A.O. Smith Water heaters the best???

[JHZR2]

Hi,

I really loved learning about how good stauber washers and dryers are... efficient, made in the USA, and easy to repair.

I know that my 9 year warranty GE hot water heater (gas) in my house is older than 9 years. Ill probably flush it and think about removing and checking/replacing the sacrificial anode bar in it... but one never knows if a heater is going to go bad... I do know that we have to set it a bit high to get comfortable water...

I was browsing HD and looked at the water heaters for fun. All of them are energy factors of .56-.58 for 40 gallon heaters.

I looked at A.O. Smith and saw the conservationist and energy plus heaters that have energy factors of 0.62-63, the highest of any Ive seen.

I want to keep a traditional heater that uses the chimney, and these two are that type...

But the question is, is A.O. Smith one of the best or the best water heater out there? Looking at specs and literature, A.O. smith seems to have a nice setup.

Is there a small relaively unknown company hat makes the top notch water heaters out there running on natural gas? the staubers of the hot water heater world???

What about furnaces???

Thanks!

JMH

 

[pitzel]

I've never made a tank-style water heater last for more than around 5 years. What I find is that if you get some sheet metal, some silicone caulking, and have the sheet metal bend into a tray, you can at least contain the water and pipe it safely away into your sewer when the inevitable failure occurs.

Its a real pity that the 'on-demand' heaters, in sizes adequate for a modern American 'home' aren't available here. The amount of gas needlessly wasted on standby hot water heating is extraordinary.

 

[drm7]

I seriously looked at these: http://www.gotankless.com/

I wanted so bad to use tankless. I'm all electric and I was worried that the electric ones aren't quite up to the task.

 

[michaelc80]

Our AO Smith 40gal heater (propane) has never given us a problem in the 10 years it's been in the house. I plan to go another 5-10 years before I consider replacing it.

We can run the dishwasher and 2 showers all at the same time and not run out of hot water (usually happens every Saturday morning).

I checked into the tankless systems a year or so ago, and they just don't produce enough hot water on demand to supply our needs. Add to that the additional up front costs for a high quality unit and it wasn't worth it. Where we are at propane is less expensive than natural gas or electric.

Our current system is very efficient. It only runs when we call for hot water. Once the tank is recovered it doesn't run again until the next morning when we take showers-the pilot light and insulation keep it hot.

As far as furnaces, we've always has Lennox equipment and never had a problem. Our system keeps our ~3200SF home comfortable year round relatively inexpensively. If I were to change brands, I would seriously consider Trane equipment.

 

[JHZR2]

I'm pretty sure our furnace is a Weil-Mclain. Are they good? Ours works fine, butit is ~25 years old.

Ive heard that lennox and trane equipment is very good.

Thanks!

JMH

 

[JHZR2]

Thanks for the link! I think these are for forced air systems.. I have hot water with old fashioned cast iron radiators.

Their two-stage furnace looks like a really neat idea.

My parents have an EFM "electronic furnace man" brand coal and oil boiler for the hot water system at their weekend house. That one is still going strong after 25 years. and they still sell it - coal boiler with oil kit option: http://www.efmheating.com/d520.html

JMH

 

[JHZR2]

quote:

---

Originally posted by labman:
No AO smith fan here. I have owned 2 houses that the builder installed one originally and it failed in about 10 years. I replaced the one in this house with a no name cheapy about 20 years ago. It may be failing now. I never routinely flushed it, although I do occasionally draw hot water from the bottom when I need some out in the garage.

---

Thanks for your insight... Id venture to guess that if they are 'original' heaters installed by a builder, then they are in no way high end or long warrantee units, right?

I looked at the instant gas heaters... I agree that I am not sure that it would be very useful for my application.

I think that if, say I was installing an addition to my house, and wanted hot water fora shower or whatnot... it might be good because then I could just install a cold water line, and not have to worry about changing the rest of the system. But, for an installed system, using a chimney, ets, with regular domestic demand, a tank heater is good.

