Replacement home water heater

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Hello all and Happy New Year....
My home water heater is 14 years old. Natural gas fired 45 gallon Rheem and has run like clockwork.

I feel that 2018 will bring the need for a replacement. I’m vaguely familiar with tankless heaters (a couple of coworkers have them and love them) but don’t know if they are still too new technology.

Never had issues with running out of hot water so an identical replacement type would be satisfactory.

Anyone on the board have suggestions/experiences to share?

Thanks to all in advance.
 
Tankless heaters have been used in Europe for about as long as I can remember.

They will likey last longer than your old tank heater, but cost more up front.

Overall savings vary depending on your usage
 
I have no experience with the tankless ones, but have contemplated their installation. For me, I crunched the numbers and the payback for the tankless was going to be over 12 years (extra install costs). Someone correct me, but the main advantage of the tankless is nearly unlimited hot water during high demand, correct?? If you don't need this, then carefully crunch the ownership costs. Today's NG tank heaters are quite efficient.

This should be a good discussion. I like the Terry Love plumbing forum, but heed forum opinions carefully, as always.

Regarding tank type brands....whew, it's tough to tell. Many sites I examined implied that today's heaters are a commodity and they all share similar construction and technology. The pros "tend" to say buy the cheapest 6 yr. warranty model, since the longer warranty models are simply more $$$ for the extended warranty. But, there is dissension among the ranks and Chevy/Ford arguments everywhere. Look for better components like metal drain valve vs. plastic. I tend to prefer A.O. Smith, then maybe Rheem. Last year I bought a Bradley White simply because its made in Michigan...go figure. Time will tell.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: doitmyself
I have no experience with the tankless ones, but have contemplated their installation. For me, I crunched the numbers and the payback for the tankless was going to be over 12 years (extra install costs). Someone correct me, but the main advantage of the tankless is nearly unlimited hot water during high demand, correct?? If you don't need this, then carefully crunch the ownership costs. Today's NG tank heaters are quite efficient.

This should be a good discussion. I like the Terry Love plumbing forum, but heed forum opinions carefully, as always.


The downside to tankless (correct me if I'm wrong) is no hot water (if you're on natural gas) during a power outage. In order to have hot water during a power outage, with tankless, you need to add battery backup. This may be standard now but was not when I looked at tankless a year ago.
 
Sister and brother-in-law have a Rannai. They've had it for years now and it runs off their LP. They love it and would never have a second thought about having one.
 
14 years is not a long time for a water heater. Is there another reason besides age that is making you think about changing out?

Make sure the burner area is clean they are working well and if you haven’t done it lately, flush your tank. Sediment buildup on the bottom can affect heating and economy.
 
Originally Posted By: PimTac
14 years is not a long time for a water heater. Is there another reason besides age that is making you think about changing out?

Make sure the burner area is clean they are working well and if you haven’t done it lately, flush your tank. Sediment buildup on the bottom can affect heating and economy.


1. For a Rheem gas heater it is.

2. So it doesn't blow at an insanely inconvenient time.

I've had nat gas water heaters in three houses and I never had one last 14 years.
 
I have not drained it in a couple of years so will do that right away. I have no other issues and will probably not replace it until it breaks but once it does I’ll need to act quickly hence this thread.

Did research on Consumer Reports online and the subscriber comments are all over the map relative to manufacturers with no apparent clear winner....
 
I've looked at it in the past and the numbers never made sense. Typically they require a 3/4 inch gas line and a higher gas volume. Normally you have a 1/2 psi of pressure in the gas line, but the gas company would just change out the meter to give you a higher volume of gas. The other problem is that many of them only have a 5 year warranty. It's hard to find people who know how to fix them and hard to find the parts as they're not too popular. Most average houses that I see have hot water tanks, only the higher end, new homes have the tankless ones. A lot more plumbers know how to pop in a hot water tank than to fix a tankless system.

If the 14 year tank isn't gone yet, just replace the anode rod, you may get lucky and get a few more years out of it. I mentioned it several times a few years ago. I usually just get a 4 pack but you just need a single one. They have a long and short one. I just get the long ones and cut to length with a sawsall.

https://www.comfortgurus.com/water-heater-parts/7434-rhe-sp11526c-4-pk.html

https://www.comfortgurus.com/water-heater-parts/9164-rheem-sp11526c-magnesium-anode-rod.html
 
Originally Posted By: NormanBuntz
Originally Posted By: PimTac
14 years is not a long time for a water heater. Is there another reason besides age that is making you think about changing out?

