Water heater help

[sugarray]

I still have a house in Medina, OH and have had 2 red tags from the gas company.  First is an easy fix.  The dryer vent was reduced from 4" to 3" to go through the wall.  I can just cut a bigger hole, unrestrict it and it'll be good to go.

Next will be more difficult and thus I seek your advice.  The gas hot water heater was tagged for being vented under the deck.  I need to move it, but where is an issue.  If I move it to the left I am getting close to the breaker box and Denco power control device (which I don't really understand what it does).  To move it to the right I have to run about 10-12 feet and think I need to add a supplemental fan to help with exhaust. 

My question for you guys is what would the best way to go be?  I am leaving Thursday 6/9 evening and hope to complete both repairs Friday while my wife is painting some more.  I don't want to have to use a contractor or HVAC or plumber as this seems to be a simple repair.

Any help greatly appreciated.

Raymond

[GOLD HUNTER]

Ray

my furnace vent runs from the basement up through the walls and into the roof vent and the hot water heater duct vents into it.

id just call them and ask were they like to have it moved to and do it there way, even if you have to pay someone to do it......carbon dioxide is something you don't play with in a home.

brian

[BowBendr]

I may be wrong, but it sounds like the house has a basement.......
Is there an existing chimney in the house that has a thimble in it that you can vent the water heater duct into ?

Edit: Remember that which ever route you choose to persue, you must maintain a certain amount of fall for each running foot of pipe so that condensation isn't left to stand and pool inside the vent pipe.

[sugarray]

the gas company just said I have to move the vent out from under the deck.   I do not have a chimney, it exits the side of the house.

The dryer too, but it was reduced from a 4" outlet to a 3" outlet and all I have to do is make the hole larger and increase the size of my outside vent cover.   It is electric and this is the heat vent.

I am thinking I should just run the vent for the gas hot water heat to the right and out the side there instead of out near the breaker box.

[TRKYHTR]

Go outside the wall and up thru the overhang. You will need to cut a roof jack in the roof. You need double wall pipe and it has to have 1" clearance from any combustable material. Also there might be a reason why the outside only has a 3" round dryer vent. Also your dryer vent has to have a damper. Don't get the vent that has a screen. The screen will just clog up with lent. The damper is so no birds and other critters cant make a nest in the dryer vent. Good luck Ray,

TRKYHTR

[mikejd]

I don't think your going to need the fan however make sure you use as little changes in direction as possible. Make sure you have a nice pich up towards the outlet of the house. When your all said and done make sure that you don't have a backdraft. To do this I always get the waterheater running take a piece of newspaper  twist it up and lite the end let it burn a second then blow it out. Now you will have lite smoke put the smoke rite near the opening between the top of the heater and flew pipe at this point you should see the smoke getting sucked out. If you don't see this u will see the smoke coming back in you are having a backdraft. And c02 will be coming into house. If that does happen a fan may be your option but I doubt you'll need it. You should end up with good flow.10' not to far. Often chimneys are that far away and with good pich you will be fine.    Good luck.  Mike.

[sugarray]

Time Out!!

The hot water heater is in the basement and I only need to move the outlet b/c it is under a deck. 

I am not going to run a flu up the side of the house.

I will just move it so it elbows 90 degrees at the top and then goes straight out the side of the house.  The one for the furnace was done this was and has a fan on it so I was thinking I would need an auxiliary fan for the hot water heater as well.

[mikejd]

wow no one said anything about running it up the side of the house. You said you needed to offset the vent 10-12 ft am i rite. Is your vent made of flew or pvc. To me your furnace is called a direct vent were your water heater is not. one is designed for the fan and one is not. Back to the beginning i spoke of re routing your vent to a new location. go by my first set of directions.

[unclerick]

Sounds like which ever way you run the vent it's going to be a hassle, can the water heater be moved? There is a fan you can get that installs in the vent that has a heat censor that will pull the exaust fumes out, only problem is if the power goes out the water want vent right. I do alot of that stuff but with out seeing the situation it's hard to give good advice. Something to think about though is a outside tankless water heater, mounts against the outside of the house and are really great, a little pricey though.

If you do run double walled vent pipe, make sure it has a up hill grade to it, if it doesn't the gas fumes will get trapped in the vent and then will back flow thru the water heater causeing it to burn bad and put carbon monoxide into the house. Good luck with it.