I have never seen this type of water heater

[mathew stouffer]

Do you know what type of water heater this is. I have never seen the "vent" running up the side of the unit. The house was built in 1997. I could not access manufacture information because that piece of crap cabinet was in the way.

[Scott Patterson]

Looks like a common direct vent water heater. The pipe on the side looks like someone added a "make-up" air supply pipe; why and for what reason is a mystery. That DV water heater gets it's combustion air from the the pipe on the top that also contains the exhaust flue pipe.

[James Bohac]

The pipe on the right looks like some type of intake for combustion air. It appears to exhaust out the top. I'd be curious about the rise and clearances of the exhast flue.

[mathew stouffer]

I thought the same thing with the combustion air, but the pipe on the side was hot. Clearance on the exhuast vent was a concern as well. Furthermore, he sealed it with foam insulation.

[James Bohac]

Is the pipe on the side directly attached to the burner chamber? I wonder if the unit could be back drafting out the bottom. Is heat coming out the top of that pipe?

[mathew stouffer]

James,
Good point. The pipe was pretty hot, you could not hold you finger on it for morre than 20 seconds.

[Scott Patterson]

If it is a direct vent the burn chamber is sealed, it can not back draft out the bottom.
Looking closer at the picture it almost looks like the pipe on the side has a connection to the tank at the base.

I did some research and this might be what you have. Do you know what brand it is??
http://www.bradfordwhite.com/images/shared/pdfs/manuals/45839C.pdf

[John Arnold]

I believe that side pipe is air intake. It goes up and seems to connect to the vent pipe because they both go to the outside as an integrated unit, as we often see with condensing furnaces.

[mathew stouffer]

Thanks. Any idea the age of this beast.

[Billy Stephens]

Any idea the age of this beast.
.
The Competent Licensed Plumber( you recommended )should tell them the Age. ;)
* after proper access has been provided.
.

[Gary Bottomley]

I am not real familiar with this type of heater either but it would seam that the intake pipe could be warm but shouldn't be hot! I would point that out in the report and refer it to a plumber.
Matt, the yellow tag on the side looks like it might be a installation diagram that would give you the information for you to figure out the basics of this type of heater.
Scott;
Great effort for the two additional attachments to help explain what this installation most likely is. It was very informative and added to my knowledge base also which should be the entire purpose of Message Boards for Home Inspectors.

I am new to Inspection News, joining just a few weeks ago. One of the first threads I got into was the inquiry about tests for Chinese Drywall. I was appalled with the way this thread deviated from the original question and the derogatory and downright hateful in some cases that spun off this innocent, meaningful and well intended question.

After that, I was ready to drop this group but with informative information and efforts from inspectors like Scott, maybe I will stay on.

Any comments from Hann Tech Marketing?

[John Arnold]

...
I am new to Inspection News, joining just a few weeks ago. One of the first threads I got into was the inquiry about tests for Chinese Drywall. I was appalled with the way this thread deviated from the original question and the derogatory and downright hateful in some cases that spun off this innocent, meaningful and well intended question.

After that, I was ready to drop this group...

Gary - The great majority of threads on this board are straightforward and useful. I have learned over the years that I don't have to read the ones that deviate or degenerate, unless I want to, for entertainment purposes, or, rarely, to participate in said degeneration.
Same with individual posters. There are some I ignore and just a couple I block completely. Take control of your own use of the board, and enjoy!

[walter bailey]

Mathew, just out of curiosity, did you look inside the cabinet ? It looks like there are pipes coming and going from the top. Or, the pipes are behind the cabinet. In that case, disregard my curiosity.

Walter

[Mitchell Toelle]

Matt,

The presence of strapping indicates that strapping is required in your area. Is it? And if so, Are those compliant with local requirements? I'm from California, where seismic strapping becomes much more of an issue...and even our local Inspectors and AHJ disagree on how they should be done. Just thought I would mention.

Also, not shown in photo, but what about sediment trap on gas supply?

[Dom D'Agostino]

It looks like an American Direct Vent. They have a plate attached to the top vent, with that combustion/fresh air pipe running down the back.

Check the install guide page 27 for a diagram here:

http://www.americanwaterheater.com/support/manuals/direct-vent.pdf

Dom.

[Michael Chambers]

James,
Good point. The pipe was pretty hot, you could not hold you finger on it for morre than 20 seconds.
That's actually quite a long time, and I think not unreasonable for intake air that is routed in directly around the exhaust vent pipe as this appears to be. You are probably right however, if you're thinking that there probably should be some guarding/clearances specified to keep young fingers from getting burned. It would be prudent for the buyer to determine the manufacturer, model, etc., and to obtain a copy of the original installation instructions and safety precautions.