I must have either missed that one or it was before my time. I love those kinds of posts, in fact I just posted a thread of vacation photos chock-full of violations. You may have already seen them elsewhere.
I agree with you about doing it right. Here's how I reworked mine at home. Sorry about the mess in the utility room, we were cleaning it out at the time. I just ran a piece of PVC straight up from it. The disconnect is on the wall to the left of the heater. By the way, I had nothing to do with that horrible plumbing; it was done when the house was built.