The Joys of Home Ownership - Water Heater

[vernonator]

Go tankless if at all possible. We did at our new home and it is fantastic, ours is gas so no experience with electric. Worth looking into, and you don't spend $$$ keeping a big ole tank of water hot for those 3x @day you need it.

[sleepy hollow]

FWIW.  This is likely beyond the scope of this discussion, but for those who hate being forced to rearrange your life to deal with water heater problems as urgent emergency situations, and who have the space, I recommend buying two inexpensive standard (40 gal usually) water heaters and then plumbing them in series (normal operation) as well as in parallel (for bypass of either unit for problem times).  Then, when one develops a problem, you can take your time diagnosing and shopping for a replacement.  You also will always be able to get the best deal since you have a standard size WH.  Also, you'll have plenty of hot water always.  

I have been doing this for 25+ years and it has worked beautifully.  Wife always happy unless both units flake out at the same time, which is highly unlikely, and has never happened to us.

PS - I have never changed an anode, and don't know anyone who has.  I am sure I should have done so to extend the life, but...

[jteneyck]

FWIW.  This is likely beyond the scope of this discussion, but for those who hate being forced to rearrange your life to deal with water heater problems as urgent emergency situations, and who have the space, I recommend buying two inexpensive standard (40 gal usually) water heaters and then plumbing them in series (normal operation) as well as in parallel (for bypass of either unit for problem times).  Then, when one develops a problem, you can take your time diagnosing and shopping for a replacement.  You also will always be able to get the best deal since you have a standard size WH.  Also, you'll have plenty of hot water always.  

I have been doing this for 25+ years and it has worked beautifully.  Wife always happy unless both units flake out at the same time, which is highly unlikely, and has never happened to us.

PS - I have never changed an anode, and don't know anyone who has.  I am sure I should have done so to extend the life, but...

Yep, changed the anode on my HWH about 7 or 8 years ago.  Should do it again.  It wasn't a hard job.  

John

[EightFingers]

I have my boiler heating my water through an indirect tank.    Unlimited hot water.

I wondered about how those work in the summer when you don’t need heat. How does that work?

[blackhat]

Controls and valves prevent boiler water going out to the emitters in the house. It only goes to the water heater heat exchanger.

[jteneyck]

Controls and valves prevent boiler water going out to the emitters in the house. It only goes to the water heater heat exchanger.

I'm probably looking at needing a new boiler and HWH in the near future.  I've toyed with the idea of going with a single boiler with a loop for DHW.  But I wonder if it's better to have two critical needs serviced by one boiler or to have the normal two separate units.  Pros and cons.  What's your take on it?  Thanks. 

John

[crokett™]

FWIW.  This is likely beyond the scope of this discussion, but for those who hate being forced to rearrange your life to deal with water heater problems as urgent emergency situations, and who have the space, I recommend buying two inexpensive standard (40 gal usually) water heaters and then plumbing them in series (normal operation) as well as in parallel (for bypass of either unit for problem times).  Then, when one develops a problem, you can take your time diagnosing and shopping for a replacement.  You also will always be able to get the best deal since you have a standard size WH.  Also, you'll have plenty of hot water always.  

I have been doing this for 25+ years and it has worked beautifully.  Wife always happy unless both units flake out at the same time, which is highly unlikely, and has never happened to us.

PS - I have never changed an anode, and don't know anyone who has.  I am sure I should have done so to extend the life, but...

I started another thread asking about this.  unless I move the water heater from it's current location behind one of the master closets  and down into the crawlspace I can't do that.    I am considering a second smaller water heater in the crawlspace for the rest or the house.

[MGoBlue1984]

“Something to ponder on. 45 years in this game and no one has ever told me their water heater is too big. Lots of the opposite“

Our house has large soaking tub - original owners spec’s it. That requires a large water heater; 80 gallons in our case. Heater is now 12 years old.


We’ve never used the tub, BTW. But it sure looks pretty.

[crokett™]

Well I ended up replacing the elements and not the entire heater. I guess we will see if it makes a difference. The lower one had some of the original finish showing through in spots. The upper one was worse, heavily encrusted with rust and up near the base of it the rust/scale/whatever was across the two sides of the element. that made me wonder if the electricity was shorting across that and not going through the element.

[sleepy hollow]

“Something to ponder on. 45 years in this game and no one has ever told me their water heater is too big. Lots of the opposite“

Our house has large soaking tub - original owners spec’s it.  That requires a large water heater; 80 gallons in our case. Heater is now 12 years old.


We’ve never used the tub, BTW. But it sure looks pretty.

So, in our case we had an odd sized 88 gal heater when we bought the house which was already at least 6-8 years old.  We also had a large jacuzzi soaker tub that depleted the HW and then cooled off when the jets were turned on.  We used it rarely.  In fact the kids used to swim in it in summer when they were toddlers.  No need for much hot water when using it that way.  

I worried about that 88 gal heater's demise and did not want to pay for another one that large even though I wanted a large supply, so I did some research (which you could do on the internet in those days without as much of the hustle that is now ever present with every keystroke).  That's where I learned about how to properly plumb two water heaters together.    

Coincidently the Hechinger's big box stores were going bankrupt and liquidating.  I managed to get a standard 40gal electric heater for $35 and I bought all the valves and fittings I needed for 10 cents on the dollar.  Those were the days.  Worth more as scrap now than what I paid then.  So, I plumbed in the new tank for serial and parallel operations.  So when operating normally the second tank (furthest from the house water source) does not work very hard, and theoretically lasts longer since it's getting hot water at the inlet.   But when one fails, the other one can take over and run solo until a new tank is installed.  It has worked so well over the years that I think any smart upper end builder should think about adding it as a standard feature if not an upgrade.  It completely eliminates the urgency of needing to replace the WH same day.  That's when the pros can get you for a big bill among other things, not to mention needing to put everything else on hold to deal with the emergency.  So, now, I can calmly go online and look for the best deal for a 40gal electric WH, remove the old one and install the new one, say within 10 days, and we're good as gold.  Serenity now...