Gas Water Heater Vent Pipe & Hood Installation

Nikki, it looks to me as though that box is open on the bottom? and serving as the draft hood for the first heater pictured that doesn't have one?

The whole installation to the older water heater looks a little funky to me:)  There is no way to change the water heater without cutting pipes.  The other heater is going to be supplying nice warm water to the ice maker as well.

Nikki, I am not however saying it is "appropriate" to do it that way-----seems very odd to me----but who knows.  My guess is that heater is past its expected life anyway:)  What is the story that there are two gas water heaters?

Nikki, just don't take my word for it.  I have never seen an installation like this on a water heater.  Some old furnaces used to have a draft hood like this.  I would want to see the whole setup checked my a licensed HVAC----just doesn't seem right to me.

See.. this is why we hire you inspectors... I haven't a clue...

Thanks for doing what you do. 

Nikki, it isn't kosher.  There are many cons about putting the WH flue into a chimney and almost everyone says the WH flue should be below the furnace.  

By the way, did you write up the galvanized to copper connection without insulating or dialectric unions?

Down drafts in a chimney have a tendency to push flue gases out the bottom of an open box, and without the box the downdraft can actually snuff a pilot.

Nikki - it's completely wrong, and it's a potentially unsafe installation.  There's no 'maybe' about it.   There isn't a single water heater manufacturer that will allow some goofball installation like that.  I'm sure that big box is a draft hood, and it's open on the bottom, but it's not meant for a water heater.  The only draft hood you should see on a water heater is the one that the manufacturer allows, which is the one you showed in that last picture.

The installation instructions from GE show a draft hood, and on page 12 of their installation manual it reads:

Vent connectors must be attached to the draft hood outlet to connect the water heater to the gas vent or chimney.

Read that sentence carefully.  Your picture shows a vent connector attached to a draft hood which is connected to a vent connector, which is connected directly to the water heater.  No good.  The reason for a proper draft hood is to allow the water heater to backdraft if neccessary - this is better than having exhaust gas trapped inside the water heater burner area.  

Somebody spent a lot of time doing it wrong. Is that box tied into the heater flue or the Chimney? Did you fire up both units and let them run simultaneously for a long period?

I bet you would of had a number of issues when you did.\

Mike

www.houseinspections.com