Power Vent Water Heater Fail

Why a Power Vent Water Heater Might Fail

This power vent water heater has too many bends! In this video, Troy goes over what that really means. Also, those flashing lights on the heater are actually telling us something. Some signs to consider with a failing water heater include discolored water, water buildup around the unit, lukewarm water temperature, strange noises, length of time since repair/replacement. If you have a power vent water heater that needs repair or has an interest in converting to a tankless water heater, give us a call!

Watch our Video and You’ll Learn:

• How To Make Sure Your Power Vent Water Heater Doesn’t Fail.
• Reason Why Power Vent Water Heater May Fail.
• Things To Do To Avoid Power Vent Water Heater Failure.

Listen To The Audio

Enjoy this transcript below!

Troy: Hey everybody, Troy. Champion Plumbing out of Eagan, Minnesota. I’m up at the shop today where we install a power vent water heater as you can see right there. We installed the power water heater. The manual on these now says that it doesn’t have a maximum turn for the venting. The old manual said you could have three turns on two inch and five turns on three inch. The new manual just gives you a set foot amount, 55 feet, take off five feet for each turn. Well, we did that. We maxed it out. We went 30 feet because the manual says it gives you 55 feet with five feet for each turn so if you put three turns on you’d take away 15 feet.

In this case, we maxed out what the manual said we could do, which is 30 feet. Here it is in the background, 30 feet with five turns on two inch venting. We did that. We fired it up, it lasted two weeks and now it’s throwing an error code. I’m going to flip this around and show you the error code. We’re getting a three flash and a five flash … Or six, so it’s flashing six and it’s flashing three, which tells us that basically the venting, it’s overloading the venting, long story short, so we’re going back what we’ve always stuck with, but we’ve had some pushback on the turns.

If you have more than three turns on two inch venting, not counting your termination, so what it says in the manual, you do not count the termination, then you’re going to run into problems, you just are. We did once at a customer’s house, and so we rebuilt it up in our shop, again, Champion Plumbing out of Eagan, talking about power vent water heaters, which you’ve heard me go on a rant before I don’t like, they cost too much. They cost more to install. They don’t last as long, so if you can stick with a gravity vent you’re going to be money ahead.

These are a little bit more efficient but it doesn’t pay itself off ever.

Again, the heaters cost almost double, the installation costs more, and they don’t last as long. If your house was built with one you’re stuck with that or you could switch to a tankless water heater, that is highly recommended. Yeah, it costs more to get it installed but it’s going to last twice as long and it’s a lot more efficient. Talking water heaters, power vent water heater.

Again, our niche in the plumbing world is water heaters so we’re speaking from education. We do a lot of water heaters so if you have the need for a water heater, have questions about a water heater, give us a call, 651-365-1340 or look us up on the web, www.championplumbing.net.