Water heaters

The size and fuel, the age, the venting, and what it does wrong.

• Attach your Sheet so people see your sizes and the math.
• Your town is enough. Never your address; check photos for house numbers and plates.
• Is it safe? A safety question here goes to pros verified in plumbing, unless you pick another trade. Only they can call it safe or unsafe.

Gas water heater, 4 people: a 50 gal tank (first hour 84 gal) for a busiest hour of 83 gal, a 3″ vent and a 2 gal expansion tank.

What people get wrong:

• Firing an empty tank. Power to an electric tank before it’s full burns out the upper element in seconds; a gas tank fired dry is damaged.
• A reduced or capped relief line. The relief line runs full size to an open end you can see — no valve, no cap, no threads, no trap.
• Sizing by the old tank. The old tank’s gallons don’t say whether it kept up.

The worked example, every line's math and the code notes · Your own sizes in the app

• Circuits and wiring: New circuits, wire sizes and breaker loads
• Panels and service upgrades: Panel swaps, 100 to 200 amp upgrades and subpanels
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• Heating and cooling: Sizing furnaces, AC and heat for a house or addition
• Heat pumps and mini-splits: Ducted and ductless heat pumps
• Ducts and airflow: Hot and cold rooms, duct sizes and returns
• Boilers and radiators: Hot water and steam heat
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