Tankless Water Heater Drip Leg

Inside a condensing tankless water heater the combustion process superheats the water that enters your shower sink etc.

Tankless water heater drip leg.

How to fix a constant drip in a water heater. How it operates is that when the gas flows through the pipe it will be lighter than any debris or water and the unwanted materials will fall into the drip leg instead of proceeding to the heater. However to get the maximum efficiency it needs a dedicated gas line. Unlimited supply of hot water.

Put less joint as possible during installation to avoid unnecessary leakage. Even if you have an overflow pan with a discharge pipe dripping. Most water heaters do not have a sediment trap in them. Water vapor is a byproduct of combustion although in this case the vapor contains elements such as methane nitrogen and oxygen.

You come home from a family beach day and everyone in the house needs to take a shower. Different areas have different contaminants in the gas and the traps help catch these. Switching from a tank style water heater to a tankless water heater will save a family of four an average of 100 per year or over 1500 throughout the lifetime of the system according to energy star. A drip leg or also commonly called a sediment trap is used on fuel piping to prevent sediment debris and moisture from entering a gas appliance or fuel regulator.

The tankless water heater is an efficient device no doubt. Much of it follows the piping to the wall where it soaks sheetrock ruins carpet and finds its way through the holes in the structure to spaces below and floors. It is recommended to use a separate gas line next to meter run directly to water heater without re running the entire gas main. When a tankless water heater leaks the water runs out of the bottom of the unit.

Drip legs are required to be installed in a manner that meets or exceeds fuel piping codes and manufacture requirements for appliances and devices. A tankless leak is usually around 1gpm or so. This drip leg will catch any condensation or debris that can damage integral parts of the heater. Icc digital codes is the largest provider of model codes custom codes and standards used worldwide to construct safe sustainable affordable and resilient structures.

Drip legs are required to be places at the lowest points in the gas piping without regard to being close to or anywhere near an appliance as the moisture which condenses in the gas line will run down the gas line piping and collect in the drip leg hence it being called a drip leg.