Water Heaters

[arcproducts]

ok ....... so yea, waaaaaaaay off any photo topic.

we are looking to replace our current water heater. doing our research. probably inclined to go with traditional water tank rather than tankless. ours is currently located in our ATTIC (seriously, not our choice when house was being built) ........

any comments on brands? where to buy? who to install ? husband is wanting to make decision pretty soon, as he has been doing research for several days now. he is pretty technical, so any comments you have about specific experiences or lessons you learned in doing this same type of thing would be helpful. the who, what, when and where of it all.

thanks.

[groovyone]

Home Depot off NASA Rd 1 is relocating so they had many 30-40% off. May not be worth the drive for you though. I am also not completely sure they are still open at this point...

[Spec A!]

Out of curiosity, why go with a tank vs the tankless? Tankless seems so much better in efficiency, instant on, and the ability to have multiple units for different sources (so I can take a shower at the same time my wife takes a bath while the dishwasher and washing machine are going).

[brad]

I was told by a plumber I *majorly* trust that a tankless is only a good thing if you have gas. If you are all electric (like us), a tank is the better option for both efficiency and performance.

[Ahh!]

Originally Posted by brad

I was told by a plumber I *majorly* trust that a tankless is only a good thing if you have gas. If you are all electric (like us), a tank is the better option for both efficiency and performance.

We were just talking to our trusted owner/operator about them as well. You don't get them to save money (tankless are more efficient when not running water, but less efficient when running water) but they are less prone to leaks and catastrophic failure. But our water here needs a stainless steel system, which is a little harder to find. Also, if you want the instant hot water from recirculating the water all over the house, then you need a small tank anyway...

[Ahh!]

Oh, yeah. Many require more installation costs , or at least consideration, since the flue size and air intake may change and other gotcha's. The stainless one he has uses PVC for venting...another change.

[Spec A!]

Gotcha- we have gas, didn't know that about the electric versions.

[SevenAndMe]

We recently had to replace our 40-gallon gas water heater, in the attic, after 16 years.
We let a professional plumber do it. Actually it took 2 of them to get the old one down from the attic and get the new one up there.
We used D&N Economy Plumbing (281.367.3648)
They did a good job; we have used them before.

Good luck.

[L Stegall]

I've been considering switching ours to tankless - but we have electric, and I had heard it didn't work as well as the gas systems. I would love to (1) not have to run the water for several minutes before the shower upstairs gets hot; (2) be able to fill up my big soaking tub upstairs with hot water (as it is, it seems to run out of hot water about halfway through filling up); and (3) run water elsewhere (i.e., kitchen sink) if someone is in a shower. I'd also love to be able to access the under the stairs area in my coat closet. I'd more than double my storage space in that closet if I could get rid of the huge tank blocking it now - since the tankless systems are much smaller and could hang on the wall. If anyone does have an electric tankless system I'd love to hear what they think about it's day to day operation. How hard/expensive do you think switching to gas might be? I have a gas cooktop and gas heat and a pier and beam foundation.

[nastytrucker]

I would recommend a GE unit from HomeDepot. They have pretty good warranties and theyre reasonably priced. I installed one in our house and it has held up pretty good. We go through a water heater about every 5-8 years because our well water has ALOT of minerals in it. How many people are in your family, Are you on city or well water? Is it going to be an Electric or Gas unit? Installing a water heater isnt a hard job but it may be a little bit more tricky in an attic.

[adirty1]

If I ever built a house again I would put in a loop for hot water. It's not instant but truthfully I have yet to see a flash heater that was really instant. It still takes a minute or two but nothing like a tank heater. I am on electric and from what I had read a flash heater is out of the question. I will be going with greatest volume and most insulated model I can get in the attic. Again if I build another new home I will make sure to check the plans and see where the water heater is located.I just dont trust them in the attic. I need to replace ours it's getting close to the 6 year mark. Last contractor grade water heater we had blew out at 6 years just like 60 percent of the neighborhood.

[Coelus]

I keep telling myself that I'm going to DIY a loop system at home. I usually remind myself this time of year while I'm waiting for hot water at the far end of the house.
Low volume pump and a check valve away.

[RandySmith]

I installed a tankless (propane) unit in my attic in September ... unfortunately I didn't realize it was not an "outside" unit. During the first cold snap, the water froze in the unit and because the rotating flow wheel provides an inductive pulse to ignite the burner, this didn't happen. Also, it was very difficult to adjust the flow to provide the highest amount of heat. I opted to go back to conventional tank heater. I'll keep the tankless unit for future use but it seems that for now, that didn't work for me. Also, be aware that running a shower, a dishwasher, and washing machine may not be able to provide enough on-demand heated water. Depends on the unit and volume rating.

[venchka]

Tankless. I'm still kicking myself for not going tankless when we bought our house 3 years ago.

[Spec A!]

Originally Posted by RandySmith

Also, be aware that running a shower, a dishwasher, and washing machine may not be able to provide enough on-demand heated water. Depends on the unit and volume rating.

True, if you only had one. If you're able to, you can install multiple ones for different areas- kitchen, upstairs bath, master bath, etc.