Hi all, I'm in the process of replacing my traditional water heater with an exterior tankless model. The general process seems pretty clear enough, but some of the details are a little lost on me, so I figured I'd hit up the best (only?) forum I visit to see if anyone has any experience with this...
Some background first: My current water heater is a 50-gal, 20 year old, natural gas model in the garage. My plan is to extend my water and natural gas lines to the exterior wall of the garage, where the tankless heater will be mounted. Power is via standard 120v, 3-prong plug.
1) My water pipes are copper, so I expect to run additional copper pipe to the wall, but is it safe to have exposed copper piping outside? Or do I need to go with the old school iron pipes on the exterior connected via brass fittings to the copper on the interior?
2) I'm concerned that the part of my wall where I drill through to push the pipes out will not be all that well supported (just drywall on the inside and stucco on the outside) - what can I do make sure the pipes are not going to jostle around? I can always caulk up the gap to ensure it's protected from the elements, but I'm worried about my kid bumping into the pipes from time to time when playing outside.
3) I'm assuming I should ground the exterior pipes - but there seems to be conflicting info on the web about whether I can just sink a grounding pole near the exterior pipes and connect them up, or if I need to connect the ground to another ground in/near the house - anyone know anything about this?
4) The installation of my new heater requires a 3/4" gas pipe - but my current gas pipe to the water heater is only 1/2". The new heater has a BTU rating of 150,000, so at first I thought I was going to have to have a new gas line put in for the water heater, BUT: the current gas pipe is only about 10' from the gas main into the house, so I'm thinking that the heater should get adequate gas. Based on some research, it looks like 1/2" at a 10' length supplies the same gas volume as 3/4" at 40'. Is this wishful thinking or reasonable?
Thanks to all you DIYers for any feedback on the above.
Some background first: My current water heater is a 50-gal, 20 year old, natural gas model in the garage. My plan is to extend my water and natural gas lines to the exterior wall of the garage, where the tankless heater will be mounted. Power is via standard 120v, 3-prong plug.
1) My water pipes are copper, so I expect to run additional copper pipe to the wall, but is it safe to have exposed copper piping outside? Or do I need to go with the old school iron pipes on the exterior connected via brass fittings to the copper on the interior?
2) I'm concerned that the part of my wall where I drill through to push the pipes out will not be all that well supported (just drywall on the inside and stucco on the outside) - what can I do make sure the pipes are not going to jostle around? I can always caulk up the gap to ensure it's protected from the elements, but I'm worried about my kid bumping into the pipes from time to time when playing outside.
3) I'm assuming I should ground the exterior pipes - but there seems to be conflicting info on the web about whether I can just sink a grounding pole near the exterior pipes and connect them up, or if I need to connect the ground to another ground in/near the house - anyone know anything about this?
4) The installation of my new heater requires a 3/4" gas pipe - but my current gas pipe to the water heater is only 1/2". The new heater has a BTU rating of 150,000, so at first I thought I was going to have to have a new gas line put in for the water heater, BUT: the current gas pipe is only about 10' from the gas main into the house, so I'm thinking that the heater should get adequate gas. Based on some research, it looks like 1/2" at a 10' length supplies the same gas volume as 3/4" at 40'. Is this wishful thinking or reasonable?
Thanks to all you DIYers for any feedback on the above.