Johnny-Canuck
Member
I have a GSW gas water heater (model GG40S38ES-02). I think it's referred to as a direct vent model (i.e. it has vent ducting that goes into a chimney and so heat is vented up through the roof).
It has a label that gives me the following info.
+-------------------------------------+
| Minimum clearance to combustibles |
| |
| Top Front Flue Back Sides |
| 8" 4" 6" 1" 1" |
+-------------------------------------+
And then immediately under this section of clearances it say
"Floor - Plancher (I'm in Canada. Plancher is just the French word for Floor).
Combustible"
I'm installaing some laminate flooring in the area where the water heater is currently sitting in the basement on the unfinished concrete. I'm just trying to decide how close I can go to the water heater with the laminate flooring. I understand the "minimum clearance" dimensions section from a fire hazard viewpoint, but those dimensions don't really say anything about the actual floor that the water heater can sit on. What's confusing me the the "Floor Combustible" wording.
Is "Floor Combustible" simply trying to tell me (in a strange way) that the water heater could actually be sitting on a "combustible" material ... i.e. that effectively the base is effectively a "0 clearance" type surface from a fire hazard viewpoint?
I'd like to run the laminate flooring roughly in a circle around the water heater but I want to be safe in terms of how close I can come to the tank itself ... could I go to 0" (i.e. tight to the foot print that the tank makes on the floor); 1" away; 2" away etc. (Note that the tank itself will continue to sit on the normal feet it has that are sitting on the unfinished concrete ... no laminate actually under it).
Thanks for any thoughts.
It has a label that gives me the following info.
+-------------------------------------+
| Minimum clearance to combustibles |
| |
| Top Front Flue Back Sides |
| 8" 4" 6" 1" 1" |
+-------------------------------------+
And then immediately under this section of clearances it say
"Floor - Plancher (I'm in Canada. Plancher is just the French word for Floor).
Combustible"
I'm installaing some laminate flooring in the area where the water heater is currently sitting in the basement on the unfinished concrete. I'm just trying to decide how close I can go to the water heater with the laminate flooring. I understand the "minimum clearance" dimensions section from a fire hazard viewpoint, but those dimensions don't really say anything about the actual floor that the water heater can sit on. What's confusing me the the "Floor Combustible" wording.
Is "Floor Combustible" simply trying to tell me (in a strange way) that the water heater could actually be sitting on a "combustible" material ... i.e. that effectively the base is effectively a "0 clearance" type surface from a fire hazard viewpoint?
I'd like to run the laminate flooring roughly in a circle around the water heater but I want to be safe in terms of how close I can come to the tank itself ... could I go to 0" (i.e. tight to the foot print that the tank makes on the floor); 1" away; 2" away etc. (Note that the tank itself will continue to sit on the normal feet it has that are sitting on the unfinished concrete ... no laminate actually under it).
Thanks for any thoughts.
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