Niccolo
Member
I'm posting because I'm curious to try to understand an apparent installation error and its consequences. I recently turned off my tank water heater while gone for a two-week vacation, and it wouldn't turn back on when I returned. The plumber who came out to diagnose it pointed out that there was an excess *gas* flow valve--the kind that Home Depot sells along with stainless flex *gas* hoses--installed backwards, i.e. with the flow direction going the opposite way. He removed it, reinstalled the hose with an adapter, and it works fine now, so that appears to have been the issue.
But it worked fine during the 3.5 years it was installed (until it didn't). Does this seem surprising?
What's the conventional wisdom on using a (properly installed) excess gas flow valve at the appliance? My understanding is that code doesn't require it, i.e. it's optional. I'm not sure what the odds are of a gas leak occurring inside the water heater that the water heater itself wouldn't cut off, which is presumably the situation in which an excess flow valve, properly installed, would then cut off the gas.
But it worked fine during the 3.5 years it was installed (until it didn't). Does this seem surprising?
What's the conventional wisdom on using a (properly installed) excess gas flow valve at the appliance? My understanding is that code doesn't require it, i.e. it's optional. I'm not sure what the odds are of a gas leak occurring inside the water heater that the water heater itself wouldn't cut off, which is presumably the situation in which an excess flow valve, properly installed, would then cut off the gas.
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