Time for a new water heater. Can we talk good/bad brands? How about Reliance?

Need a 75 gallon unit... thanks.

75 gal is a big heater...
I put a lot of stock in this unit..
I put hydronic radiant heat in the floors of my home...
It took me 2 years of work but was worth it...
It is very labor intensive to install
so to have someone else do it gets cost prohibitive quickly. ..
Because of this I went with a Polaris water heater..
It's extremely efficient and has a stainless steel tank...
The reason I asked if you're sure you need a 75 gal unit
is because of how quickly the Polaris unit makes hot water...
I swear by this thing...
It's at least worth you looking into....

Teddy

I also have a 75g. Bradford-White is the brand most plumbers swear by. However the BW in my home started leaking after 7 years but don't know how well the last homeowner maintained the unit (flushing et al), we have really hard water. I replaced it with another BW (pricey though).

Gas or electric? If it's gas, I *highly* recommend a tankless heater. They usually have no pilot, and don't burn energy keeping a big tank of water hot when it's not needed. My brother installed one and loved it. Until he found his girls were taking hour-long showers...

sooner.boomer said:

Gas or electric? If it's gas, I *highly* recommend a tankless heater. They usually have no pilot, and don't burn energy keeping a big tank of water hot when it's not needed. My brother installed one and loved it. Until he found his girls were taking hour-long showers...

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+1 on the tankless solution. Our new home is equipped with two of these units, and we quickly decided that they fell under the heading of "things you never knew you needed until you had."

James

See if you can find any older ones in stock somewhere.
The new EPA regulation water heaters (that plumbers will try to sell you) are:
Electric: comes with a heat pump, more $$$
Gas: May require more clearance around, and would need dedicated exhaust because the new model has an exhaust fan
Some older models' manufacture has ended.
My plumber told me the 75 gal had already stopped production, again try to find one in stock somewhere.
The new ones can be $3000-5000 installed just to save a few dollars a year

I agree on the tankless heater. I just put one in about a year ago, but it can be pricey and the payback is lengthy. However, I have a very small area in our laundry room for the heater and an 75gal heater was too big and left no room to move.

sooner.boomer said:

Gas or electric? If it's gas, I *highly* recommend a tankless heater. They usually have no pilot, and don't burn energy keeping a big tank of water hot when it's not needed. My brother installed one and loved it. Until he found his girls were taking hour-long showers...

Click to expand...

I am also a big fan of the tankless water heaters. I have had mine for over 10 years with no maintenance issues. Also, I never have to worry about a tank going bad and leaking all over my basement floor!

+++Tankless water heater

++++tankless water heater ++++you will not regret it.

For tankless heater be sure to consult the gas pipe diameter chart before getting one. I almost did it, but when I checked the chart my final run of pipe was too long for the diameter by 2 fold of recommended. The only consistent complaints I found when researching them was people who installed them without. Checking this first, they all complained that water would not get hot enough. I decided upgrading the feed was not worth changing over.

Then I bought a tank model GE POS...leaked in 5 years, and yes I flushed it multiple times. I did replace with another GE because it was free due to warranty on the first...I'm not expecting much better though. Next time I have to buy one I may upgrade the gas feed and go tankless though.

Will someone give a description of how a tankless water heater works? Does the gas flame heat water for the entire house at one location as it runs by the flame? Or do you mean installing electric instant water heaters in each bathroom, kitchen, laundry room, etc?

Mushtang said:

Will someone give a description of how a tankless water heater works? Does the gas flame heat water for the entire house at one location as it runs by the flame?

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Yes. Most of the new ones are "throttleable" - that is, the flame kicks in when you open a tap in the kitchen and instantly provides water at the set point. If someone then open a tap in the bath, the flame kicks up a notch to match flow/temp demand. If you also start the wash, the flame goes up yet one more step to again provide more hot water.

