I am building a custom home and my builder asked me if I wanted to go with a tank water heater, a tankless water heater and/or a recirculation system. I am not interested in the tankless and recirc systems due to complexity and installed or operating costs for what seems like marginal benefit in my area.
However, I like one of the benefits and it might be achieved by placement of a tank heater: not having to wait on hot water at a distant faucet, shower, etc.
I would like to place the tank water heater in the attic. There is a location that is in the center of all of the points of use, and in maybe all cases is closer than the garage location.
From other forum posts here, a pan can be added and drainage provided, and I don’t see any issue with building codes (large attic – plenty of space) and there will be a furnace in the attic nearby.
Question 1 is how do you handle the exposed piping? They can be insulated, but will this be adequate if the lights go out – don’t expect this to happen much, but I lived through some long outages in my youth.
Question 2, since the attic is colder in the winter than the garage, will that be a negative on added fuel costs? This is Greenville, SC so winters are below freezing during the polar vortexes (vortices?), otherwise in the 40s.
Question 3, is installation an issue for the builder or a who-cares? It seems to be easy enough to lug it up the stairs, and the door to the attic is a 36 inch door off of a turn in the hall (made larger to accomodate storing furniture etc.)
Thanks,
Ted
Replies
How many use the attic
Has anyone seen tank water heaters in the attic, or have one in thiers? Or is this just a bad idea bringing so much water to that location?
Don't.
I had a back-up water heater to a solar system in the attic. It leaked into my bedroom. The drain pan had rusted through; they don't drain very well anyway. By the time this happened it had rotted through the attic floor. It's still there dead and empty. When you have to replace it it'll be a b itch to get it out and a new one up there. I've got a small tank heater behind my kitchen sink. It recently leaked. If it had just leaked out the bottom all would have been fine, but it decided to spray. By the time I discovered the leak it had screwed up some pretty nice wood work. Don't put a water heater anywhere it can possibly do damage.
I have a small heater in the attic to help with "slow" hot water at that end of the house. In Florida the freezing problem is "not" and most of the year, the heater won't even run.
I have a pan under it, plumbed out the soffit
Most are against
A Hull Truth forum thread got alot of bites, and while a few people have seen them in the attic (e.g. I know someone with one in the attic with no problem 10+ years), the overwhelming sentiment is that it is a bad idea. Most put them over a garage where damage is limited. Problems cited are leak volume too high, and they spray. However, most problems are not with the heater but with the piping. So the message is don't put piping in the attic.
My builder stated he will not build that. 'too many horror stories'.
My second option is a recirc system to the far bedroom, from one large tank heater - natural gas. The builder can put an electric tank heater in the crawl space, but I am thinking the electricity usage will be as high or higher than a recirc system on a timer. So a recirc system is the top candidate.
Ted
Most are against
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