image

          12. Guest_ | Nov 17, 1999 09:43am | #15

            *HEY BOB!!!I'm still waiting to find out WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THE PICTURE?????Pete Draganic

          13. Guest_ | Nov 17, 1999 04:06pm | #16

            *Pete;Well, it turns out the 2 biggies are that I posted a really big file and it's sideways - chalk that up to newbie squared mistake (first graphic post from a new toy Of course, all you have to do is turn your monitor sideways and run it through your board stretcher to get the whole thing properly on screen)I called out: aluminum flue vent, duct tape, flue not screwed (not entirely obvious in the pic) flue not sealed to the chimney, and wrong flue bonnet. Also, the flue bonnet has 3 legs, you can just see the dimples for a 4 legged flue bonnet on the top of the DWH. This last one seems pretty petty, but when you realize that the flue bonnet is a discontinuity between the water heater's combustion chamber and the flue, you realize it's a prime spot for flue gas spillage. My opinion is that using the wrong flue bonnet is a potentially deadly error.(For this particular set-up, there was no flue gas spillage at the time of the inspection, the unit drafted just below .01 with nothing running and winter conditions - unchanged with various doors/windows opened and power vents running; .02 when running, .025 with the furnace running. I still recommended correcting it.)Bob

          14. Don_Minter | Nov 17, 1999 04:29pm | #17

            *It's an electric water heater. The vent is in case it breaks, and lets all the smoke out.For the uninformed, smoke is what makes electrical things work. Therefore, when you let the smoke out, it stops working. It looks to me like the installer was well-versed electrically, and was just planning ahead.Therefore, the problem is that he should've used electrical duct tape, not the structural duct tape.

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