I need to know when the laws were changed for sediment traps being installed in gas supply line when installing a new water heater or furnace.
What year did the new requirements take place.
Here is a water heater installed in 2010.
Drip legs - InterNACHI Inspection Forum](http://www.nachi.org/forum/f57/drip-legs-52520/)
Hi Gerald,
Thanks for the lead in the forum. But It has no date. I wanted to know the year that IRC did require the install of sediment traps on gas supply lines as a standard practice.
IE: like a year of 1980 more or less? If a furnace unit was installed in 1985 was it required back then or is the trap grandfathered in as not required until (???) year.
IE: 2009 IRC code book. Looking for a year for the code.
Not so much a code issue but a matter of following manufacture instructions when installing the water heater. Often times in the instruction for installation it says install a drip leg to protect the burner from moisture and or sediment in the gas line.
The following is from a random WH installation instruction manual:
There must be:
• A readily accessible manual shut off valve in the gas supply line
serving the water heater, and
• A drip leg (sediment trap) ahead of the gas control valve to help
prevent dirt and foreign materials from entering the gas control valve.
• A flexible gas connector or a ground joint union between the shut
off valve and control valve to permit servicing of the unit
Thank you Gerald.
Most if not all the manufacturers are with this type of installation instructions for the installers in the field.
But many don’t read or understand the instructions for the install.
That’s where we come in.
Have a great day today.
Yeah I did some googling for a little bit and couldn’t nail down an exact date for you as I would like to know as well,doing some research through the plumbing courses see if I can find something…
It was a requirement long before that unit was manufactured. Reference the the manufacturer’s installation standards for the definitive requirement for that unit.
Don’t expend more effort trying to substantiate / justify calling it a defect than it takes someone to actually correct the defect.
I have been calling them out for almost 20- years, and before that plumbers have been installing them for as long as I can remember late 1970’s -1980’s