Any hot water heater experts here?

[ragtop69gs]

Being in the same area I remove the rods also . That rotten egg smell drives me nuts. No rod no smell.

 

It's a mineral in the water that causes it, I just can't remember which one.

[Bobby G]

We just replaced our gas water heater with a new 40 gal. Rheem in November. The old one was a 17 year old 60 gal Rheem, but since we are empty nesters, 40 gallons is more than enough. We also replaced all the fittings to brass, and inserted a magnesium rod to replace the stock anode, to provide better cathodic protection to the heater's inners, with no odor. We thought about going to an electric heater, but it was an insurance covered situation, and they would only do an apples-to-apples replacement. Good luck with yours.

[ctraylor]

I have a 40 gal in my house with 4 people and a son that takes 30 min. showers and we have never ran out of hot water. I think a 40 would be plenty big for just two people. It cost alot to heat that much water.

[davecb]

Don, you're a smart fellow. Didn't you know there's no such thing as a hot water heater? If the water was hot why would you need to heat it? I think you should be buying a cold water heater.

 

Sorry I couldn't help myself.....LOL

 

 

:sign yeah that:

[Midnight]

I wouldnt wait to long before replacing the heater based on the two experiences I have had once seeing rusty water.

I had a electric hot water heater fail a few years back at our home. The bottom of the tank simply let go at the seam and we had a major flood of rusty water. The heater was approx 18 years old and had been flushed occasionally. A few weeks prior we noticed our hot water was a bit rusty. I guess that was the warning sign.

I also had rusty hot water at another home we own. This water heater was about 12 years old. After the first experience with the flood I decided to simply replace it. Once I got the old one out I removed the cover and insulation and inspected the bottom of the tank as I was curious. Sure enough it was showing signs of corrosion and may have failed at some point as well. Just my 2 cents. JR

[Guest tx2sturgis]

I have a 40 gal in my house with 4 people and a son that takes 30 min. showers and we have never ran out of hot water. I think a 40 would be plenty big for just two people. It cost alot to heat that much water.

 

Just my 2 cents here...but if that 40gal unit is a gas water heater, it may be adequate, but normally an electric water heater has a slower recovery rate so to compensate, they are usually sized a bit larger (for a given number of bathrooms) than a gas water heater.

 

If your doing laundry and then someone needs a bath within 30 minutes, a 40 gallon electric unit may not be up to that task.

 

But thats why I have 2, 30 gallon electric units. Doing laundry and taking a simultaneous hot shower are not mutually exclusive anymore. And I am the ONLY resident in this house.

 

 

Another side note: The standby losses on a good electric unit are usually MUCH lower than even the best gas units. So heating that 40 gallons of water in an electric unit to 110º may cost a bit more than getting it hot by using gas, but it will stay hot longer without using additional energy and if there are only 1 or 2 people using the hot water, its a pretty good deal.

 

Add to that the fact that our electric utilitity provides a rate discount to those homes that are heating water with electricity, and then figure in the increasing natural gas prices, and its a really good choice where I live.

 

 

 

 

[joboo]

I have a new 40 gallon Rheem on one side of the house and a tankless on the other side. One of the posts mentioned that the insides are all about the same, which is true, the price varies with the warranty which is either 6, 9 or 12 years. You can get a nice electric GE or Rheem (GE is Rheem) 40 Gallon for under $300 with a 9 year and under $500 for the 50 gallon. The only real difference between the 6 and the 9 is element wattage. My 40 gallon is new because The little ball valve snapped off in the "open" position when I was draining it, which after 16 1/2 years is the only thing I have ever needed to do even here in Florida on really "scaly" water. Changing the fittings and the anodes are "feel good" fixes for the few dollars but really are not necessary in the overall picture. If you spent $500 for the tank and had it for 10 years the cost is only $4.16 a month and only $2.60 if it makes it to the 16 year mark. Considering what it does....buy a new one!! Now for the other side, tankless. I have a garden tub in the master and it takes more than a 40 gallon tank to fill it with hot water. After a ton of research, BTW...I have had the tankless for 9 years now, and they are all over the place in quality and cost. The 2 biggest factors in deciding which one is average incoming water temp and size. Once that has been determined, the guts of the thing need to be sorted out. The basic models have an incoming sensor to turn on the elements and outgoing to turn them off. The more expensive models will have multiple heating chambers with multiple sensors that will vary turning them on by incoming water temp and smooth out the process to keep the temp even. A whole house computer controlled model should be under $1K, anything more and you are into commercial level or have a mansion with 5 or more bathrooms. If you go with a multichamber model, look at the elements and make sure they are common hardware store variety for easy replacement. They usually are spa heater elements. The sensors are the screw-in type and should also be common. The higher end models will contain a circuit board which as any electronics are prone to failure, just make sure that you are dealing with a reputable company that will be around for awhile. Those boards are full of electronic relays. I have had to exchange my circuit board once in 9 years and no elements and one sensor. The board exchange was around $150. the sensor less than $10. These things take a lot of power to hook them up so if you are replacing a tank model you will have to add on several new breakers and wire from the box. They take up very little room and you are never without hot water as long as you have power or gas. I have a Siesco whole house unit that cost under $600 9 years ago and I would not trade it for any amount of money. Some of you will ask why I have both, and the answer is that I am very rural and we do have a lot of power outages, The tank unit can be powered by my backup gen set but the tankless can't, mainly because of the size of my gen set (8K). I could do it if it was the only thing I was running but that is another discussion. Hope this helps! enough of you guys have helped me on my bike stuff!

[jlh3rd]

some of the new water heaters are plastic lined....( expensive)...changing anodes and flushing does make me feel good about my water heater going on it's 22 year...