Attic Water Heater Installation in Rowlett

The model plumbing code from the International Code Council asks for a pan under a storage heater wherever a leak could cause damage. It sets the pan at least 1.5 inches deep, large enough to catch the drips and condensation, with a drain of at least 3/4 inch that runs full size to an approved place: a floor drain, an indirect waste receptor, or the outside of the building, where the outlet ends between 6 and 24 inches above the ground. The code doesn't require a pan when you replace a heater that never had one, which is why so many older attic heaters still have none.

We price the pan and drain line as a named option on replacement jobs, and we recommend them in any attic. A pan without a drain only delays a leak, and a drain that ends in the attic is no drain at all. Because Texas cities adopt model codes by ordinance and may amend them, we confirm Rowlett's edition for each job.

DFW Airport's normal high is 95.6 degrees in July and 95.8 in August, with 20.2 days a year at or above 100 and a record of 113 in June 1980. An attic runs well above the outside air in that weather. The heater itself is insulated and built for it, but the controls, the pipe insulation and the person doing the work are not. That is why we schedule attic jobs for the cooler part of the day in summer.

The winter has its own cost: DFW averages 29.2 days a year at or below 32 degrees, and an uninsulated pipe in a cold attic can freeze on a hard night. Insulating the supply lines is part of the install.

There are three honest options for an attic heater, and which is right depends on the tank's age and the room under it.

• Keep it and add a pan. For a young tank in a sound spot, a pan and drain line can often be added. Cheapest, and it fixes the biggest risk.
• Replace in place. For a tank near the end of its life, a swap with a pan, drain line, relief pipe and expansion tank is estimated at $2,200 to $3,800.
• Move it. A relocation to a garage or utility room costs more up front, since it adds pipe and sometimes a vent or circuit, and removes the risk altogether. See the relocation page.

If the heater is above a bedroom and past 10 years old, we recommend the second or third. The U.S. Department of Energy puts a storage tank's life at 10 to 15 years.

In the homes rebuilt after the December 2015 tornado, about 854 of the 1,000 homes the city first assessed were impacted, and the heaters installed in rebuilds are now up to about 10 years old. Where those heaters sit in attics, they are the ones to look at first. In new row homes and townhomes, such as those going up at Sapphire Bay, the heater is often in a closet or attic for space, and the same pan and drain questions apply on day one.