# How many bends allowed for water heater venting



## wvphysics (Jan 2, 2010)

Have a gas water heater. The venting uses a blower and a 3" PVC pipe to go about 9 feet to the wall. I need to move it because the pipe goes through the middle of the unfinished bathroom beside which I want to finish. I will need the equivalent of 3 or 4 90 degree angles on the vent to get it up into the ceiling and then to the wall. Is thee a general limit maybe by national code, or is it specific to model. 

Also, if it is code, state code here is basically whatever national code us (national electric code, etc...).


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## Alan (Apr 12, 2006)

I am pretty sure it's model specific, since not all water heaters use the same blowers. 

I don't do much in the way of gas heaters though, so hopefully someone else will chime in.


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## NHMaster (Dec 21, 2009)

The installation directions will give you the exact number of bends and the total length of pipe allowed. You MUST follow the manufacturers directions here.


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## LateralConcepts (Jun 6, 2010)

How old is the heater? My experience with Power Vent heaters is that they have lots of problems and are expensive to repair or replace. Typical lifespan on a water heater is 8-12 years. If it is around that age, I would replace it with an electric heater and eliminate the venting all together.


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## NHMaster (Dec 21, 2009)

What problems? Admittedly some brands are better than others but properly installed and serviced they will last as long as any water heating appliance.


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## wvphysics (Jan 2, 2010)

I don't have any problems with mine, just that the installer was too lazy to work around hvac ducting above it to go into the ceiling, instead he just ran it straight over through the unfinished bathroom. Found the manual and looks like the answer is I can do 3 90 degree long sweep elbows which should be sufficient.


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## NHMaster (Dec 21, 2009)

See.... it's all in the manual :thumbsup:


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## wvphysics (Jan 2, 2010)

Now that I've found how many bends I can have, I have another question. Can any of the piping be horizontal? The easiest way for me to run the pipes is to have one 90 to go horizontally about 16" then another 90 to run it vertical the. The last 90 to runhorizontql thru the wall. The manual doesn't say anything about running horizontal, but does have a couple diagrams that show it running horizontal.


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## Alan (Apr 12, 2006)

Thats the reason for having a heater with a blower exhaust on it. If you didn't have the blower you'd be required to have the pipe in the vertical position only. :thumbup:


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