need a new water heater - options? (Home Depot, furnace, pool)
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I was gonna go with a tankless but my plumber talked me out of it. Most require a larger size gas line and a lot of the. Do not like to work with a HE washer. Something about the way a HE washer adds water. I had a regular tank WH in my house for 20 years. It was in since I bought the house so I don't know how old it is. My plumber said you change the WH when it breaks.
Turn up the temp a bit see if that makes a difference. If it doesn't then switch to a new same type heater
Good point about the HE washer. They add water in stages, which causes an on demand to short fire. That's hard on them. They aren't designed for short spurt operation. There is also the consideration of the new venting that must be installed with an on demand. The flue pipe ain't cheap, and venting mods can be a nightmare, depending on the mechanical room layout.
Thus, I will recommend going R&R. Just replace your current unit with a like model. Tank types are much cbeaper to buy and install in situations like yours, and there have been a couple improvements made on storage types over the years to now.
Since it's just you using hot water, a tank type unit is just fine. No serious modifications to your gas or water piping will be necessary, which voing to an on demand would require, and a lot of extra stuff, such as a system leak check and pressure test can be avoided, unless you want them done. Anytime gas piping is modified or service interrupted, a leak check must be done and with pipe mods, a pressure test as well. That all costs money.
I just moved into a new house with an old water heater--home inspector estimated it to be 20 years old. Inspector found it to be working, but recommended that it be replace soon simply due to age. On one hand I understand that I'm playing with "house money" here but with real risk of losing it all in the form of a catastrophic leak. On the other hand... maybe older Bradford White units were built better and last longer because of the previous owner's careful maintenance? Replacing it simply out of fear seems like a waste, but I also don't know how much damage a broken water heater can do. Does it normally develop a leak first, or the entire content just gushes out? If the former, can I simply buy a water leak detector and simply monitor for any sign of leaking then replace?
When I bough my house last year, one if the water heaters was found to be 27 years old, original to the house which was built in 1985. Despite promising to not turn the off the water, the seller did when she moved out the day before settlement. When the water got turned back on the next day, it was rusty brown at all the hot water taps served by that unit. The insides were letting go and when the water pressure was removed then reapplied it busted all the rot loose.
By the time the plumber got there it was leaking externally.
I just moved into a new house with an old water heater--home inspector estimated it to be 20 years old. Inspector found it to be working, but recommended that it be replace soon simply due to age. On one hand I understand that I'm playing with "house money" here but with real risk of losing it all in the form of a catastrophic leak. On the other hand... maybe older Bradford White units were built better and last longer because of the previous owner's careful maintenance? Replacing it simply out of fear seems like a waste, but I also don't know how much damage a broken water heater can do. Does it normally develop a leak first, or the entire content just gushes out? If the former, can I simply buy a water leak detector and simply monitor for any sign of leaking then replace?
Yes, but why live in a state of concern? Home should be a peaceful place, IMO. Replacing isn't that expensive and some heaters don't give warning and just drop water everywhere. Hot water on wood floors, not a good thing. It depends on where the water would go. If the heater is in a closet in the center of the house or in an attic I would replace rather than monitor. In a garage or basement, I might monitor if I found the expense of replacing to pinch my budget.
Ignore any user who suggests buying a unit from a big box store; those units aren't really very good quality (particularly the Whirlpool units sold at Lowe's). You are better off buying a unit from a local plumber. Don't assume that the big box store units will always cost less; that is what the marketing guys at Lowe's and Home Depot want you to believe. Most plumbers are competitive with the big box stores in terms of price of a new unit, otherwise they wouldn't be in business.
My top choice of brand for conventional storage units is Bradford White, followed by Rheem/Ruud. If you decide on a conventional storage unit, look for an energy factor of at least 0.62. If you decide on tankless, note that there is the Bradford White EverHot series, which are actually rebranded Rinnai units.
Also, there is an alternative option to tankless that should have comparable efficiency; that would be fully condensing storage water heaters. One such model is the new Bradford White eF series, which have a thermal efficiency of 95%.
Alas, heat pumps don't work well where I live. A colleague of mine put in a system a few years ago -- it cost something like $20,000 to put in and was a nightmare from day 1, then the company went out of business. It was horrible.
Thanks again for the replies -- I'll rep you all! Anyone else want to chime in?
Look into reverse cycle chillers. They seem to work better in cooler climates. However, it likely wouldn't be cost effective for just your DHW supply. Heating/cooling your house is its main purpose.
I just moved into a new house with an old water heater--home inspector estimated it to be 20 years old. Inspector found it to be working, but recommended that it be replace soon simply due to age. On one hand I understand that I'm playing with "house money" here but with real risk of losing it all in the form of a catastrophic leak. On the other hand... maybe older Bradford White units were built better and last longer because of the previous owner's careful maintenance? Replacing it simply out of fear seems like a waste, but I also don't know how much damage a broken water heater can do. Does it normally develop a leak first, or the entire content just gushes out? If the former, can I simply buy a water leak detector and simply monitor for any sign of leaking then replace?
A likely process is that it will stop producing hot water first. Yes, slow leaks are likely when the tank starts to fail, but there's always a chance of it quickly becoming a large leak, causing a lot of damage.
I just moved into a new house with an old water heater--home inspector estimated it to be 20 years old. Inspector found it to be working, but recommended that it be replace soon simply due to age. On one hand I understand that I'm playing with "house money" here but with real risk of losing it all in the form of a catastrophic leak. On the other hand... maybe older Bradford White units were built better and last longer because of the previous owner's careful maintenance? Replacing it simply out of fear seems like a waste, but I also don't know how much damage a broken water heater can do. Does it normally develop a leak first, or the entire content just gushes out? If the former, can I simply buy a water leak detector and simply monitor for any sign of leaking then replace?
Could you please start your own thread since your question is not the same as mine? I just started this thread TODAY and you've already, well, hijacked it.
I apologized in PM and will apologize publicly--didn't mean to threadjack. I just thought to ask a similar question regarding water heater replacements (or in my case whether it's really necessary).
If i knew how to delete my post above I would, but I don't so I can't. Next best thing I guess is to ask everyone to give karen_in_nh_2012 all the attention as it's her thread.
Quote:
Originally Posted by karen_in_nh_2012
Could you please start your own thread since your question is not the same as mine? I just started this thread TODAY and you've already, well, hijacked it.
I apologized in PM and will apologize publicly--didn't mean to threadjack. I just thought to ask a similar question regarding water heater replacements (or in my case whether it's really necessary).
If i knew how to delete my post above I would, but I don't so I can't. Next best thing I guess is to ask everyone to give karen_in_nh_2012 all the attention as it's her thread.
You are so polite! Sorry, all, I was getting confused by some of the replies, then I realized you were responding to someone else's question ... I didn't mean to be b****y.
Quote:
Originally Posted by akck
Look into reverse cycle chillers. They seem to work better in cooler climates. However, it likely wouldn't be cost effective for just your DHW supply. Heating/cooling your house is its main purpose.
I already have 2 heating sources (just bought a pellet insert and have been using that the past 3+ weeks to basically heat the whole house -- love love love it!!) so it sounds like it wouldn't make sense for me.
I am actually going to have my propane company come and give me an estimate ... they also do installs of customer-bought items for current customers (which is why they said no when I called at my previous house -- the propane company at that house is different).
Any other things I should be considering, questions to ask, etc.?
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It was horrible.
