I have the option of placing the water heater in my new home in the attic, a more central location, or putting it out in the workroom in the garage. I know there is a risk of placing it in the attic that it leaks and damages stuff inside the house. But how much of a risk is this really? I know a lot of the new homes put these things in the attic. I figure the bigger concern would be replacing it down the road and just the ease of access to remove it. It's a NG water heater (not tankless). Would the benefit of getting hot water more quickly to the showers and faucets (the garage is attached but a good distance from the master and kids' rooms) outweigh the risk (however big) of a leak down the road? Thoughts appreciated.

Depending where you are some local municipalities are not letting it in the attic anymore - reason is when old one goes out nobody removes it then you have 2 waterheaters upstairs and one just sitting with a large dead load over an area not meant to support it.

Most energy efficient is a centralized location in a closet.

If you put it in the attic use a larger attic access ladder - 22in is too small to get a new unit up.

I wouldn't recommend anyone put a water heater in an attic unless it was tankless, mainly because I've just seen too many problems come from it. It's nasty if it leaks and isn't caught immediately, plus the extreme trouble of removing/replacing it when it dies. That could be less than 10 years if you're in Central TX or have water as hard as it is there. If you insist on putting one up there remember to keep in mind the size of the attic access in addition to stairs or a pull down ladder that can support the weight of a dead water heater + 2 feet of sediment + two people trying to maneuver it.

our old house had it in the attic and when it was time to replace it most of the plumbers wanted double the install fee. granted that would only be a few hundred dollars every 10 years or so but that and the risk of leaking makes it not worth it in my opinion

I cringed watching the installers replace mine in the attic. Two guys struggling mightily...I thought the folding ladder was going to shatter underneath them.

I cringed again when I got the bill...easily 2X the cost of a non-attic install.

Even stuff like maintenance is a PITA (i.e. draining it annually) compared to if it were in the garage.

We do get hot water quick upstairs, but it's not worth it IMO.

I agree with the posts above recommending ground floor location. Also, that makes it more convenient to periodically flush it for accumulated sediment. I hate to think what mine in the attic has in it now.

We built our home 17 years ago. I wanted the HWH in the attic so it would not take up any of my precious space in our 3 car garage. My cousin that was doing the plumbing said it would be a matter of when not if that we had a problem but we went ahead w/the attic installation anyhow. We replaced it after about 10 years as a preventive measure. Very expensive & a lot of trouble. It has been 7 yrs & it needed to be replaced again. We put in a tankless in Jan. DON'T PUT IT IN THE ATTIC-YOU WILL BE SORRY.

If you floor plan allows no other location than the attic, then put it over the garage, as near to the 26" (not 22") attic stair as you can.

Be sure to have a full set of isolation valves in place, and use extra-long connecting pipes (or union in some 18" long "mipples" so that later tanks with differing pipe connections can be accommodated.

Do not--unless local code requires it--install a drip pan. When the heater fails, you want it dripping where you can see it right away. (Over a garage, you could use a drain grating.)

Really smart to pre-connect the drain valve on the off chance that the tank will get that sort of service. "Wet vent" (if allowed) to a stack, or plumb to daylight somewhere.

And, in case it sounds like I totally hate WH in the attic--that is not entirely true. I save my ultimate hate-on for WH only partially in the attic; it's the worst of both worlds. (Yeah, I lived with that for 12 years and 2 WH, and never changed it--I was a an idiot.)

We have had two water heaters leak, one was minor and having the water appear on the utility room floor was a signal. We had time to attach a water hose and drain it then move it out and shop for the new one.

The second leak was the bottom giving out and flooding the utility room, kitchen, dining room(we were using it as a bedroom) and half our sunken LR apparently all night...........A COMPLETE MESS!

I just replaced one of the two HWH's that are located in my upstairs attic. Access in the attic wasn't much of an issue, but the two guys struggled mightily getting it down to the second floor through the attic access ladder. If you insist on attic installation, make sure you have a catch pan and drain line with enough capacity in case you have a major failure.

If you are worried about the garage installation taking forever to get hot water to the nether regions of your house, I would recommend installing a recycle pump in your house. The latest ones will learn the hot water use patterns of your house and recycle during those peak periods. It will run you about $500, but it might save you that in water loss and potential risk of water damage from the HWH in a few years.

AKA 13-0

in terms of risk of leak, it's probably somewhat low as long as you keep an eye on things and keep sediment drained and replace the unit proactively when it comes time.

just be prepared to pay a lot more for replacement, or like others said get a lot of buddies to help move that sucker if you DIY.

if i had a choice, i'd put it on ground level somewhere if at all possible and do a recycle to the distant point.

We plan on being in this house for 10+ years so we will be replacing the water heater down the road. Since we have the space in the garage work room we are going to put it there. Thanks for all the advice.

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I wouldn't recommend anyone put a water heater in an attic unless it was tankless

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how feasible is it to have a tankless put in the attic? Is there additional cost involved like there would be if I wanted a tankless installed in our garage?

I am contemplating this since ours is in the attic of the house we moved in too. It is about 9 years old so I don't want to have to worry about a leak and trying to do this preventatively.

The conversion from a tank water heater to tankless can be easy or hard, depending on what you have installed already. The bigger issue is gas line size and exhaust, as well as air for the combustion. If those have to be increased (or installed), that can be a huge added cost.

Another thing to think about is the energy savings. Unless you never use hot water (or you always use it) a tankless really won't save you that much money. I think the articles (and other threads on TA about this idea) say the payback period for a conversion from tank to tankless is about 10-15 years, which is longer than the life of the tankless heater.

~egon

Garage without question for tanks. If you go thankless then the attic is not as bad, but I would still go garage if it is an option.