The pex connections to the water heater should be 18" away from the top of the gas heater. Use metal flex lines where permitted or solid pipe.

Note this only applies to gas water heaters because of the potential hot flue gases. Electric, tankless and powervent where there's no exposure to high vent heat will allow direct connections.

This post was edited by jakethewonderdog on Tue, Jun 17, 14 at 14:39