Hot Water Heaters - short or tall?

[CarbonSteel]

Provided there is enough room is there an advantage to either height? I am going to switch from a 50 gallon electric to a 50 gallon natural gas and I was wondering if there is a height I should consider.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Rand]

tall is fine. Short is mostly for in wall,under cabinet, or existing pipes/fitment.

 

[JHZR2]

Either should be fine, but you'll be introducing stack losses. Go,with a power cent or better yet, an indirect heater off a boiler.

 

[KD0AXS]

I'd highly recommend a Geospring hybrid heat pump water heater over switching to gas. They're far more energy efficient than a gas or regular electric water heater. You get a $300 federal tax credit for installing one, and we also got a $300 rebate from our electric company. We switched from propane to the Geospring. Since you already have an electric water heater, it would be a direct replacement.

http://m.lowes.com/pd/GE-GeoSpring-50-Gallon-10-Year-Hybrid-Water-Heater-ENERGY-STAR/3664968

 

[Wolf359]

Heat pumps aren't that good when it's cold, but considering OP is in Texas, it should be fine. At one point the rebates were so much that the water heater was free after rebate.

As for the tall/short question, it all depends on where the vent is for the water heater. If you're going to put in the vent, I'd typically go with the medium/tall which is what the stores normally carry. That way when it goes, the store is more likely to have it in stock and it's a straight swap. Going from electric to gas, you probably have to put in the chimney vent.

Basically I'd go with whatever is cheapest and in stock.

 

[oilmutt]

It is my understanding that Geospring hot water heaters requier a place to drain the water.i have no drain in my basement,is this so?

 

[Leo99]

My gas hot water heater is dying a slow death. I have to turn it to "B" on the thermostat to get hot water. This is two settings hotter than when it was new. The guys at the plumbing store theorize the bottom of the tank has a lot of hard sediment that wont flush out causing the flame to work very hard to get to the water to heat it.

It's a 75 gallon tank size and looking at all the choices, the cheapest one is the most economical one. Those fancy tankless and hybrid heaters cost a lot more money and have a tricky installation. Since yours is new install for gas, you should look at the direct vent types if you don't have the vent set up already.

 

[KD0AXS]

Originally Posted By: oilmutt
It is my understanding that Geospring hot water heaters requier a place to drain the water.i have no drain in my basement,is this so?


Yes, you need to run a condensate drain tube,just like an air conditioner. Just a piece of tubing to a floor drain is all you need. You don't even have a floor drain in your basement?

 

[CarbonSteel]

Originally Posted By: KD0AXS
I'd highly recommend a Geospring hybrid heat pump water heater over switching to gas. They're far more energy efficient than a gas or regular electric water heater. You get a $300 federal tax credit for installing one, and we also got a $300 rebate from our electric company. We switched from propane to the Geospring. Since you already have an electric water heater, it would be a direct replacement.

http://m.lowes.com/pd/GE-GeoSpring-50-Gallon-10-Year-Hybrid-Water-Heater-ENERGY-STAR/3664968
Although this sounds like a good a idea, the recovery time on electric is terrible, NG is much cheaper than electricity, and coupled with the few weeks that we are below 45°F makes this one less attractive.

 

[CarbonSteel]

Originally Posted By: Leo99
Those fancy tankless and hybrid heaters cost a lot more money and have a tricky installation. Since yours is new install for gas, you should look at the direct vent types if you don't have the vent set up already.
Knock on glass, plastic, and wood, my electric model is 14 years old and I know that I am on borrowed time. It will be a direct vent, the incredibly stupid this is the house has everything else on gas (dryer, heating, oven, and stove) only the HW heater is electric. I have already installed the gas piping (3/4"), and just need to install the vent piping, but I was not sure if there was any advantage to short versus tall.

 

[Pop_Rivit]

Originally Posted By: KD0AXS
I'd highly recommend a Geospring hybrid heat pump water heater over switching to gas. They're far more energy efficient than a gas or regular electric water heater. You get a $300 federal tax credit for installing one, and we also got a $300 rebate from our electric company. We switched from propane to the Geospring. Since you already have an electric water heater, it would be a direct replacement.

http://m.lowes.com/pd/GE-GeoSpring-50-Gallon-10-Year-Hybrid-Water-Heater-ENERGY-STAR/3664968


Agreed. I replaced our gas water heater with one of the first generation GeoSpring water heaters in around 5 or 6 years ago, and the reduction in our propane usage was noticeable, but the change in our electric bill was minimal.

Originally Posted By: Wolf359
Heat pumps aren't that good when it's cold, but considering OP is in Texas, it should be fine.


Interesting. I'm in Iowa, and it is cold in the winter, yet our GeoSpring (heat pump) water heater works great. I've never had to use anything but full Eco mode, despite multiple showers on mornings when guests are here. It's not uncommon to do a load of laundry at the same time my wife and I take subsequent showers in the morning.

