# Second floor water heater drip pan and T&P drains



## bob_cntrctr (Jan 30, 2008)

Gentlemen,

I think I posted a thread about this a couple of years ago, but, frankly, I've never been completely satisfied with this subject, so here goes again.

You've got a two storey home with full basement. Second storey bathrooms and an electric water heater in a service closet on the second floor.

The heater must sit in a drip pan and the drip pan must have a 3/4" drain. The T&P valve must also have a 3/4" drain and cannot terminate in the drip pan. Both must separately go either outside or drain into another drain, like a floor drain or a fixture.

In places where it's -10F two months of the year, noone wants to terminate outside. The second floor bathrooms don't have floor drains.

This is why I personally have yet to see a second floor water heater installed with every aspect of code satisfied. Maybe I just hang out in the wrong places.

So I'm working on a place, we've got the first floor ceilings and second floor walls open, it's really the right time to bring this up to code - - but frankly it looks like the "right" way to do it is to run two 3/4" drain lines all the way down to the basement to the floor drain or the sump. Which, if you ask me, completely defeates the purpose of the drain lines being visible so people can detect T&P problems, 'cause noone's gonna be checking out this dark corner of the basement regularly to see if there's a drip from these lines.

Maybe I'm just missing somthing.

Thanks.


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## thom (Nov 3, 2006)

I've done them where we set the water heater on a standard shower pan that is plumbed into the waste/vent system. The T&P terminates above the flood level rim of the shower pan as does the necessary trap primer. 

It's simple, cheap, and the inspectors have looked favorably on the installation.


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## genecarp (Mar 16, 2008)

Agreed with above post--------------vent


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## bob_cntrctr (Jan 30, 2008)

Ya, I was thinking just turn the closet into a mini-shower. Mine's not a standard shower pan size, but what the heck - so I'll mud a 20" shower. Doesn't have to be pretty.

By definition I've got the cold water line in there - perfect spot for a pressure-drop primer, it'll get acutated everytime anyone turns anything on in any bathroom.


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## rbsremodeling (Nov 12, 2007)

I do it like Tom suggested or use a condensate pump.


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## bob_cntrctr (Jan 30, 2008)

Ho ho - shower pan - non-standard size - - 20" x 20" - - aha! A laundry tub! Cut down to a few inches tall - drain built in ready to go, no mudding - love it.


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## bob_cntrctr (Jan 30, 2008)

Just to update and close off this thread - I ended up mudding a traditional shower pan in the service closet and connecting a full drain with vent, then adding a trap primer on the toilet supply line. A 9" curb across the front of the closet and 6" of tile up the wall and curb. Nice little set up - everything can just drain into the floor of the service closet 'cause it's a shower.


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## protechplumbing (Oct 10, 2008)

Why can't you simply oversize and insulate the drains on the outside?



bob_cntrctr said:


> Gentlemen,
> 
> I think I posted a thread about this a couple of years ago, but, frankly, I've never been completely satisfied with this subject, so here goes again.
> 
> ...


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