Can I Put A Water Heater Flat On The Floor

Because of this an important part of a hot water heater s installation is leveling it by using shims.

Can i put a water heater flat on the floor.

I m installing a new water heater on a floor sloped significantly toward a nearby floor drain. To level the heater the downhill edge needs to be raised about 1. It s cheap insurance to prevent water damage to your floor walls or worse. Anode replacement is easier if you have at least a tank height of free space above the installed heater.

A level water heater is important for the proper functioning of the water heater. Having the water heater off the floor high enough to comfortably connect a hose to the drain valve is nice. In your case as long as the concrete is dry you re probably fine to have the heater sitting on the floor. What s the best way to level the water heater.

I have done this many many times over the years. A water heater drain pan is one of those things rarely mentioned until you already have a leak and it s too late. That much clearance above will save you from searching out linked anodes. Floors are rarely perfectly level.

There are no legs on the heater just a flat metal base. The boilerplate on the side of a newer water heater will state that it is flammable vapor ignition resistant so you can check to see if yours has this safety feature. Seems like i ve heard that s not a good idea to have electric water heaters installed directly on a concrete floor but can t recall the reasoning. A properly installed drain pan that s connected to a drain pipe will catch water heater leaks no matter the severity.

See our blog post what is an fvir water heater. The water heater sits in a drip pan with a drain available in some hardware stores and all plumbing supply stores. The installer didn t bother putting anything under the electric water heater. Wood or plastic shims can be purchased from any home improvement store.

The basement floor is concrete. With the advent of fvir heaters you shouldn t need to elevate it but codes may not have caught up yet with heater design. If it were in a garage or someplace gasoline vapors could happen codes might still want it elevated 18 inches. Put the entire mess on a piece.

It just sits directly on the concrete floor.