Tips on Water Heater Installation

Sometimes there is just no avoiding it. You find you are faced with doing a job the hard way and there is simply no way around it. You just have to do it that way.

This is where I found myself with the installation of a new water heater. The old heater had been disconnected and hauled out of the way and the new one was now standing before me.

On this particular install I was going to have to do something I always try to avoid with plumbing work and that was soldering. Soldering is not that difficult but I prefer good old threaded connections. But this heater was made with slick fasteners and would require soldering to get it going. By slick fasteners I am referring to the inlet and outlet pipes at the top of the tank.

First thing with soldering is to have the proper equipment. You can get by with a propane torch for the household type of plumbing I was going to be doing. Next you want to use an acid free flux and lead free solder. Flux is a paste that is smeared onto the pipes and fittings to prevent oxidation which will occur due to the extreme heat being applied and it also acts as a cleaner for the copper pipes and fittings allowing the molten solder to come into direct contact with the copper with no oxidation in between. The lead free solder is used to avoid contaminating your drinking water with trace amounts of lead.

Having measured and cut my pipes I joined everything together for a loose pre-solder fit. It all looked fine so I pulled it all apart again and began the pre-solder ritual of using a wire bristle brush on the inside surfaces of the fittings and steel wool on the outside surfaces of the pipes. I wanted a bright and shiny copper glow here. No dirt, no moisture, no burrs no nothing ! If a solder joints fails, it has to be taken apart and cleaned and re-soldered again.

With all parts clean and gleaming I began applying the flux and assembling everything back together again. When soldering an assembly with numerous parts it is best to start at or near the bottom and work you way up. This way you avoid the problem of solder dripping down on as yet pristine connections as will happen if you start from the top. Soldering is easy if you remember that it is all about heating the pipe and not the solder. A pipe connection heated to the proper temperature will began to hiss and pop a bit as the flux is super heated. Once you see this just touch your solder to the pipe and see if it melts on contact. It may take two or three tries before you find the solder is melting instantly.

Touch the solder to the pipe at the edge of the connection and it will melt immediately and be sucked up into the connection by the pressure differential between the outside air pressure and the internal pressure. Once the solder begins to flow you can remove heat from the area as it can cause the solder to blow out again. When the solder begins to run down the pipe or the connections stops accepting the flow, then that is all the solder it will take and you can stop applying solder. Wipe off excess solder using a damp rag.

With all connections looking good it was now time turn the water back on and check for leaks. I didnt expect any and the leak test was a success. One thing you want to avoid with electric water heaters is applying electrical power to them when they have no water in them. Make sure the unit is full of water before reapplying power to it. A heating element getting reactivated with no water around it is asking for trouble. It can fail on you on the spot, or a day or a week later. So doing the leak test prior to re-applying power is a good way to not only test for leaks but it all so insures the unit has water inside of it before you re-apply power.

I reconnected the heater to house power and threw on the juice. I always try to stand close to an electric water heater after an install instead of waiting for 30 minutes or so to see if there is any hot water. I can hear the unit heating and this tells me that everything is going as expected. Now is also as good time to adjust the thermostat on the unit to the desired temperature.