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I have a small 20 gal Electric water heater that had a 6 yr warranty when originally purchased 10 yrs ago. Today it is still working nicely. Initially the first year, I was replacing the electrical heating element on my own. Three in one year. Being a retired mechanic and having built my house myself was determined to figure out why the problem. Bought NEW thermostat and again had same problem burning up the heating element.So now what to do. Took the old unit apart to see what made it tick. There was nothing to it, but still looked NEW. Finally figured the problem. Thermostat was a heat inductive unit that was supposed to turn off the electrical element on reaching a certain temperature. Problem was that it would NOT TURN OFF. So, I instead connected the power cord (120) to a TIMER set to come on certain parts of the day when HOT water was mostly needed for laundry/dishes/shower. Been 10 yrs and NOOOOOOO problems. Steve
I think that you could either be lucky or unlucky with one of those. 5 years into mine, it ruptured while we were on vacation. Luckily, it's in the garage and the damage was minimal. A few years later, all of our neighbors still have the original and no problems.
Sounds like you are a genius. Good fix as long as it fulfills your needs when you want the hot water.
Hot water tanks can be a crap shoot. Some go well beyond the warrantee and others crap out sooner. All depends on how lucky you feel after 10 years. I would make sure you minimize the potential damage if it suddenly starts leaking.
First one died of calcium build up after 20 years. Second one is about 1/3 full of rock. Never had a proplem with thermostats but I did install a timer switch (Little Grey Box and a cutoff switch) to save energy. Next step is to add insulation.
I had a similar problem with the unit not shutting off when it reached proper temp. I discovered the previous owner had removed the thermostat from the tank, so it was hanging on the wires, and sencing air temp rather than tank water temp. Screwed it back on the tank and it worked fine after that.
As far as how long to use a heater before replacing, I just replaced one in a rental. it was 11 years old, and still working good. It was 40 gallons, and wouldn't keep up with the renters 5 kids, so I replaced it with a new 80 gallon heater.
The technogoly has improved so much since the old one was installed, the 80 gallon heater costs half as much to operate, so living with an old one that is way past it's warrantee period, is costing a lot more than it is saving.
Replace it with a new low energy, cost saving unit...!
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