Tell me about your water heater....

Hi, you and Aredeem like your Navians. We are looking at a new combi heat and water. Our installer recommends Navien. Can you expand your thoughts? I don't have any personal or close experience with them. Do they always keep up even w/ two showers going? Maintenance? Thx.

This is a lake house that is not used that often and it is a waste to heat 75 gals (20 yr old water heater) even to vacation setting then bring it all up to temp when arriving.
Hi. Current heater trouble free. They’re not cheap out of the box. Your installer can recommend what periodic flushing is required, if any. If you have soft water it helps. Less minerals. Endless supply of hot water, you never run out. Might need a gas line upgrade. Hangs on the wall, takes up no room. Not for everybody I guess but once in you’ll never go back to a tank.
 

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I have a Lochinvar 40 gallon 5 year natural gas. It is almost 10 years old, and was a warranty replacement for one that was installed by the previous home owner.

It doesn't have an anode rod. But I do try to flush it regularly, about once a year. Considering how hard the water is in my locale, I'm pretty impressed that it has almost doubled it's warranted life. It has already more then doubled the life of the one that it replaced.
 
I have avoided the Rheems sold at Home Depot since they are made elsewhere. I try to support US manufacturing if that is a priority for you. You are fortunate to have Natural Gas!
Do you have a link to this? I ask, because some claim that Rheem customer service will tell you they come down the same assembly line "with minor differences".

It seems that parts and service availability are things to investigate before buying a big box store heater.

Lochinvar is now owned by A.O. Smith (2011), but it is difficult to learn if that has resulted in any changes. BHopkins, it is surprising that your heater has no anode rod
 
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I have a Lochinvar 40 gallon 5 year natural gas. It is almost 10 years old, and was a warranty replacement for one that was installed by the previous home owner.

It doesn't have an anode rod. But I do try to flush it regularly, about once a year. Considering how hard the water is in my locale, I'm pretty impressed that it has almost doubled it's warranted life. It has already more then doubled the life of the one that it replaced.
It probably has a nipple anode rod like my Lochinvar has. It is built into the hot water connection pipe in the water heater
 
I know they make unlimited hot water. How much do you figure you save on fuel?
I’ll be honest. I don’t know. The reason we have one is because it came with the house. We have a small house and the Navien saves a ton of room in the laundry room where it’s located. it’s just the two of us but I like long hot showers. And the dishwasher does it’s thing too. This thing never runs out of hot water and rest of the time it just hangs out. Its gotta save us a few bucks a month.
 
I have a 40 gal Lochinvar natural gas water heater right now. I was going to change the anode rod as it has never been changed. I then realized it is 14 years old so I decided to just get a new one.

Going with a A.O Smith 40 gallon this time with a 9 yr warranty. Getting it as Lowes.

Going to try to maintain this one better. More flushes and anode rod checks/changes.

So what do you have, and are you good at maintenance on it?
I would say you can still replace the anode rod but might be more work than a regular one. I replaced the rods on all the tanks I had no matter how old they were. One was 10 years old but the rod wasn't that bad and it lasted several more years before I finally sold the property. The tall water heaters tend to have longer rods and seem to last longer than the short ones.
 
Do you have a link to this? I ask, because some claim that Rheem customer service will tell you they come down the same assembly line "with minor differences".

It seems that parts and service availability are things to investigate before buying a big box store heater.

Lochinvar is now owned by A.O. Smith (2011), but it is difficult to learn if that has resulted in any changes. BHopkins, it is surprising that your heater has no anode rod
The Rheems available at my local Home Depot are made in Mexico, I am not sure if you can get a Rheem made in the US. I dont know the differences between the HD Rheems and Rheems available elsewhere.

My latest water heater purchase was for my mom and I went to Lowes since they had US made water heaters there. If my local HD had US made water heaters availiable I would have got whatever brand there.
 
Hi, you and Aredeem like your Navians. We are looking at a new combi heat and water. Our installer recommends Navien. Can you expand your thoughts? I don't have any personal or close experience with them. Do they always keep up even w/ two showers going? Maintenance? Thx.

This is a lake house that is not used that often and it is a waste to heat 75 gals (20 yr old water heater) even to vacation setting then bring it all up to temp when arriving.
I have a Navien NPE240A and also really like it. 3 years old now and no issues. In your case, for a lake house / cottage / seasonal use I think that a tankless makes excellent sense. Here is my summary:

Pro: very efficient as stated no large reserve of hot water wasting away unused, unlimited hot water - 2 showers simultaneously are no problem, dishwasher / washing machine and shower on also no issue. Small footprint, this was the final attribute that pushed me over from a traditional tank. It is a small box mounted on the wall.

