How to install a gas water heater with your own hands

Recommendation points

• Installation of a gas column
• Connecting the column to the chimney
• Connecting the gas water heater to the water supply
• Connecting the column to the gas pipe

The installation of a geyser consists of four stages, each of which requires compliance with certain rules. Having the appropriate skills and knowledge will also come in handy. After reading this article, you will learn how to independently install this equipment..

More and more residents of not only private but also apartment buildings are resorting to installing gas water heaters. The reasons for this trend are obvious: the consumer receives an uninterrupted supply of hot water at any time of the year or day, ceasing to depend on the whims of the management company. And since gas is the cheapest energy source, operating costs won’t hit your pocket..

The installation of a geyser consists of four stages, each of which requires compliance with certain rules. Having the appropriate skills and knowledge will also come in handy. In the absence of such, it will be better to turn to specialists, because unqualified connection of such equipment can not only lead to a flood, but also cost life and health. To really assess your strength, it will be useful to familiarize yourself with the details of each stage..

Installation of a gas column

The room in which the installation of the water heater is planned must meet a number of requirements. Firstly, for each kilowatt of power of the device, at least 0.2 m must fall³ air volume. Secondly, it is necessary to have a ventilation outlet, an opening window or a window, as well as a doorway with a minimum width of 80 cm.Most often, the only suitable room is the kitchen, since according to the current SNiP it is forbidden to install gas heaters in living rooms, toilets or bathrooms. In a private house, you can use the basement for this purpose, but in this case, you will have to install a gas analyzer and a safety valve there..

The minimum distance between the floor and the bottom edge of the water heater is 1 m. At the same time, there should be enough space on top for the chimney. How much will be discussed later. The column is suspended from the bar supplied. From tools you will need a drill or hammer drill, drill and level. Applying the bar strictly horizontally to the desired place on the wall, mark holes for fasteners, then drill.

If the hardware is not included in the kit, and there are no recommendations on this in the instructions, you can use plastic dowels ø 8-10 mm and screws with a turnkey cap for fastening. You need to screw the bar tight enough, but being careful not to rip off the thread cut with a screw. If this happens, it is better to pull out the dowel and insert a new one: after all, the heater weighs a lot together with water, and its fall is fraught with unpleasant consequences. After hanging the device, you should make sure that the fastening is secure and there are no distortions, and then proceed to the next step.

Connecting the column to the chimney

It is better to connect the water heater to the chimney with a steel pipe. It is also allowed to use a corrugated aluminum sleeve, but if its length is more than one and a half meters, measures must be taken to prevent sagging. The diameter of the connecting section, as well as the chimney itself, must be no less than the diameter of the outlet pipe of the column.

Installation itself is not difficult. The pipe is simply slid onto the nipple and the sleeve is secured with a steel clamp. The other end is inserted into the chimney opening and sealed with cement or asbestos. It would seem that at the same time it would be logical to attach the sleeve to a special outlet, but this is prohibited by the rules: each previous link of the connection must be inserted into the next, and not vice versa.

This is not the only rule. They represent the main difficulty at this stage of work. The total length of the horizontal section of the connecting chimney cannot exceed 6 m (in houses under construction – 3 m), and no more than three bends along its entire length are allowed. In addition, for many models of gas water heaters, the vertical part of the pipe coming from the branch pipe must be at least 0.5 m.

We have already discussed the need for sufficient space above the column. Let’s count: 1 m from the speaker to the floor, plus the height of the device itself (on average 0.5 m), plus 0.5 m of the vertical pipe – this is already 2 meters. According to the rules, the distance between the wooden ceiling (wall) and the pipe should be at least 25 cm, and if the ceiling is non-combustible – 5 cm.In this situation, low ceilings made of combustible materials can become a problem.

In this case, you will either have to choose a water heater that can work with a vertical section of the connecting chimney of a shorter length, or upholster the ceiling above the pipe with sheet steel or asbestos. The second option is not very aesthetic, but it allows you to reduce the permissible distance between the ceiling and the pipe to 10 cm.

Connecting the gas water heater to the water supply

Water can be supplied to the column both from the main riser and from the nearest wiring section. However, with a low throughput of the intra-apartment pipeline or a weak head, the second option is undesirable. Such a connection scheme can lead to the fact that the performance of the device will decrease every time someone from home opens another tap or flushes the water in the toilet. The burner can even go out, and this is completely unpleasant if someone is taking a shower at this moment. It is also necessary to put a separate tap on this branch so that you can turn off the water in case of repair of the column.

The liner is usually made of PVC, polypropylene or metal-plastic pipes. The first two options are more reliable, but require a special welding machine and the ability to use it. At the same time, the installation of metal-plastic pipes can be carried out using tools that can be found in almost every home: a set of keys, a hacksaw for metal and a drill. The weak point of such a water supply system is the compression connection. Even securely tightened nuts will tend to slack over time, which can lead to minor leaks. Therefore, they are usually tightened for prophylaxis after 4-6 months..

The supply pipe can be connected directly to the column inlet using the appropriate fitting. Many manufacturers install a coaxial hose at the hot water outlet. This is done in order to avoid unwanted mechanical stresses arising in pipes and heater assemblies due to thermal linear expansion. So even if there is no hose column in the package, it is better to use just such.

Connecting the column to the gas pipe

This stage of work should be carried out by specialists from enterprises that have the appropriate license. To connect the water heater to the gas distribution, a bellows hose is needed, in front of which a ball valve must be placed. Sealing of joints is carried out by polymer seals (FUM, “Tangit”, etc.), as well as rubber or paronite gaskets.

It is strictly forbidden to use water and oxygen hoses when connecting gas appliances. The fact is that natural gas is a much more aggressive medium than the one for which they are intended. A rubber-fabric hose will also not be the best solution. It is usually used to connect devices, individual nodes of which are powered from the mains, in order to isolate these devices from the gas pipe. In the case of the column, this is not required, since its ignition is battery operated. In addition, bellows hoses are somewhat more reliable than rubber-fabric.

As already mentioned, all gas work, despite its apparent simplicity, must be performed by specialists, since unqualified connection of boilers, columns and stoves can lead to tragedy. If an illegally installed column causes a fire, then the owner will have to pay a substantial fine, not to mention compensation to the victims. And the insurance premium does not shine to the culprit. In addition, even a properly working gas appliance, installed unauthorized, in case of detection, will become a reason to turn off the gas.

And in conclusion, I want to give advice on how to avoid the formation of scale in the column radiator. Crystallization of salts, from which layers are formed on surfaces in contact with water, occurs at temperatures from 60 ° C and above. To prevent this process, it is sufficient to set the heater to 40-50 ° C. This water temperature is quite enough for comfortable use. Adjustment can be made without a thermometer, using your palm instead: 60 ° C is the approximate limit of patience for this area of ​​the hand.