Hot Water Heater Question

[redforever]

Originally Posted by Titan

My hwh is leaking from the bottom. On the web it says it has a 6 year warranty and it was installed in...wait for it...January 1999.

Question #1 is this fixable? I assume it is a fairly common problem but can it be fixed or is it trash?

Question #2 If it is trash should I go with a tankless? The idea of not heating water 24/7 to just sit and cool down sounds good to me. Anyone have a tankless? Do they live up to the hype?

Question #3 What is a good plumber to go with? Canyon and Pete the Plumber are the ones i would likely call.

Thanks for the help!!

Replace before it bursts and floods your basement. The average shelf life of a good water heater should be 9 to 11 years. The tankless are good if you get one with enough capacity but very expensive. A good regular one, a larger one, will be good enough. Not sure what you have in your house or how big it is, we have 2, one to service the upstairs, and one to service the walkout area, both large, we never run out of hot water.

When the ones originally in the house we built were starting to show wear, we replaced both at once. I shopped around and I found the best deal was with Home Depot, and they installed the new ones and removed the old ones, very efficient. Dont think you need a plumber with a degree in quantum physics to replace a water heater.

[Sylvanfan]

My dad put a high efficiency furnance and hot water on demand system in the house he built in 2003-2004 and the utility bills that my mom has are super cheap. Granted her house is in a warmer climate, but she has like 5000 total square feet and her bills are less than half of what mine are for a house thats about the same age and half the size.

Hot water on demand is an interesting concept especially if you use a lot of it. When you think about it you're only heating the water when you need it, not trying to keep a tank of water warm for 24 hours. Also in Alberta a lot of hot water tanks are done after 7 years especially if you don't have a water treatment system. Most of the water here is so hard that after 7 years the deposits on the bottom of the tank will start to corrode it.

[kchadden]

I'm am commercial plumber, so I don't know too much about residential hot water tanks, but tankless is a good option if you have the money to purchase, cause it should save you money in the long run on gas. Also for those of you who have had hot water tanks for 10+ years you have probably paid for a new one several times in gas costs because of the inefficiency, as older models are not as efficient and tanks lose efficiency over time. Think of a tank that runs at 90% or 40%, your burning a lot more gas. And there is that possibility that one day you will come home and the tank will have blown and will have flooded the basement, of course murphy's law will come into play and it will be freezing outside and plumbers will all be really busy.

[4X4]

My only experience with tankless was in italy, so I don't know how relevant it is here... But we had a tankless heater in our 25 bed hostel and nobody ever complained about lack of hot water.

[ricosuave]

i echo the statements about 5-10 yrs being a good life, if yours is older than that, hopefully youve kept it in good shape and have been blowing out the silt regularly. if not, id recommend changing it out now. when you get one installed, do the monthly and yearly blowdown to get rid of the accumulated slift and corrosion and minerals and - thats what kills and corrodes a hot water tank.

as far as installation goes, its not a hard job to do as far at the water piping goes, but its when the gasline (if you have gas) gets hooked up that you need someone qualified to do it.

also, if you are replacing yours, make sure you get the diaelectric fittings for it - they are a special union that go between the copper (if you use it) and the aluminum or steel of the tank - when you put those dissimilar metals together, you get corrosion and stuff due to the chemical reaction. diaelectric fittings prevent that.

[Flames_Gimp]

Originally Posted by 4X4

My only experience with tankless was in italy, so I don't know how relevant it is here... But we had a tankless heater in our 25 bed hostel and nobody ever complained about lack of hot water.

ya tankless water heaters have been the norm in Europe for a longggggggggg time.

[MaDMaN_26]

Originally Posted by kchadden

I'm am commercial plumber, so I don't know too much about residential hot water tanks, but tankless is a good option if you have the money to purchase, cause it should save you money in the long run on gas. Also for those of you who have had hot water tanks for 10+ years you have probably paid for a new one several times in gas costs because of the inefficiency, as older models are not as efficient and tanks lose efficiency over time. Think of a tank that runs at 90% or 40%, your burning a lot more gas. And there is that possibility that one day you will come home and the tank will have blown and will have flooded the basement, of course murphy's law will come into play and it will be freezing outside and plumbers will all be really busy.

Your most likely very correct... I'm another who has a tank that was born with the house (1979) and I'm going to replace it in the next week or two... it has been dripping out of this plastic spout at the bottom for 2+ years now.. so I figure its about time...

[Titan]

Just an update. I went to Home Depot and they have a 50 gallon 6, 9, 0r 12 year warranty tanks made by GE. Obviously as the warranty goes up so does the quality and "refresh rate" of the tank.

Here is the kicker. If you buy it on your Home Depot credit card you get a LIFETIME WARRANTY. That's right kids, your 9 year warranty tank will be replaced free at any time in its lifetime.

Home Depot uses Pete the Plumber and if you buy it before noon you can get same day service. Also, the credit card has a promotion this weekend for no interest, no payments for one year. Plus you can pay it off in the end, or at any time, with your credit card to get your air miles points.

Final cost to install was approximately $905 which is cheaper than Canyon when I called, for a 6 year Giant HWH, just like the one that crapped out on me. Pretty easy decision in the end.

Thanks for everyone's help, yet again.

[ken0042]

Just to be clear, the warranty isn't pro rated like a car battery warranty, is it?

Or some other condition like "parts only"?

Just sounds too good to be true.

[Titan]

I was dealing with Garry, the plumbing manager, at the Mckenzie HD and he told me that if it breaks they will bring in a new one. You may have to pay for the second install, I will clarify tonight when I actually buy it.

[AvengeR]

I came home last night and found that the hot water tank leaked water all over the basement. Thankfully I was able to get hold of a plumber who could come over tomorrow to install a Rinnai tankless system for me. I'm looking forward to personally testing out the tankless system once it's installed.

[Robbob]

The Rinnai is a good tankless heater. I heard another one that is pretty good is the Nortiz. It's made in Japan as well and is being backed by John Wood, who apparantly is a company that knows its HWT. The Nortiz is cheaper then the Rinnai, the only difference is the venting kit. My sister in law just had one installed and its pretty slick.

My parents are from Eruope and they had the tankless there a long time ago. When my dad went looking for one about 10 years ago everyone looked at him thinking he was crazy.

[Reaper]

Originally Posted by Robbob

The Rinnai is a good tankless heater.

Our tankless HWH is a Rinnai so I'm going to second this sentiment.

[Bobblehead]

OK, my hot water heater just let go.

Anyone recommend a plumber?

I need one asap!

[Bobblehead]

OK, I booked somebody, although for a lot of place the "24 hours service" is BS.

[MoneyGuy]

When my tank goes, I'm going tankless.

BTW, this thread title is a pleonasm.

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by MoneyGuy

When my tank goes, I'm going tankless.

BTW, this thread title is a pleonasm.

I asked about that. It would be a lot more expensive, and since we plan on moving in the next few years I decided to go with a replacement.