Con: Out of the box, no scheduling control is available. You have to order separately a remote pad or wifi in order to do any programming of timing. For example, we fully installed a recirculating system (recommended when feasible like in a complete reno) but we don't need that running at 3am I'd like to have that run from 6am to 10pm only. Slightly more maintenance than a tank. I flush with vinegar once per year (45 minutes with a small pump), drain the condensate trap, clean the intake (both water and air) filters etc. It is minor maintenance but still more than I ever did with a tank. As noted, higher up front cost. Finally, no hot water with a power outage period end of story. A mistake I made with our new house is not having a transfer switch / NG generator system installed. We did not realize how intermittent the power is where we are now. 4 - 6 hrs per year is not uncommon and we have had a serious 2 day one once. I haven't gotten to the point where I have bought a small generator and have an extension cord running to the hot water tank (and fridge)... yet...

Not sure if this is our last house or not, we have said that 2 times now and been wrong, but if we moved into a different house and needed to upgrade / replace the hot water tank I would go back to tankless in all likelihood. One big caveat to my thoughts on tankless is we have the recirc system so all my observations are based on having that system. I do not know first hand how frustrating a tankless is (or isn't?) that does not have a recirc (i.e. delay for hot water, "cold sandwiches" and difficulty with new low water use washing machines).
 
Have 25 yr old AO Smith 40 gal that came with the new house, use to flush annually but haven't touched it in 10.
 
Kenmore 40 gallon with a nice thick wrap around it. Eleven years old and hope to get atleast 4 more out of it. Granted I only take a 5-7 minute shower -- wifey emptys it daily though with her shower.
 
Whirlpool 50 gallon with lifetime warranty from Lowes, 11 years old. Never an issue.

do you have to replace the anode or have a flush log to get that long of a warranty? Is the warranty pro-rated or will they replace it with an equivalent model.

I'm assuming, should you have to replace this model, then next won't com with any warranty.
 
Do yourself a favor, before installing the new water heater, remove the anode and reinstall it with teflon tape (or pipe thread sealant), then don't over-tighten it, just get it snug. At the factory they use loctite red (or an equivalant) on the threads, in other words "strong glue", then they put the fear of God in it when it is tightened, both of which which make it a real bear to get out later. If you are dealing with a ceiling above where the water heater is installed, go ahead and replace the anode with a segmented one right off the bat. BTW, it doesn't cost much more to upgrade to a 50 gal.
 
Have 25 yr old AO Smith 40 gal that came with the new house, use to flush annually but haven't touched it in 10.

Do you have some sort of moisture (leak) sensor nearby?

We have a Smarthings sensor down in the basement, near the hot water heater. The only time we get a moisture alert is when my daughter used to lick the one by the dishwasher upstairs. She stopped doing that when she turned 2...lol
 
AO Smith Heat pump water heater that I run on a timer. Since my unheated garage is always 70+ degrees it saves a bunch of $.
Also lowers the garage temp by 2 - 3 degrees.
 
I have a 40 gal Lochinvar natural gas water heater right now. I was going to change the anode rod as it has never been changed. I then realized it is 14 years old so I decided to just get a new one.

Going with a A.O Smith 40 gallon this time with a 9 yr warranty. Getting it as Lowes.

Going to try to maintain this one better. More flushes and anode rod checks/changes.

So what do you have, and are you good at maintenance on it?
Wait, is it leaking? Not heating? Located somewhere that a leak would be catastrophic?
If no to all, why replace early? Usually the tank goes and gives a slow leak to warn you.
Maybe you can get 20 years?

Our 6 year warranty model, lasted 12. Replaced it with another Rheem, with a 12 year warranty and better efficiency and cleaner burning.
It was less when I bought it, plus Gas Co rebates, so it ended up being cheaper than any other units around.
 
I installed a Noritz tankless a few years ago, even though our 50 gallon water heater was still in service.
I chose Noritz because they are made in USA, in California. I got a recommendation from the facilities manager at my company.

The problem with tankless is up front cost. They cost more and the exhaust flue is generally stainless steel which is pricey.
You may also need a black pipe gas supply line upgrade, which can be pricey as well.
Noritz came out with a 50 gallon water heater replacement that could use the existing exhaust, saving quite a bit.
It was also able to use the existing gas supply line.
The Noritz is probably the most expensive, and is top quality.

You have to wait for hot water, which I don't like. After the 1st shower, there is no problem.
Beyond that, they are great.
I won't go back to tank style water heaters.
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Do you have some sort of moisture (leak) sensor nearby?

We have a Smarthings sensor down in the basement, near the hot water heater. The only time we get a moisture alert is when my daughter used to lick the one by the dishwasher upstairs. She stopped doing that when she turned 2...lol
No, water heater is in the garage,
 
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