Speaking of Maintenance
Fellas and ladies,
If you're a home owner, please be sure to perform regular maintenance your water heater on a yearly basis.
Today, as I was draining ours, it literaly barfed out a bucket full of lime scale and calcium deposits.... ugh...
Unfortunately, this one can't be saved. We'd been having problems with calcium but I didn't know it was this severe.
Now, I'm off to Home Depot, Sears, or Lowe's to find the TCB deal on 50 gal. water heaters.
Sincerely,
A very wet and tired home owner.
Ours is on it's last leg too. Last week it barfed out something (looked like nylon tape or something) and it clogged the hot water line in the shower. My day is coming soon!
This is a time not to be a cheap bastard though. The ones with better warranties are built better and are also better insulated so they'll be cheaper to operate. Plus they're not that much more than the cheapies. Keep that in mind.
Don't forget there is a sacrificial anode rod in the water heater; I replaced the one on my 11 year old water heater last year. It had done a fine job it was nasty compared to the new one! I was told unless it is leaking to wait to replace the entire unit.
YMMV
After shopping both Sears and Home Depot we came away with a real winner.
At Home Depot, we picked up a GE, 50 gal., natural gas heater with a self cleaning feature and an electronic ignition! No more using fireplace matches to light this bad boy!
It is way more efficient than our old one and has a 12 year manufacturer's warranty and a lifetime parts and labor warranty from Home Depot.
Dimensionally, it's the same size as our old unit but this one has two inches of insulation versus the one inch on the old. It has two mangesium rods to keep the water nice and clean. Plus, we got a $50 rebate in the form of a Home Depot gift card to boot!
We'll have this bad boy installed professionaly on Monday morning... just in time, hopefully, for our mid-day round-up for work. We spent a tick over 7 bills (new unit, install, permits, and inspections) but we think we picked up the best unit for the cash (frankly, the price difference between this one and the smaller units was so negligible it was a mute point.)
We hope that this one lasts as long as our last one did... it had a functional life of 6 years but we made it to ten... knock on wood that this new one will last 15!
I forgot to add, while we were there, I picked up a real TCB deal on a new water filter for the refrig, a gallon size of CLR to clean out the dishwasher, etc., and a spray bottle... time for some lime/calcium busting cleaning!
Last edited by Treibenschnell; 05-07-2005 at 10:25 PM.
Mine went a couble years back, I too got a "self cleaning" one with the "whirlpool" action to keep it clear of sediment. I really should drain it to see if it actually works. You will want to replace the rod every 5 years. If you do you may get 20 + years out of your water heater. My last one lasted at least 13 years (thats how long I had lived here when it blew, I don't know how long it was there prior to my move in). Anyway, when I replaced the rod, it was goneOriginally Posted by Treibenschnell
, it had been eaten away completely. I suppose once it was eat up then the stuff in the water starts eating at the water heater.
Too bad it happend on mothers day, otherwise I'd offer to help you replace it. It's way easier than pulling an engine! I did mine and a freinds. His and mine went out within a month of each other. I got lucky, mine started leaking slowly, while his burst and flooded the garage.
'08 Copper Red GT PRHT, '06 Accord EXL, '05 Dodge Magnum R/T, '01 V8 Dakota for pulling 2135 Chaparral.
What does the anode rod do? not familiar with that one.
http://www.waterheaterrescue.com/pag...er-anodes.html
It's bolted into the top of your Heater. Apparently it is there to be eaten away by minerals, or to neutralize the minerals or something like that. Whatever it's for, plumbers recommend replacing it every 5 years.
BTW Bean, if you don't already have one, go ahead and put in a check valve on supply line going to the water heater, this will save lots of agrevation in the future. The vast majority of your plumbing problems will come from the hotwater side, having this valve there, enables you to turn off the hot water, yet still have cold water running in the house.It makes short work of replacing those pesky shower gaskets, that the kids never shut off all the way.
'08 Copper Red GT PRHT, '06 Accord EXL, '05 Dodge Magnum R/T, '01 V8 Dakota for pulling 2135 Chaparral.
So 3Bean what are you going to do with the old water heater! (J/K)
How timely. We have one of ours on its way out too. It spits chunks of rust occasionally, which is real bad. It is a 1984, so I guess it has served its time. I am replacing it with a tankless gas Bosch unit. I will report how it goes. It is about $400 more than a quality tank unit, but I think the energy savings will make up for it down the road, but it's hard to find hard data on this. Next year I am going to do the other one.
Anyone have first hand input on these?
Bosch Site
They had a couple of those units sitting on display at Home Depot... really popular in Europe (where they can't always accomodate an American size water heater) and our own east coast (where, again, space is at a premium).
Other than that, I don't know too much about these units.
I wonder if you would be eligible for an insurance discount with one of these units since you would no long have 50-60 gallons of water stored in your house, waiting to burst and flood your home!
True... but wouldn't these burn faster thereby increasing the chance of fire?
I wish I knew the specifics on these tankless units.
I've thought about going the 'tankless' route as well, but I read something somewhere that changed my mind. Wish I could find it now!
Here's some government propaganda -
http://www.eere.energy.gov/consumeri...heets/bc1.html
It would only be on when it was in use unlike the tank heaters which fire up on occasion just to maintain the tank temperature. So wouldn't you fire danger be less?
Actually, you're right... after reading that link that sammmy provided... but it just doesn't seem the hot water output would be enough for a Texas-sized home... at least not with a small electric unit. As long as the small heater is used to supplement another water heater...
I think I found it!Demand water heaters cost more than conventional storage tank-type units.
Cletus and Bubba just left and in about an hour I'll have hot water!!
They did a helluva job... and quick too!!
Well, I have spoken with some contractors and their plumbers are putting in more tankless than standards. They are sized to the usage. My house is split with 3 baths on one unit, (the failing one) and the other water heater handles the kitchen, washer dryer and another bath that is not used much.
The model I am looking at can handle 2 major hot water needs at a time, ie 2 running showers. I think it should handle anything we use on that end on the house. We are going with gas, also.
I did notice the electric units have a 60 am initial pull when they kick on! The gas unit only has a 110 for the igniter, so almost no electricity is used.
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I am so jealous! What a great line! 