Replacement water heater advice?

PointBreeze

PointBreeze

Recycles dryer sheets
Joined
Jul 7, 2017
Messages
381
Location
Pittsburgh
Our Bradford White 50 gallon gas-fired water heater is 12 years old and is making loud glugging noises occasionally. I suspect there is a lot of sediment built up and I'm ready to replace it, although it has been trouble-free for 12 years. I don't want to wake up one morning to water all over the place and no hot water; I'd rather be proactive and there is money in this year's budget for this.

I also looked up what size we need (something I didn't do last time), and given our usage, a 40 gallon tank makes more sense than a 50 gallon.

I called around for some quotes. The installer of our current tank has switched to Rheem Pro series. Another plumber also installs only Rheem Pro series; I'm waiting for the third quote.

What do folks thing of Rheem? I had planned to get another Bradford White, because this one has been trouble free. Is there a reason plumbers seem to be switching to Rheem?

Oh, and I'm not interested in an on-demand or electric water heater. Our area just had a 6-day power outage and it was great to have hot water at least!
 
You might call and get quotes from Home Depot and/or Lowes, just to put a sanity check on the Rheem installer. A lot of these appliances are basically the same across the model line, but the expensive ones have a longer warranty.
 
COcheesehead said:
Did you try searching for online reviews?
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Yes, and they are unclear. Some folks swear by Bradford White, others Rheem. Bradford White seems to have the edge, which is why I'm confused that the quotes I'm getting are for Rheem.
 
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mailbagman said:
Went to a tankless on demand 19 years ago. my electric bill dropped $50 a month. Never run out of hot water. you can use the shower, dishwasher, washer all at the same time
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We have been tankless for years now too. A earlier one without a recirculating pump and now one with. The recirculating pump makes them even better. We program ours to run only certain parts of the day so they do provide savings.
 
Thanks, mailbagman and COcheesehead, but see my original post re: power outages. I'm assuming tankless require electricity. Maybe I'm wrong...
 
wmc1000 said:
Make sure the water heater they are quoting doesn't rely on a spark ignition system using electricity.
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I didn’t think it was possible to buy a standing pilot model. Is there some other ignition system out there?
Edit
They are banning gas appliances in some states.
Also, more efficient gas models use a fan for combustion air.
 
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Not lately, but over the years I purchase Rheem products and found them to be reliable and in the low-mid priced range. It seems many of the non franchised mechanics prefer that brand as well. When I had a furnace (heat exchanger) issue they honored their warranty.
 
Tankless requires an energy source, either electric or gas fired. You may not have sufficient electric to run the high amp circuit for an on-demand tankless style heater.
 
COcheesehead said:
We have been tankless for years now too. A earlier one without a recirculating pump and now one with. The recirculating pump makes them even better. We program ours to run only certain parts of the day so they do provide savings.
Click to expand...
A recirculating pump is independent of tank vs tank-less.

A recirculating pump does not provide energy savings (the opposite - it wastes energy), it helps provide hot water faster at a far faucet. But that is offset by keeping warm water in the pipes, which is getting lost (not so bad in the heating season). A recirculating pump can provide some modest water savings, by not having to run the water so long to get the hot water to that far faucet.
 
mailbagman said:
Went to a tankless on demand 19 years ago. my electric bill dropped $50 a month. Never run out of hot water. you can use the shower, dishwasher, washer all at the same time
Click to expand...
I'm very skeptical that is due to the change to a tank-less. Electric water heaters are very well insulated (no chimney), so very little standby loss anyhow. What is your electric rate (or more importantly - what is OP's electric rate?)?

Maybe your old water heater was defective, and repairing or replacing with a new tank heater would have resulted in savings anyhow.

EDIT/ADD: The label from a typical electric water heater rates it at $489 a year in energy cost ( ~ $40/month). I would not expect even a 10% savings from a tank-less. And even if you used 2x the hot water, and had 2x the average kwh rates, that would be a $160/month cost, and 10% would be $16.


2nd EDIT/ADD: OK, one other explanation - you went from an ELECTRIC tank water heater, to a NATURAL GAS tank-less water heater! That could explain that drop in the electric bill! :)
 
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In the original post, the OP said they didn't want to wake up one day to see water all over the place (from a failed water tank).

In my opinion, that's one of the advantages of a tankless system - no big potential mess (bigger if away on travel when it leaks), and no need to replace a working tank system "early" as a preventative measure.
 
RetiredAt55.5 said:
In my opinion, that's one of the advantages of a tankless system - no big potential mess (bigger if away on travel when it leaks), and no need to replace a working tank system "early" as a preventative measure.
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I think you are mistaken.

