How To Secure Your Water Heater Against an Earthquake

If you live in an earthquake prone area, you need to strap down and secure your water heater so it won't fall over during a tremor. Here's how I secured mine; while you won't be able to replicate my setup exactly, hopefully this will inspire you to install, upgrade, or at least check and confirm that yours is safe.

Step 1: What an earthquake can do

Most water heaters I've seen are held in place by their own weight and, perhaps, the water connections. In earthquake prone areas that's not enough. Think of shaking a table with a tall glass of water sitting on it, or check out these movies of simulated earthquakes:
http://seismo.berkeley.edu/~rallen/seishaz/buildings/CUREEtest/
http://seismo.berkeley.edu/~rallen/seishaz/buildings/CUREEtest/officedinning.mpeg
See how the water heater just falls over?

You might be thinking that if there's a strong enough earthquake to tip over my water heater, I've probably got bigger issues. Perhaps true, but I don't want to add fire from broken gas lines and flood from broken water lines into the mix.

You'll note in the pictures, I've already installed a flexible gas line, and semi-flexible water lines. The water lines are ribbed copper pipes that have some flex to them.

Comments

[Derin]

OMG LAG (screw)

[DrStoooopid]

also, adding rubber feet to the bottom of the water heater would help with the shock....something not quite as hard as a hockey puck, but not nearly as soft as foam rubber. Maybe urethane bushing material

[zachninme]

Sorry I'm commenting so late, but... Doesn't it seem that putting that support back there would not help? After all, in an earthquake, you'd rather have it fall slightly backward, where nothing would break (Due to flexible pipes), than for it to fall forward?

[ewilhelm]

The intention is that the water heater will not fall at all. The metal straps brace it into the corner against the back support.

[Phineas Rhyne]

As an added bonus, keeping your water heater secure in an earthquake solves the pesky "two weeks of fresh, drinkable water" dilemna in your earthquake preparedness kit. Provided you can get to the heater, you can tap it for a secure source of potable water after a quake.

[mje]

I see you're using flexible water and gas connectors- you might want to add a mention of that in your instructable.

[ewilhelm]

Step 1 already mentions the flexible gas line, but I'll also note the water lines.

[Brennn10]

Nice job! Great thinking because you are in California! Here in PA, earthquakes are as rare as elephants!

[ich bin ein pyro]

yes because every day i too worry about my water heater being knocked over by an earthquake... lol anyway nice instructable...and what happened to that keyboard?

[HamO]

Very well done. Great pix and a relevant instructable. Good job!