Originally Posted By: oilmutt
It is my understanding that Geospring hot water heaters requier a place to drain the water.i have no drain in my basement,is this so?


There is no condensate such as there is with an air conditioning unit. However, any water heater requires access to a safe drain location in the event that the tank leaks or the pressure relief valve is tripped.

Originally Posted By: Leo99
Those fancy tankless and hybrid heaters cost a lot more money and have a tricky installation. Since yours is new install for gas, you should look at the direct vent types if you don't have the vent set up already.


Well I'll be darned. No one told me that when I installed our GeoSpring. I thought the installation was pretty simple-I only needed to run a new 220v line from the panel to the water heater. The rest (I thought) was extremely simple, and even running the new electric line wasn't all that difficult. Pray tell, what is "tricky" about installing a hybrid water heater such as a GeoSpring?

 

[KD0AXS]

Originally Posted By: Leo99
Those fancy tankless and hybrid heaters cost a lot more money and have a tricky installation.


Our Geospring was $1000, same as a direct replacement of the propane power vent unit we had. After the $300 tax credit and $300 rebate from the electric company, it only cost us $400. Plus it's cheaper to operate because it's far more energy efficient. The installation is exactly the same as any other electric water heater. The only addition is the condensate drain tube that I mentioned above, which is super cheap and easy.

Tankless water heaters on the other hand can definitely be much more work.

 

[KD0AXS]

Originally Posted By: Pop_Rivit


There is no condensate such as there is with an air conditioning unit. However, any water heater requires access to a safe drain location in the event that the tank leaks or the pressure relief valve is tripped.


Ours has a condensate drain.

Definitely agree with everything else you said. Very noticeable reduction in our gas (propane) usage, very minimal increase in our electric bill. Ours works great, and we're in MN. Only time ours hasn't kept up is when we fill our Jacuzzi. Switching it to high demand mode solves that problem. I also installed ours myself, nothing difficult at all about it.

 

[Warstud]

Originally Posted By: KD0AXS
Ours has a condensate drain.

I think your looking at the pressure relief valve... drain pipe.

 

[KD0AXS]

Originally Posted By: Warstud
Originally Posted By: KD0AXS
Ours has a condensate drain.

I think your looking at the pressure relief valve... drain pipe.


Nope. Pressure relief valve on the left, condensate drain tube on the right.

 

[MNgopher]

While the Hybrid Heat Pump models are more efficient, once you look at the cost of the fuel, they still fall short in many cases compared to Natural Gas at current pricing. I have no doubt they are cheaper than propane, but not Natural Gas in most locations that have it availible. I also don't see the cost of electricity coming down substantially anytime soon.

Given the OP already has Natural Gas running everything else, seems like a no brainer to me...

If only the efficiency mattered, I'd consider one, but since cost is still part of the equation...

Also note that the reason these work fine in a cold climate is because they sponge heat out of the home - effectively increasing the heating load on the heating source of the home. If co located in the same room as the furnace or heating source, this isn't a big deal...

 

[CarbonSteel]

Originally Posted By: MNgopher
While the Hybrid Heat Pump models are more efficient, once you look at the cost of the fuel, they still fall short in many cases compared to Natural Gas at current pricing. I have no doubt they are cheaper than propane, but not Natural Gas in most locations that have it availible. I also don't see the cost of electricity coming down substantially anytime soon.

Given the OP already has Natural Gas running everything else, seems like a no brainer to me...

If only the efficiency mattered, I'd consider one, but since cost is still part of the equation...

Also note that the reason these work fine in a cold climate is because they sponge heat out of the home - effectively increasing the heating load on the heating source of the home. If co located in the same room as the furnace or heating source, this isn't a big deal...
This is aligned with my thoughts as well. If I were using propane, it may be more attractive to purchase one of the hybrid heat pumps, but with NG available and the fact it would be sitting in an unheated garage (which would impact its ability to operate in winter at temps below 45°F), it is a simple choice. I should see a significant cost reduction on the electric bill and a minor increase on the NG bill and much faster recovery times--a win all the way around IMHO.

Thanks everyone for the replies--all of the information is helpful!

 

[callbay]

All the charts I have ever seen rate the taller hot water heaters at a larger drawdown of hot water than the shorter ones given the same gallons of the tanks.

Makes sense to me as the taller ones have the outlet for the hot water (on the top) farther away from the inlet of cold water (on the bottom of the tank because of the inlet tube inside the tank goes to the tank bottom)than the short tanks.

 

[JTK]

Short or tall has to do with the space you're putting the water heater in. You typically swap with the same size to minimize the mods you have to make for the water lines, gas line and flue ducting.

 

[grampi]

Hot water heaters? Hot water doesn't need to be heated...