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what if I want to replace it with a tankless heater.
With the cold snap our hot water heater which is in the garage froze leaving us with no water. THe plumber came unfroze it and all was good until yesterday when we lost hot water. The pilot won't stay on.
I'm hoping for an easy fix but if I do have to replace it I'm considering going tankless.
Any comments?
Is Don Woods Plumbing good for this stuff. They came out in 30 minutes when we had no water early this week and price seemed decent. Only 80.
Try posting your questions over on the "House" section. There are a few plumbers who post there who are knoledgable about this. From some of the threads I've read over there, there could be some electrical upgrades required.
Good luck.
I am not sure were you are located but going tankless will not stop the freezing. The pilot sounds like an easy fix. Also, I would leave a faucet or two running (barely a steam, a little more than a drip) to keep water moving, that will help keep the pipes from freezing up. If I was to guess a gas tankless is going to run around $1500.00. A rescent job down here in the warmer climate cost a homeowner $2700 to go from an electric tank to a gas tankless.
There are a number of reasons I would think twice before going to a tankless system. There is a higher initial cost (although if you go gas, you already have the line installed, which cuts some of it). The savings is questionable, based pretty much only on not having losses from an insulated tank of water. The convenience is debatable, since the water now has to get heated in addition to making the trip from the tank to the faucet. Granted it is fairly fast, but it is still another delay. If you have kids, there is no warning to them "Ooh Ooh! Dad's goina' have a cow. I used up all the hot water again..." Instead, they get a different warning "Hmmm, I've been in the shower two hours and my fingerprints are starting to wash off?" Excessive capability is a predecessor to excessive waste.
I researched tankless very thoroughly because I wanted to go that way. After getting an education on them, I won't have one for a variety of reasons.
The initial cost is high, the installation costs as much as the unit, due to expensive necessary changes. The size of the gas line must be increased. The gas line feeding your W/H isn't large enough. The vent has to be changed to Stainless Steel, due to the intense heat. All the changes are expensive. Even after they are installed, they aren't all they are cracked up to be...
The payback would be 20 years. I suggest sticking with a quality normal H/W heater. Much cheaper and less hassle.
The reason you lost gas flow to the hot water heater could be water in the gas pilot / control box - fuel line on the heater froze up.
There is always trace amounts of water in the gas supply lines. Very small openings in some of the places in the controls, easy to plug if below freezing.
Should be a drip leg on the fuel line before the heater. Can check that to see if ice is in there. Try raising the general temperature around the hot water heater with something like a heat lamp. Use no heat with an open flame to thaw things out.
What you describe sounds like lost of gas flow for some reason. Ice blockage is the best guess.
We just bought a new 80 gallon hot water heater yesterday at Sears. With the different fees, I think it was $932. $10 to remove it and we did buy the warranty. They said that after 90 days, if there is a problem, there is a $70 fee for the service call. Installation was over $200. Hope this is helpful.
Craigslist in our area had a new 50 gal gas hot water heater listed for about $100. The downturn in construction may have caught some companies with a few they need to get rid of.
I'm of the old school, and keep my 50 gal electric water heater set at about 160. It sits in the heated space of the home, in it's own closet, so any radiation loss is minimal and picked up within the house. The 160 heat keeps the water sanitary and I have the quantity of hot water available that is similar to an 80 gal unit set at 130.
There are some very good reasons to go with a larger heater, but for us, this is a better solution.
Craigslist in our area had a new 50 gal gas hot water heater listed for about $100. The downturn in construction may have caught some companies with a few they need to get rid of.
I'm of the old school, and keep my 50 gal electric water heater set at about 160. It sits in the heated space of the home, in it's own closet, so any radiation loss is minimal and picked up within the house. The 160 heat keeps the water sanitary and I have the quantity of hot water available that is similar to an 80 gal unit set at 130.
There are some very good reasons to go with a larger heater, but for us, this is a better solution.
i do the same thing harry. only downside is, i remember my power bill going up about $25/mo after raising the temp.
and as for the hot water delay someone mention earlier, you can put a re-circulator under the sink furthest from the w/h. you only need a receptacle under there to plug it in.
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Could be water vapor........