Make sure the burner area is clean they are working well and if you haven’t done it lately, flush your tank. Sediment buildup on the bottom can affect heating and economy.


1. For a Rheem gas heater it is.

2. So it doesn't blow at an insanely inconvenient time.

I've had nat gas water heaters in three houses and I never had one last 14 years.

Okay. It’s all personal experience versus personal experience. I’m surprised you haven’t had a water heater last 14 years. I’ve gotten 20-30 years usually. My brother has a gas heater installed in 1973. Still going strong.

Now maybe today’s heaters aren’t worth a dime compared to yesteryears. The brand I usually go with is AO Smith though it probably doesn’t matter much anymore.
 
I have a Takagi tankless propane heater for a few years now. I have a generator backup for the well that will power the water heater as well.

I needed it since we were running out of water because of the 4 kids showering in sequence at times. I never compared the propane bills to see if we spend less, but with never ending hot water, there is also no longer an incentive to shower less...so I doubt it.

Hot water does take a little longer to come out the faucet since your not heating the pipes any when no water is flowing....annoying, but I can live with it.

Mine did require venting, but that was done with PVC (depends on type of heater). Propane supply was ok.

I would say if you don’t need more water, then just stay with what you got. Electric companies might have a rebate if you would switch to that instead of NG.
 
I've had a instant Bosch 150K BTU Propane water heater for close to 20 years and love it. I has a standing pilot so works 24-7-365 regardless of electric supply. They are considerably less expensive to run than a tank type and in my opinion less to maintain.
 
We have had a Rinnai now for 10 years and love it. Like stated above you run it a little longer since the water in the line isn't heated like with a conventional tank but nothing major for us. Never run out of hot water and I made sure I got a tank-less that would heat enough water to be able to shower in two bathrooms and run a load of laundry as well. Very minimal gas usage.
 
Originally Posted By: doitmyself
I have no experience with the tankless ones, but have contemplated their installation. For me, I crunched the numbers and the payback for the tankless was going to be over 12 years (extra install costs). Someone correct me, but the main advantage of the tankless is nearly unlimited hot water during high demand, correct?? If you don't need this, then carefully crunch the ownership costs.


I installed a Rheem which I got from Home depot. Had my buddy help me install it tapping into existing gas lines and I did the upgrade
of the copper from 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch supply.


Originally Posted By: RedOakRanch
Most take a larger hard line gas supply and exhaust. That is usually the big hold up when switching.


Yes I had to upgrade to 3/4 Gas line and 3/4 copper pipe from the water main.

Total cost for me was about $1500 Canadian, about $1200 USD.

We can have 2 showers running at the same time for unlimited water. No need for the tank to reheat 40-50 gallons of water.
Kids like having longer showers, but I know I'm saving gas in the long run.

Old gas heater was a power vent and it used to be noisy in the basement when the power vent was running. The Tankless is very quiet and I have it behind a wall in the finished basement, so when that door is closed now it's barely noticeable. I also saved space around my furnace by removing the old tank.

I was paying for the old tank as a rental which is the standard practice in Canada of approx $23 a month plus 13% tax. I've owned the tankless for about 8 years now, so I think I've paid for the unit with the savings in Rental cost and also reduced gas consumption.
 
I installed this a few years ago, it works great but I didn't like the wait for hot water so I added a 20 gallon small electric well insulated tank underneath it (about 6 mo later than this picture). Now it works slick.
When you call for hot water it initially comes from the tank and the tankless unit kicks on refilling the tank with hotter water than is in the tank so the electric heating element doesn't kick on.

Install was easy as I replaced a large gas tank heater, it took me about 3 hours total.

 
Maybe buy a new replacement tank and the required piping accessories and a torch and solder and be ready to change it out should yours go in the middle of a cold night.
 
Just measured my water pipe. It’s 3/4 at the service entrance and immediately reduces to 1/2”. Looks like I would have to run new 3/4 from service entrance to water heater (which naturally is the fixture furthest from the service entrance - about 60 lf but all in the garage), add a new electrical circuit, and upgrade the gas piping to 3/4” (about 4 lf).

Electrical work does not bother me and the gas upgrade would be replacing a 1/2” copper flex with 3/4 - no big deal there. No experience running copper pipe but I’m smart enough to know it’s not as easy as the pros make it look.

The big boss (i.e. wife) would NOT like the possibility of no hot water during a power outage.

Looks like The possibility of a tankless system is becoming less likely......
 
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