I have a Rinnai tankless gas water heater and I love it. It does the whole house, and take up nearly no room, mounted on the wall rather than the floor. It's great except for one drawback. Because it has no tank, and only heats water 'on demand' there is a slightly longer warm-up time than with a tanked unit. Similarly, the sensor that determines water flow through the unit is typically not that sensitive. If you frequently use your hot water on at a low flowrate, like when shaving or possibly when doing dishes, then the water heater may no longer sense the flow and shut off. This will leave you with cold water, and you'll have to open the tap wider to get it to kick back on and start heating again. This is not an issue in showers or baths, really just for sinks. I'd say anything below about 'half open' causes my heater to click off (unless of course more than one sink is running, as it only cares about total house-wide demand). I've never had any issues with low temps or anything else. I don't think I'd pick anything different in the future, I'd just be a bit more discriminating about the low-flow shut-off limit. On ours I think it's something like 1.5 gpm.

Also, I agree regarding the throttling in general, but mine accomplishes it with a mixing valve, adding in cold water to achieve the desired exit flow temp, depending on demand rate. I don't know this for certain, but I would imagine that it is much easier to optimize the burner (and the heat exchanger!) to make it the most efficient when you only assume a single operating point. I'd assume that all the mixing is done at the valve.

I also am a huge fan of the tankless heaters...BUT when I was looking to buy one, the salesperson asked about if I had hard water or if I had a water softener. I told him I had 'city water' , and knowing the city I was from, recommended against it. Apparently, the tankless are prone to hard water deposits. I was not in a position to buy a softener also, so I went with a - plastic- tanked heater. Iirc it's a Rheem 50 gallon. I've had it for nearly 8 years with no issues,

Tankless seem to be the cats meow for efficiency. You don't have to keep 50-75 gallons of water hot, it's completely on demand. I think they sense the drop in water pressure and adjust the 'flame ' accordingly. If you just crack your faucet, it's a small flame, a wide open faucet, it's a full flame. Clever concept!

And you will -never- run out of hot water...ever

Before my brother installed his tankless heater, we installed an undersink point-of-use electric heater for the dishwasher because the kitchen was so far from the tank. Everything went smoothly. While we were under there, we decided to paint the bottom (floor) of the sink cabinet. Because this was going to e a moist environment, we went with an oil-based enamel. Had to leave the cabinet doors open overnight for the paint to dry. The next morning, we came in and got quite a laugh. During the night, the cat had decided to check out our work. Starting on one side of the cabinet, were little kitty foot prints dried in the wet paint across to the other side, where another set of kitty prints in wet paint, lead across the tile floor.

+++ on tankless. If your committed to an Electric W.H. (TANK TYPE) Anything over 5 years from any manufacturer is borrowed time !!! Gas water heaters can last three times as long with no problem. Water quality does have an effect on the life of any W.H. I once had an electric last 13 years on well water!!! The element was still good but the bottom blew out--came home one day and "holy flood batman"

hornet driver said:

...The element was still good but the bottom blew out--came home one day and "holy flood batman"

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That is what attracted me to the plastic tank... It won't corrode like a metal one will. I could see having to replace an element, but in theory, the tank should last darn near forever.

I have an AO Smith that was installed in 1999 - I bought the house in 2002. Just flushed it out occasionally.

Chris

Oh what the heck, I'll join in the tankless love-fest.....

Go tankless. THE best choice by far.

s6

chrisudy said:

I have an AO Smith that was installed in 1999 - I bought the house in 2002. Just flushed it out occasionally.

Chris

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I too, have an AO Smith 50g (I think, might be a 40g) water heater put in in the late '90's. Still chugging out hot water. You're supposed to drain these things? I think I did that once about 5 years ago...
The local plumber that installed the AO Smith now swears by the BW's :confused2:

Adrian

One thing to consider about tankless units is the incoming water temperature in your region (think, winter, coldest case) versus the temperature rise the unit is capable of.

If you live in a cold climate an have upper 30s F or low 40s F incoming water, and the unit can at maximum heat 60 degrees above incoming temperature, you'll never get the water hot enough to enjoy it. Check the specs for the heater you are looking at... a lot can only do a 35 degree rise at maximum flow rate, or a 60 degree rise at the lowest flow rate... Electric units generally can't raise the temp as much as a gas unit, but it will vary by unit.

