REcs for water heaters
Don't shop for a heater. Shop for a plumber. Have the plumber install the one that fits your needs best.
safetyfirst, just had one installed. Don't know if it will be durable, but so far no complaints.
A plumber told me that just about any properly installed water heater should last a long time. The key is good installation. I did ours, first time, circa 1992; replaced it last summer. Plumber doing other work inspected my work and found NO faults- including my gas lines.
First one was Reliance, current one is Bradford White. No problems for 8 months.
First one was Reliance, current one is Bradford White. No problems for 8 months.
I had a Bradford White installed about 8 years ago. It started leaking when it was 6 years old. Luckily, I had a 10 year warranty, and it was replaced but I had to pay labor. I live in South Orange and I have heard of others who have experienced the same, even with water softeners. (I have a water softener.) Prior to the Bradford White, I had a Rheem which lasted 10 years. South Orange water is not kind to water heaters.
I noticed water on the basement floor around the bottom of the water heater.
April 15th is looming and the old style heaters are getting scarce. We have several Brad Whites in stock.
Been installing them for many years with very few issues.
Been installing them for many years with very few issues.
plungy - Do you know how much the additional cost is going to be for a 50 gal. water heater? My understanding is that it was going to be around $200. The larger sizes above 50 gal. are going to be much more.
40 and 50gal heaters will go up about $200.
Larger heater price increase will be all over the place depending on the heater and size.
New water heaters will be larger in size for installation. So if your heater just fits in the spot you may want to get a new heater and hold onto it..
Larger heater price increase will be all over the place depending on the heater and size.
New water heaters will be larger in size for installation. So if your heater just fits in the spot you may want to get a new heater and hold onto it..
We had our code update course last Saturday and the instructor said between 40 and 70 percent increase.
We just had to replace ours and our plumber said that our timing was excellent.
@CPShell, they certainly are. We just replaced out old-fashioned tank with a takagi high efficiency tankless water heater. It's been great, and the teenage kids can now take long showers before me and I still have hot water.
Apr 6, 2015 at 5:06am Edited
pros:
More energy efficient since it's not keeping water at temperature all day long; compact installation; direct vent to the outside (the exhaust is so cool it uses regular PVC) so you can mount it almost anywhere; unlimited supply of hot water; no large tank of standing water that is waiting to spring a leak and flood your basement.
cons:
Higher unit cost; higher installation costs (I think mostly because many plumbers seem to think this is new technology, even though they are very common everywhere else in the world); you may need a new gas line (since the burners are very high BTU in order to supply enough energy on-demand); slight delay for water to warm up; some maintenance (descaling twice a year).
More energy efficient since it's not keeping water at temperature all day long; compact installation; direct vent to the outside (the exhaust is so cool it uses regular PVC) so you can mount it almost anywhere; unlimited supply of hot water; no large tank of standing water that is waiting to spring a leak and flood your basement.
cons:
Higher unit cost; higher installation costs (I think mostly because many plumbers seem to think this is new technology, even though they are very common everywhere else in the world); you may need a new gas line (since the burners are very high BTU in order to supply enough energy on-demand); slight delay for water to warm up; some maintenance (descaling twice a year).
I think that energy efficiency is dependent upon volume of hot water used. If you use a lot regularly, I'm not so sure that it is actually more efficient.
Read this thorough article written by a very smart and handsome man who deals with this kind of thing for a living:
https://heatinghelp.com/heating-museum/tankless-water-heaters/
https://heatinghelp.com/heating-museum/tankless-water-heaters/
Steve said:
I think that energy efficiency is dependent upon volume of hot water used. If you use a lot regularly, I'm not so sure that it is actually more efficient.
Efficiency can rise as usage increases, but that's not saying cost goes down. It goes up. But you pay less per gallon. Imagine keeping a water heater going without ever turning on the hot water tap. That would have a cost to run with no benefit, so the efficiency is infinitely bad (division by zero). Let's say it costs $1/day hypothetically. Then you use one gallon per day, and let's say that costs $1.10. The second gallon might cost you another $0.08. The more you use, the more efficiency rises, but that's not saying you should run the hot water copiously just to improve your efficiency.
Master_Plvmber1 said:
Read this thorough article written by a very smart and handsome man who deals with this kind of thing for a living:
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