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My 40 gal gas hot water heater developed a small leak, so I'll be replacing it today. I looked at the lines and realized that the previous installer did something unusual in hooking it back up, since there used to be a recirculation pump which has since been removed. I'm not sure I want to hook it back up the same way...
What they did was to cut off the drain valve on the bottom of the water heater and solder in a T fitting, and put the drain back on. This line now feeds into what looks like a check valve, then reduces from 3/4" to 1/2" copper, then into the slab. (The house is slab on grade, built in 1969). The other lines(in/out/presure relief) look ok.
Not only is this drain connection odd to me, but I also suspect it may be a part of the reason why the master bath takes so long to get hot water (about 2-3 times the other bathroom, roughly the same distance). I'm guessing that the relatively cooler water from the bottom of the tank is feeding into this line, and combined with there being two lines, they add up to slower warm-up. If I could improve this situation, I'd be happy (and more importantly, so would my wife ).
Can anyone suggest the best way to reconnect this?
If it helps, I don't mind cutting drywall on the other end if needed, but would rather not get into (or under) the slab. I'm thinking that the best solution would be to cap the other end of the extra line and just leave the one line feeding the master bath. If I cannot get to the other end, I'm thinking that both lines should feed off the output of the water heater and not come from the bottom.
Thanks.
What they did was to cut off the drain valve on the bottom of the water heater and solder in a T fitting, and put the drain back on. This line now feeds into what looks like a check valve, then reduces from 3/4" to 1/2" copper, then into the slab. (The house is slab on grade, built in 1969). The other lines(in/out/presure relief) look ok.
Not only is this drain connection odd to me, but I also suspect it may be a part of the reason why the master bath takes so long to get hot water (about 2-3 times the other bathroom, roughly the same distance). I'm guessing that the relatively cooler water from the bottom of the tank is feeding into this line, and combined with there being two lines, they add up to slower warm-up. If I could improve this situation, I'd be happy (and more importantly, so would my wife ).
Can anyone suggest the best way to reconnect this?
If it helps, I don't mind cutting drywall on the other end if needed, but would rather not get into (or under) the slab. I'm thinking that the best solution would be to cap the other end of the extra line and just leave the one line feeding the master bath. If I cannot get to the other end, I'm thinking that both lines should feed off the output of the water heater and not come from the bottom.
Thanks.