Maybe a small electric (EF ~.85) coupled with an instant on unit would be a good idea. You could use one of those 5 gallon electric heaters, which surely cant require a whole lot of power, and runs at relative efficiencies that are really high. This way you have a small buffer no different than any other tank water heater, and then a high efficiency heating system that is much cheaper than using electric.

Dont know if Im onto something... ?????????

JMH

 

[doitmyself]

JHZR

An excellent site to gain plumbing knowledge is at plbg.com . Many professionals contribute to that site and offer good advice. Be warned, they are proud of their skilled trades profession and frown on people doing "Red/Green" style work. Ask your questions appropriately or they won't help much.

Do a "best water heater search" and you will find:

Bock is a small company in WI that makes respected industrial duty heaters (with expected high cost).

Today's heaters are more or less throw away quality (compared to 20-30 yrs. ago). Expect no more that 8 to 12 years depending on H2O quality)

Rheem/Rudd, AO Smith, and Bradley White are the only US manufactures left (Maybe Lochivar?). A lot of brand relabeling goes on. Quality differences between these brands is negligible (but there are brand loyalists).

These professionals seem to think the Big Box Brands (made by the companies above) have lesser quality control and experience more returns. Maybe this is their professional bias to get them to replace your heater??? I don't know.

6, 9, or 12 yr. warranty: Beyond the 9 yr. model there is little if any quality difference (tank, etc.). You're just buying an extended warranty.


I bet they would enjoy answering your idea about the small electric heater. Tell us what you find out.

 

[JeepZJ4.0]

We have two very quiet Rheem 40 gal. water heaters in my house back in Texas.

As for a furnace... we have two units. Our house is 4300 sqfeet. One is an older Trane and the other is a American Standard but the heater components are Carrier I believe... we had the UV light/ultra filtration system installed because I have really bad allergies.. too bad I live in Baton Rouge for school...

 

[pa04prius]

Been 'tankless' since 1983 raising 3 kids with loads of showers and laundry. Ours is a Paloma from Japan. Never ran out of hot water and would never consider a 'tank'. It is a natural gas unit.

 

[JHZR2]

Have you only ever had that one unit that was installed in 83, or has it been replaced?

It doesnt use a chimney, right???

JMH

 

[Brett Miller]

I've heard Bradford White are the best.

 

[rjundi]

Water heaters longevity has a lot to do with the local water chemistry.

 

[ediamiam]

I just replaced the original AOSmith in my 27 yo tract house. I replaced it with a Bradford White Defender. The installer thought the units sold be the HomeDepots-types were pretty much junk. In the early years w/ the AOSmith, I drained the tank periodically to get the crap out.

 

[Dark Jedi]

I have an old gas water heater in my house. I noticed the water wasnt very hot. even on the highest setting. well the whole thing went down. my thermal coupling was bad. so I replaced this. well while looking at the burner. there was a hard chalky substance on the burner. I brushed all this stuff off. now the water is way hotter and have to use the cold water now to take a shower. so look at your burner. you might have this buildup over your burner not allowing the flame to give good heating to your tank. worth a try before sinking alot of money on a heater not needed.

 

[labman]

No AO smith fan here. I have owned 2 houses that the builder installed one originally and it failed in about 10 years. I replaced the one in this house with a no name cheapy about 20 years ago. It may be failing now. I never routinely flushed it, although I do occasionally draw hot water from the bottom when I need some out in the garage.

I think stand by losses are greatly exaggerated. In the summer, my hot water heater and gas dryer together only use 5-10 cubic feet of gas, little more than the minimum billing. I do have a fiberglass blanket on it.

I looked at tankless. I don't have the service to go electric. Gas units may be small, but require an enormous amount of clearance space. I can't put one in my crawl space where my 100,000 btu furnace is. If I install one in the garage, I still have to wait forever for hot water to run through the pipes to where I am. the ''instant hot water'' is at the tank, not the point of use.

 

[kanling]

For furnaces, check out Thermopride
http://www.thermopride.com/GasFurnaces.cfm

For oil furnaces, this brand is your stauber, I would guess. I don't know about gas.