The Heat Source

Let me explain again that the purpose was to have supplemental heat. The house is 18x36 so I wanted a very basic system and not spend a lot of money. After much research I decided upon the:

Richmond-Rheem 50 Gallon LP Gas 6 Year Tall Power Vent Water Heater from Menards.

There are many other quality heaters with big range of prices and features. This heater was my choice because of price and what I was wanting to accomplish.

This was a new install just for the radiant heat and not connected with the house electric hot water heater. Many plans out there that would have made that possible but I was wanting a simple system.

I needed to extend the gas line to the new water heater and was able to buy all fittings and pipe from Lowes and never had to cut or thread one piece.

This was my rough layout on Dec 11, 2015

(yes that is baler twine)

Being able to move the empty heater around helped with gas line fit.

I decided to fill the heater with water before installing the vent.
Filled it with a garden hose up to the pressure relief valve.
The heater is now very stable and gas line secured.

My first surprise of the install is shown in picture below.

I thought I would be drilling into an 8 inch concrete block.
Instead it was a 12 inch block filled with concrete.
This is our daughter's house but I never looked at the foundation detail before. My fault.

A big "THANK YOU" to neighbor Jim and his hammer drill

I had to drill from outside also because bits would not go through 12 block.

Initially I was trying to figure out how to connect to lines above the electric water heater in picture.

It was so easy to cut in on washer supply with a push-to-connect Tee.
SharkBite makes amazing fittings.
They are somewhere between magic and ultimate engineering.

I put in a ball valve, turned house water back on and was ready to go.
(yes more twine)

I leak tested the gas line and fired it up. Of course I did not let it run to bring up the water temperature because at this point it was not connected to any plumbing for the hot water. This was just an operation test. Always a good feeling to not have any leaks or malfunctions.