When in ~2012 I was looking at a new water heater (replacing one under warranty, interested in upgrading tankless), the plumber here (in Indianapolis) cautioned me that the current crop of heaters wasn't up to the cold water temperature in winter in this region, and that it would struggle to keep a hot shower hot. He felt in the not too distant future they would be able to do enough of a rise to make it worth it. That was 4 years ago, so perhaps things have improved.

When my Bradley White tank unit dies, I will strongly investigate a tankless unit. I've got a gas water heater now, and would go gas tankless.

Marc

I've replaced our water heater maybe four times over the years and each time the maximum warranty on them decreased by a few years. The last time I replaced it with a plastic tank model. Since that time, I've had gas service brought to the house and if the plastic tank ever failed, I would go for the tankless heater. Since you have a need for a 75 gallon unit, you are probably a good candidate for a tankless heater. Assuming you have gas service that is. Looking at the time of day usage of my utilities, I can clearly see a huge jump in electricity usage after everyone showers in the morning and that 50 gallons of water has to be reheated.

I would be interested to see what brands of tankless units people are using since there are apparently a lot of happy users on here.

Marc_G said:

One thing to consider about tankless units is the incoming water temperature in your region (think, winter, coldest case) versus the temperature rise the unit is capable of.

If you live in a cold climate an have upper 30s F or low 40s F incoming water, and the unit can at maximum heat 60 degrees above incoming temperature, you'll never get the water hot enough to enjoy it. Check the specs for the heater you are looking at... a lot can only do a 35 degree rise at maximum flow rate, or a 60 degree rise at the lowest flow rate... Electric units generally can't raise the temp as much as a gas unit, but it will vary by unit.

When in ~2012 I was looking at a new water heater (replacing one under warranty, interested in upgrading tankless), the plumber here (in Indianapolis) cautioned me that the current crop of heaters wasn't up to the cold water temperature in winter in this region, and that it would struggle to keep a hot shower hot. He felt in the not too distant future they would be able to do enough of a rise to make it worth it. That was 4 years ago, so perhaps things have improved.

When my Bradley White tank unit dies, I will strongly investigate a tankless unit. I've got a gas water heater now, and would go gas tankless.

Marc

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I never knew this...
Very interesting. ....

Teddy

If you go the route of a replacement water heater, be aware that water heaters have increased in size (not capacity) to meet code/ energy requirements. A new 75 gallon tank will be larger than your old one.

That is the main reason I got a tankless system was to save room. The 75 gallon water heater was so large that I could not do maintenance on my furnace which is right next to the water heater. I do have to say it is nice having an unlimited amount of hot water!

My tank is 40 gallons and the replacement I'm looking at is a gas tank for about $375. I'm confident I can install it myself. I just did a search for a gas tankless water heater and see one for about $1,000. It doesn't look like I'll be going tankless.

The existing heater is 10 years old and the pressure relief valve on the top is releasing a small stream of hot water constantly, which goes up a pipe and to the side of my house. I want to replace it before something worse happens and my basement has a large amount of water on the floor.

Mushtang said:

The existing heater is 10 years old and the pressure relief valve on the top is releasing a small stream of hot water constantly, which goes up a pipe and to the side of my house. I want to replace it before something worse happens and my basement has a large amount of water on the floor.

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Sometimes it's just a failed valve, cheap to replace. I just had mine replaced on my 10 year old AOSmith unit.

neil_w said:

Sometimes it's just a failed valve, cheap to replace. I just had mine replaced on my 10 year old AOSmith unit.

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True, but it'd rather go ahead and replace the whole thing since the tank has never been flushed and I'm working on finishing my basement and I don't want to take a chance. The point is that if the choice is $1,000 for tankless or $375 for a tank, I can't imagine going tankless yet.

Mushtang said:

True, but it'd rather go ahead and replace the whole thing since the tank has never been flushed and I'm working on finishing my basement and I don't want to take a chance. The point is that if the choice is $1,000 for tankless or $375 for a tank, I can't imagine going tankless yet.

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Can't argue with that.