I found this gem yesterday and am baffled it has made it this far! This home was from 1999 and had a Natural Gas Supply. I can only assume it never had propane for fuel as the outdated furnace was from 1999 as well. Somehow, the builder managed to put a water heater in the was rated for LPG. No conversion label was present. With testing at faucets I never did find water over 105°. The thermostat was set to the highest level. The amount of corrosion on the top of the heater was pretty intense from improper burning.
It really makes you realize how important the details are, and how this passed a city inspection, and then also how no one ever called it out as wrong previously. How the current family living there tolerated mildly warm water…I just shake my head sometimes and think…“That is neat!” I wish I had turned the flash on for this as the image does not show it well. If you see this corrosion, it is for sure the likely culprit.
The capped tprv drain line might also be an indication of someone who’s not knowledgeable on installing water heaters.
It was not capped…however what you see is the start of a flex line with a dip, reduction in size, and then 2 more of the same. All part of the WTF on this baby.
The stand legs in front had been hit by a car or something and fully bend in by about 4 inches.
If straps were not used and bolted…I think this would have fallen off the stand.
Like I said
In the garage I assume? Recommend bollards or some type of protection from physical damage
Absolutely…it was a tight space to begin with and their land sled Caddy barely let me squeeze by! It truly was a perfect “House of Horrors” candidate install.
The other beauty not mentioned is the T&P termination was just dripping into the crawlspace and giving the mice something to drink!
That residue looks to me to be the result of flue spillage and back drafting. You have a CO issue there.
“Improper burning…” Do you mean the flame was small when you inspected it behind the cover to the burner and pilot light? IMO, the residue is not due to “improper burning”.
“water heater…was rated for LPG” LPG can be converted to NG, and the sticker never gets applied. A natural gas orifice is bigger than propane. The small flame size is obvious when NG is run through a LPG nozzle.
Your water temperature may be a NG issue or not. Maybe a control issue. Maybe a mixing valve issue at the faucet.
Report what you see: Residue on top of water heater. No LPG/NG conversion sticker. Water temp measured at 105*.
That symptom could easily be a recent development, caused by mineral build-up in an aging tank.
Or more commonly on a 25 year old WH… excessive sediment buildup!!
I wouldn’t think the type of gas alone would affect the temperature. I have found a few of these that weren’t converted for propane, of course the homeowner was not aware. But there was no issues regarding the water temperature.
I’ve seen this twice. Both times, the flame barely covered half of the burner plate.
True. The conversion is usually just replacing the jet size. This unit most likely had factory jets for propane use only. Not sure if they could have been swapped w/o installation info.
My gas stove came with NG jets installed and I converted to propane. When the Gas Guy came out to do the hook up, he was impressed that I had already changed the jets. Made his job easier lol…
@ccurrins - From all I have known - the orifice is much smaller on Propane compared to Gas for the same BTU level based on typical pressures feeding that orifice. This image attached is a pretty solid representation of this. The only other time I have come by this, the corrosion at the flue was not as bad, but the unit was 3 years old or so. This unit also was set to the hottest setting but was not breaching over 100°. It was not being fed enough gas to make it function and recover water fast enough.
For all others and comments - appreciate it. I was mainly throwing it out there for a learning opportunity if other see something like this. Sediment, bollard(s), CO concerns, and just a serious hot mess of an install that has some how made it this far. Image attached that I found that confirms the orifice thing for BTU output per size
