Gas water heaters

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So i need a new water heater. I'm not interested in tankless.
What are the differences in the 6 year and 9 year heaters? Is it just the anode rod length or quality? I never changed it on the old one because i didn't know about it. The old one is probably 10 years old. I will be checking and replacing it in the new one. I have really hard well water.

Thanks
 
Anode rod ? don't know about those, but the gas water heater in my last house where we lived for 20 years was at LEAST 30 years old and still ok when we sold the house. The house before the heater was at least 40 years old. Oh and we have very hard water.
As far as the difference is mainly that you are buying more warrantee, although someone that knows more about them than me may say that the quality is better on the longer warrantee ones
 
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I bought a Sears water heater. I'm guessing it's 13 years old and made by A.O.Smith. The 9 year one was like $20 more was rated as using like $8 less a year vs the 6 year model. The 9 year model may be cheaper in the long run.
 
Older water heaters were built to last out of heavy duty materials. Now they try to maximize profit using lighter materials and longer warranty will give you heavier material and coating to resist rust better. Regardless in normal use they usually last much longer than the warranty.
 
Looking at the serial number its 20 years old made the 38the week of 1996.
I could not remember what year we changed from lp to natural gas and switched the heater. \
It was made by mor-flow , made in usa by american water heater group.
 
Check with your gas company. They may have an incentive program depending on new heaters rating.
 
Buy the cheap on & replace the anode every year. I've gotten 40+ years out of the same water heater by replacing the anode & flushing every 6 months
 
Originally Posted By: mehullica
Buy the cheap on & replace the anode every year. I've gotten 40+ years out of the same water heater by replacing the anode & flushing every 6 months


+1, that's the best advice to keep it running. I switched to a tankless model about 5 years ago.
 
My 6 year water heaters consistently last eight to ten years I have well water and flush them [I have two] yearly.
 
I never knew this so I checking out my 50 gallon hot water heater. It was installed in 2009. There is NO anode rod or any threaded piece on top of the unit. I found that it's part of the water feed. I'd have to cut some copper and install inion for future service...

Bradford White Defender Water heater
Model # MI5036FBN
 
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You might consider switching from gas to a GE Geospring hybrid heat pump. Someone here suggested on when I asked about water heaters and I'm glad I looked into them. It's far more energy efficient than a regular water heater. There's also a $300 federal tax credit and we got a $300 rebate from our electric company as well.
 
Originally Posted By: mehullica
Buy the cheap on & replace the anode every year. I've gotten 40+ years out of the same water heater by replacing the anode & flushing every 6 months


That's probably a bit excessive. I've changed them before, but do it after 3-4 years. After a year, it's probably hardly even worn.

I normally just get a 4 pack as I have 10+ water heaters. For the short ones, I just cut the rod with a saws-all to fit.

http://www.comfortgurus.com/anode-rods/7434-rhe-sp11526c-4-pk.html
 
Water softener will double or triple the life of the water heater. No need to worry about the anode rod either.
 
AMERICAN AMERI-GLAS 40 GALLON
thumbsup2.gif
 
With it leaking, i had to buy one today, no plumbing shops open. So i got a rheem. My two story home only had a 30gallon water 36000 btu heater. We never ran out of hot water.
My water heater closet is pretty small but no one really keeps a tall 30 gallon heater in stock, so i got the 40 gallon. I made sure i can easily access the anode rod for future replacement.

Thanks Wolf359 for the anode rod link, I may go ahead and get some on hand.

There was no pan under the old water heater, i think i will add that.
 
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Yeah, a 40 is pretty standard these days. I never put in anything smaller than a 40 even when there's a 30.

If you add the pan, connect it to a drain. Otherwise you could get something known as a WAGS, water and gas shut off. It's a little tricky to pipe, you pipe it down to the pan and when it gets wet, it shuts off the inlet supply and shuts off the gas. It's a one shot deal though. There are other alternatives like water alarms, but that assumes some is home to hear it.
 
Originally Posted By: Wolf359
Yeah, a 40 is pretty standard these days. I never put in anything smaller than a 40 even when there's a 30.

If you add the pan, connect it to a drain. Otherwise you could get something known as a WAGS, water and gas shut off. It's a little tricky to pipe, you pipe it down to the pan and when it gets wet, it shuts off the inlet supply and shuts off the gas. It's a one shot deal though. There are other alternatives like water alarms, but that assumes some is home to hear it.



Fortunately my water heater closet is on the wall to my garage, so I'll just run a short piece of pipe through the wall. If i see water in the garage, I'll know i have a problem.
 
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The only difference between most water heaters with a longer warranty and a standard warranty is the WARRANTY. A very few may have a better or double anode rode. The manufactures love to sell extended warranty models for the extra profit. The warranty payments are a lot less than the cost to the manufacturer. Most people don't live in a house long enough to benefit from the extra warranty and even if they did many forget about the warranty or lose the receipt and don't make a claim.
 
I might start buying the 9 year water heaters. Most of the time when they go bad, they end up rusting out. But I've had my share where the dip tube inside broke off so you only get hot water for 10-15 minutes til it runs out. Also had bad thermocouples or a bad temperature control. Those items would have been covered under a warranty. Home Depot is pretty easy to deal with on warranty returns, they just verify the date and you get a new one. You don't really need the receipt, I think I might have taken back water heaters from houses that I bought that went bad. The date code is usually in the first few digits of the serial number if it's not spelled out somewhere else. Mine tend to last anywhere from 5-7 years, sometimes they go in the warranty period, sometime right afterwards. Every once in a while they end up lasting 10-11 years. That was before I started changing anode rods, we'll see how much more I can get out of them.
 
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