DIY: Gas Water Heater Installation

A gas water heater can be a fast and economical way to have a supply of hot water. If a supply of natural gas is available then this makes installing a gas heater much easier. When deciding on how to install a gas water heater the location of where it has to go is important. It needs to be positioned where water and gas pipes can be attached plus a flue pipe to remove the waste products. A new gas water heater should come with the manufacturer's guidelines and these should be followed especially if there is a warranty on the unit. Not following the directions could void any warranty claim if one has to be made at any time. Some plumbing experience is necessary to install a heater of this type, if you don't have any experience or are not confident enough then have someone else do the installation for you.

This method of how to install a gas water heater is for the replacement of an old gas heater that is already in position and not a completely new one. The installation of a new gas water heater requires more piping work and the installation of a new flue. To begin with, installing a replacement heater will require the gas and water to be turned off at the main supply. Make sure the pipes and flue on the new and old heater match otherwise an extra amount of plumbing work will be required. The old heater tank will need to be drained, do this by turning off the main water supply, fix a garden hose onto the drain valve, turn this on then allow air to enter the system through the hot water tap so the tank will empty, make sure the gas supply is turned off.

The next process in how to install a gas water heater is to disconnect the flue, water and gas lines from the tank, do this by removing the pipes where there are joiner fittings, if this can't be done, you will require extra fittings and work to re-join them, the flue will also need to be removed. Once the old tank is drained of water, it can be removed and the new one positioned in place and reconnected to the gas and water piping and the flue making sure there are no leaks. This is where any plumbing experience you have is now required to make sure everything is re-installed correctly. Once everything has been considered as safely reconnected and there are no leaks the burner will then need to be re-ignited. The old water heater can then be removed using an appliance dolly or some other method.