Albuquerque Electric Water Heater Installation Guide for the DIY Homeowner
Installing an electric water heater is not as difficult as you might think. In fact, if you’re a DIY kind of person then this task should be easy for your skillset! But before tackling the job there are some basic plumbing and electrical work that needs to take place first (and don’t worry – it doesn’t have too much impact on energy costs).
If these types of tasks make anything else in life seem like child’s play by comparison; just know there are reputable companies who can install new ones without any issue at all – saving yourself both money AND time.
Electric water heaters tend to only last 8-10 years before they need to be replaced. Just because your heater is leaking, doesn’t mean that it has reached the end of its life – you should examine and possibly repair any leaks first!
Preparing To Install
The best way to find the perfect water heater for your home is with an online buyer’s guide. You’ll also want to make sure that you know how much space you have in order to avoid buying something too big or small, which can be difficult when dealing with these types of decisions on your own!
If it looks like installing one yourself will take more than just a few tools from Home Depot though (like if they recommend electric), then go ahead – but don’t forget about hiring professionals either because sometimes things work better depending on who does them.
Step By Step Instructions for Installing Your Electric Water Heater
1) It’s important to turn off the electricity at your circuit breaker panel before working on any of these components. Make sure you check for voltage, because if there is still some left after shutting down then it can cause damage when you start taking apart the water heater!
2) In order to safely drain the tank without being scalded, open the hot water tap and allow it to run until cold. Shut off the supply of cold water by closing this valve at the top of the unit. Connect another hose for drainage outside if possible, or into buckets inside if necessary.
You should close the hot water faucet now if you opened it in Step 1. You can also open the T&P valve, which will allow air into the tank and help the water to drain faster.
3) Locate the electrical wires on the top of the water heater and disconnect them. Double check that you turned off the circuit breaker first and check the wires with a voltage meter.
You will need to cap the wires off and either take a picture of them or label them in some way, so you avoid confusion when you hook up your new water heater.
4) Disconnect both the cold and hot water supply lines. If your water heater has copper piping, these may need to be cut. Use a tubing (pipe) cutter to do this, leaving as much of the pipe as possible.
If the T&P discharge pipe is in good condition, it can be removed from the old water heater and used on the new one.
5) After checking the tank is empty, the old water heater can be removed using a dolly. Put the new tank into place and we recommend setting the new tank into a drain pan.
Make sure the electricity supply will reach the tank, and also ensure that you are able to access the drain valve and panels for maintenance purposes.
6) If it was necessary to cut the pipes (if copper piping had been used), you will need to use sandpaper cloth to prepare the pipes. Rub the sandpaper cloth over the ends of the pipes until they shine.
7) Access the electrical wires by removing the junction box cover. Attach the ground wire to the green ground screw and connect the other wires by twisting them together with wire connectors. You can use the previous wire connections as a guide in order to connect the wires in the same way that you removed them and – following either the picture you took or your labelling tags – you can then replace the junction box cover.
8) Connect the hot and cold-water supply lines. If choose to, you can connect your new water heater with copper piping, but we recommend that they should go through flexible hoses.
Not only does this save time in fixing any leaks caused by incorrect connections, it’s also highly recommended as more robust during an earthquake. Pipes will stand up better than other materials if there is shaking or movement at ground level.
In order to ensure that your water heater is working efficiently, attach the flexible hoses from its nipples with plumber’s tape. We recommend using dielectric connectors for this task as well as these will help reduce corrosion between two different metals and make sure you don’t have any leaks.
Check the flexible hose connections for leaks by turning on the hot water tap at your nearest faucet. Then turn off the cold-water supply to the water heater. Fill it with enough so that when you have turned everything back on small streams should start coming out of both taps simultaneously.
Once tank is full (about 2 hours), check again for leaks before moving onto next step.
9) Installing the discharge pipe to your T&P valve is easy, and we’ll show you how. This task should be performed in six steps:
a) Use a 3/4″ male copper fitting that has been painted with solder dope so it won’t leak during installation
b) Attach one side of this joint piece – which comes equipped with two female ends – near floor level
c) Paint flux onto any internally threaded sections
d) Connect both pipes together using heat-soldering equipment such as an oxyacetylene torch or propane device
e) Clean off excess fluids from around all joints
10) Make sure the tank has filled before turning on the power at the circuit breaker. If the tank has not filled, it could cause a dry fire and ruin the water heater.
If no power is coming through despite having checked all circuits including fuse boxes, make sure you turn off the circuit breaker before investigating further.
11) To eliminate the air in your tank and plumbing, allow a hot water tap to run until it stops sputtering. It may take a few hours before you see any change. Wait about two more hours for all temperature settings on fixtures or appliances (such as faucets) reach the recommended 120° Fahrenheit.
If there is still no improvement then look out for drips anywhere along the T&P discharge pipe – if they’ve stopped completely, then it’s likely that pressure must have been too high.