TO RAISE OR NOT TO RAISE?

Water Heaters with Sealed Combustion Chambers

To raise when installed in a garage or not to raise?

Newly Designed Water Heaters Flame Vapor Ignition Resistant Units (FVIR)

To meet the American National Standards Institute’s new standard for gas water heaters, a new water heater has been introduced to the market. The objective is to reduce the potential of fire or explosion from flammable vapors ignited by gas water heaters. When you remove the inspection shield, a device called an arrestor plate is now installed at the combustion chamber. The arrestor plate will allow flammable vapor along with the combustible air to be pulled through and ignited. But the plate keeps the flame from passing back through to the atmosphere. Another safety feature is a temperature sensor that recognizes the event and shuts off the burner as well.

As of April 29, 2011 the majority of the cities in the Tulsa metro are do not require water heaters with sealed combustion chambers to be raised. Should this become an issue on one of your home inspections you should call the city building inspector of the city the home is located in and ask him. Most of the time you will get his voice mail as they normally leave their office around 8:30 am and don't come back until after 4:00 pm. Leave a message and they are very good about returning your call.

Information from Cravens Home Inspection Service newsletter.