Need new gas water heater

[zzyzzx]

Originally Posted By: mattwithcats
+1 on the tankless.

Takes up so much less room, instant hot water, and less heat and energy escaping...


I'd love to have one, but in a lot of cases a retrofit makes no sense. Ideally it is put in the house when it's new. You either have to be upgrading your electrical anyway or if gas fired have it on an outside wall where you can easily do the venting. I would probably need a new natural gas line run into the house AND have expensive venting or have a huge new electrical panel installed. Would not be cost effective in any way shape of form for me.

 

[Apollo14]

$1000's more for tankless.

Back to tank for us.

 

[Rat407]

Love our Rinnai gas tankless. We never run out of hot water and it is big enough for two people to take a shower and run a load of laundry. No issues at all. It cost us %1,200 total and I installed it myself. It replaced a small 30 gallon electric that was inside one of our bedrooms closets.

 

[Apollo14]

Right now looks like I'll be going with Home Depot. They have Rheem models that are energy star and I can get a $200 rebate for those.

Their install cost is ~$450 which is way lower than Lowes and only a bit higher than Sears who don't have energy star models, only offer a 1 year warranty and may go bust soon.

I'll look to downsize from my 75 gallon tank. Although we have a big house, and therefore this large size tank, it is not as fully occupied as the builder might have planned for and clearly 50 gallons is big enough for our usage patterns, especially on energy star models that regenerate really quickly.

 

[Rand]

a rapid recovery 40gal or 50gal should be plenty and perhaps even exceed the capacity of your current model.

 

[bepperb]

Originally Posted By: Apollo14
Is there any difference between a 6 year heater and a 10 year one? Some people are saying it is just paying more for the warranty.


Actually yes, most if it is the warranty. If anything is different it would have a better, or more likely a dual anode rod and probably everything else is the same.

What are the requirements? Fixture and bath count?

 

[bepperb]

Originally Posted By: volk06
I looked at a tankless water heater but the savings and ROI weren't there for me. We got a rapid recovery ~30 gallon water heater. It's more compact, very efficient and beats most 40 & 50 gallon heaters in recovery and gallons/hr.


A rapid recovery 29 gallon tank will beat out a 40 or 50 gallon on available hot water and efficiency, doesn't cost much more and is an easy retrofit. Still not sure if it would replace a 70 gallon beast, though.

 

[JustinH]

Have a 40 gallon gas water heater here.

I see little reason to go tankless, when we use like 5 cfm of gas per month, using it for hot water.

A replacement gas water heater is what 400-500 dollars?

 

[bepperb]

Originally Posted By: JustinH
Have a 40 gallon gas water heater here.

I see little reason to go tankless, when we use like 5 cfm of gas per month, using it for hot water.

A replacement gas water heater is what 400-500 dollars?



Sure, but someday you'll have to replace it. Then you get the choice of 400 for another of the same, 700 for a rapid recovery high efficiency model or 1200 for a on demand system. Over the lifespan and depending on useage either upgrade could pay for itself. But even if they don't they offer a huge improvement in available hot water. A double whammy.

 

[Apollo14]

I've chosen the product which happens to be from Home Depot. It's a Rheem 50 gallon energy star rated so I'll get a $200 rebate, making it $625 after tax. It has a 12 year warranty including first 3 years labor. The 40 gallon version was $75 less rated for 2 to 4 people/ 71 first hour gallons vs 3 to 5 people / 93 first hour gallons for the 50 gallon model. I don't want to go down too far in size as we on rare occasion have run out even with a 75 gallon tank (partly because the temp is set low)

The tankless option does not give an ROI. Annual running costs are $40 less, install cost was quoted in excess of $2000, and no rebate is available.

Overall, there wasn't much choice or availability, partly due to California regulations. Sears didn't have anything energy star, and Lowes was more expensive and anything suitable was not in stock. The Rheem's at Home Depot not only had the best prices and are in stock, but a rebate on top and a 12 year warranty.

I've asked a local company do the install. $300 labor + whatever parts are required. Home Depot also use a local company but they have been giving me some story about not being able to move down from 75 gallons to 50 gallons.

Thank you everyone for your help. It helped me decide and hopefully I will have hot water back soon!

 

[Plumber]

Good choice IMO. Rheem has excellent customer service as well as a good product. The price you were quoted seems reasonable, just hold them to it.

 

[Vikas]

Is it PowerVent unit? If so, you are looking at close to couple of grand. There is not much choice and hence the prices are way high.

By the way, why on-demand systems are more expensive? Is it because they are *considered* high tech? Is it the same reason as to why disk brakes are more expensive than drum brakes even though it costs more to manufacturer a drum brake than disk brake?

On-demand system has lot less parts and is simpler. Why in the world does it cost double than the tank based system?

To ask this question differently, why is not DealExtreme selling the tank-less heaters yet? Seriously, the price seems to be artificial.

 

[bepperb]

The on demand heater's aren't more expensive, but they can't be vented out the b vent used by the traditional heater. The additional cost is labor.

Same for electric, the tankless doesn't really cost more, but it requires a triple breaker and the wiring to go with. If that's not there the cost is labor and wiring.

Still, for new construction the prices are comparable, just not for retrofits.

 

[Apollo14]

Yes the on demand unit requires upgrading the gas supply lines and the venting. It uses more than double the BTUs to instantly heat water.

So thousands in labor. The actual unit cost is not much different.

 

[DBMaster]

It would take a long time to recoup that investment. In the summer, my gas bill is about $20. I have a gas WH and gas range. The "customer charge" is what you're stuck paying no matter how much gas you use. So, I end up using $3-5 per month to run my water heater every month.

Of course, I am a one person household with weekend visits from the kids. I run one load of laundry on warm per week and run the dishwasher about once a week.

A tankless water heater would never pay for itself in my case.