Rant- stuff that doesn't fit

[jml755]

Bought a replacement Rheem tankless water heater and mounted it on an outside wall in same position as old heater. Old heater vent was vertical through the ceiling, non stainless and new style required S/S venting. Decided to change to a horizontal vent setup. Bought the horizontal vent kit from Rheem that was designed to work with the heater model. Went to install the vent kit and found that in order for the elbow to fit through the wall, the heater needed to be mounted AT LEAST 5.5 in AWAY FROM THE WALL. Nowhere in the heater instructions OR the vent kit instructions do they indicate a minimum for clearance to the wall in a horizontal vent situation. In fact, the brackets that come with the heater only allow adjustment for about 2" clearance to the wall.

I'm going to have to rig something up to make it work. The whole purpose of getting the kit made for the heater was so that I wouldn't have to figure out adapter sizes, pipe lengths, etc. Most of the instructions were boiler-plate stuff warning about dangers of CO poisoning. Stuff that the lawyers made them add, I'm sure. Not much about the actual installation and NOTHING about dimensions.

Sorry for the rant, but this isn't the first time I've bought something that didn't fit its intended use and I've had to modify it.

[JazzDad]

Rant away, that's fine! In fact, mind if I join in?
I had to buy another crummy garbage disposal just because I didn't want to re-plumb everything. The original had a 3 year warranty and it lasted just 4. The replacement, which is the same model number, now only carries a 2 year warranty. Does this mean in 3 years I'll be buying one that will be guaranteed for only 1 year? I think I see a nasty pattern developing here. [img]/forums/images/icons/mad.gif[/img]

[Pat]

A few years ago I bought a name brand direct vent propane fired gas log fireplace to put in my mom's great room and struggled to install it IAW the instructions. Couldn't do it! Set the instructions aside, reverse engineered what would have to happen to get the desired effect and proceeded to install the appliance. Later I called the supplier (wholesale warehouse that gave me 30% off the retail price being asked at a couple propane dealers) and told them what crap the instructions were and they said I was probably the first and only person ever to read the instructions much less try to follow them.

Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do!

Pat

[egon]

Whatever happened to composting? [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Egon [img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]