Things You'll Need:
- pipe wrench, tape measure, pipe cutter.
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Step 1
The nice thing about a gas water heater is that you do not have to deal with any electrical. The first thing needed is to shut off all utilities that are connecting to the hot water tank (gas / water) then drain out all the water inside the tank. The drain screw should be on the side of the tank close to the bottom, if its not on the side it will be located on the bottom of the tank.
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Step 2
Things to remember, Normal water lines are PVC pipe or steel, the gas lines are copper. Now sometimes all you will see is copper pipe coming off the tank if this is the case you will have to follow the pipe to figure out what line is gas / water. Also hot water tanks come in all different sizes its best to measure the height of the tank and try to buy a new one the same size.
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Step 3
Installing the new tank, like stated above if your tank isn't the same size and or the lines are in a different spots then the old ones you will need a small propane torch and some copperweld wire to connect the copper lines at any seem. Same goes with the PVC pipe, you will need to get PVC adhesive to connect any seems. The ducking that runs off the top of the hot water tank will not need anything at the seems to seal it off.
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Step 4
After all the lines are installed turn all the utilities back on to check to see if its working and if there is any leaks, water leaks are easy to spot but gas leaks are not. while the tank is heating up smell around all the lines that where in any way touched, just because you don't have a leak where you installed any new lines will not mean that a pipe didn't crack at a seem some where else, so be sure to check everything.
