Convert water heater to different fuel?
1110d
| Posted in Energy, Heating & Insulation on
Found a new water heater with some cosmetic damage that we’re thinking of purchasing. It’s a screaming deal so time is short. It’s a standard tank type, gravity vent with the typical control valve. The heater is currently set up for propane, but we’re on natural gas. I’m pretty sure it can be converted to natural gas, but I’m not certain. Manufacture’s website doesn’t provide any information, I’ve tried to contact them, but it’s via e-mail so I don’t expect a timely response. Should we buy the heater with the assumption that we can convert it?
btw- it’s a Bradford White 75 gallon and they want $50 for it.
Replies
Some can be converted, some can't. Your gas company may have a line on the info.
look at the nameplate on the unit, it will tell you.
prppane to ng - can use as is, but will not have as fast of recovery and you will need to adjust air, best to check flue gas with co and co2 meter afterward
ng to propane definetely requires orifice change, can blow up house otherwise .
this is another of these items where if you have to ask, probably best to pass, esp if ya gotta pay somebody to do the convert - gas folks dont work cheap.
me, for $50 it would already be in a shed as "strategic reserves".
look at the nameplate on the
whoops, double post
I second calling your gas supplier.
When I was in DC it was a free service call and the propane guy had the right orfice on the truck.
I ended up going both ways. It started out being a NG W/H , converted to propane, then converted back to NG when we got the pipe down the street. Going back to NG just involved drilling out the propane orfice.
When it was first started up, jetted for NG running propane, the exhaust gas was so hot it turned the flue stack red. They had to replace the stack because the galvanizing was damaged.