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I just had a plumber install a new 50 gallon water heater, but the cold water pipe is installed to the hot side (the left pipe when facing the front of the heater) and the hot water pipe is installed to the cold side (the right pipe when facing the front of the heater). Is this ok? I thought that the cold water pipe had to go into the cold intake value and the hot water pipe would be connected to the hot value.

So I called the plumber and he said that everything is installed correctly. And he wouldn't change the plumbing.

Tester101
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James
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5 Answers5

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Yes, reversing them would be a bad thing. The cold water should be entering the bottom of the tank, the hot output at the top:

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I'd insist that the plumber fix this. But if they won't, I'd suggest picking up a pipe cutter, some sharkbite connectors, and just fix it yourself. Shouldn't take more than a half hour to do so.

DA01
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I wonder.....are there some water headers made where the cold water dip tube can be dropped into either pipe from the top of the unit?

Strange I know answering a question with another question.

Such swappable scheme would lend itself to some replacement installations where the Hot/Cold lines of the existing plumbing are opposite to the factory default H/C pipes of the heater. A quick swap of the dip tube would solve this problem nicely.

I have had heater installations in previous homes where the water lines to the heater were fixed pipes attached to the heater without flexible couplers. As such, without it being a big plumbing project, it was far more convenient to redo the coupler pipes directly.

Michael Karas
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Apparently yes, it does mater! This article explains that the hot water will not be produced to it's efficiency.

SteveR
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You can switch the dip tube to the other side and everything will work fine, however in certain areas it is not code to do that and will not pass a plumbing inspection

user46979
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if you toliet water is hot then yes its hooked up backwards

mike
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