The leak from a water heater is not limited to the amount of water it holds. Either type is connected to the main supply, and will keep leaking until your municipal water supply or your well runs dry!
 
PointBreeze said:
Thanks, mailbagman and COcheesehead, but see my original post re: power outages. I'm assuming tankless require electricity. Maybe I'm wrong...
Click to expand...
Ours is gas/electric, but I personally wouldn’t make a decision around losing power for 6 days. That seems extreme. I could use my Peak 1 camping stove to heat water and take a bath. Our lines are all buried and the most we’ve lost power is a few hours.
 
surprising said:
Have you tried flushing out your current tank? You can flush out all the sediment and prolong the life of your current heater. These things are just simple tanks of water with a heat source so should last a long long time.
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And change the anode rod. You really don’t even need to completely flush the old water heater. Just attach a garden hose and drain a few gallons of water. It will drain off sediment. You can do your own homework on purpose of an anode rod. These are very simple fixes that could save you years on your water heater.
But I’m a crazy driven DIYer.
I too think tankless is bit oversold. But I don’t have gas service.
 
I like Rheem Pro water heaters. When I bought my house in 1997 it had the original Rheem water heater from 1979. I never flushed/drained it. Based on that track record I replaced it in 2012 with a high efficiency (fan exhaust) Rheem Pro 50 gallon model.
 
PointBreeze said:
Our Bradford White 50 gallon gas-fired water heater is 12 years old and is making loud glugging noises occasionally. I suspect there is a lot of sediment built up and I'm ready to replace it, although it has been trouble-free for 12 years. I don't want to wake up one morning to water all over the place and no hot water; I'd rather be proactive and there is money in this year's budget for this.

I also looked up what size we need (something I didn't do last time), and given our usage, a 40 gallon tank makes more sense than a 50 gallon.

I called around for some quotes. The installer of our current tank has switched to Rheem Pro series. Another plumber also installs only Rheem Pro series; I'm waiting for the third quote.

What do folks thing of Rheem? I had planned to get another Bradford White, because this one has been trouble free. Is there a reason plumbers seem to be switching to Rheem?

Oh, and I'm not interested in an on-demand or electric water heater. Our area just had a 6-day power outage and it was great to have hot water at least!
Click to expand...
Both Rheem and Bradford White are good brands to my knowledge.

We have a Takagi propane powered on-demand water heater that provides domestic hot water and heats the house. Our second one... first one lasted 13 years.

If hot water during a power outage is important to you then your choices might be limited. My understanding is that pilot light gas water heaters are going the way of the dinosaur.
 
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ERD50 said:
I'm very skeptical that is due to the change to a tank-less. Electric water heaters are very well insulated (no chimney), so very little standby loss anyhow. What is your electric rate (or more importantly - what is OP's electric rate?)?

Maybe your old water heater was defective, and repairing or replacing with a new tank heater would have resulted in savings anyhow.

EDIT/ADD: The label from a typical electric water heater rates it at $489 a year in energy cost ( ~ $40/month). I would not expect even a 10% savings from a tank-less. And even if you used 2x the hot water, and had 2x the average kwh rates, that would be a $160/month cost, and 10% would be $16.


2nd EDIT/ADD: OK, one other explanation - you went from an ELECTRIC tank water heater, to a NATURAL GAS tank-less water heater! That could explain that drop in the electric bill! :)
Click to expand...
I found this via Perplexity which suggests that degree of savings is feasible.
  • Over an 8-year period, a typical 50-gallon electric tank water heater has an energy cost of about $3,913, while a tankless (200k BTU, for reference) has an energy cost of about $1,518. This suggests a potential savings of about $2,400–$2,500 over 8 years, or roughly $300 per year, though actual savings will depend on your usage and local electricity rates.
Click to expand...
 
pb4uski said:
I found this via Perplexity which suggests that degree of savings is feasible.
Click to expand...
And your savings is likely more if use the app to program its cycles. We shut ours off at 9:30pm and reignite it at 5:30am. We shut it off completely when we travel.
 
As I write this I can't remember my brand. But when I asked my trusted contractor about the higher end -and costlier - model, he told me the guts were identical. The higher cost was nothing more than pre-paying an extended warranty. Whatever brand you choose, it may not pay to get their supposed upgaded model.
 
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pb4uski said:
I found this via Perplexity which suggests that degree of savings is feasible.
Click to expand...
I simply do not believe those numbers. I'll find some other sources later, but your source indicates the tankless uses 38% of the energy, or stated the other way, the tank uses over 2.5x the energy.

The laws of physics - in either case, you must raise the water from tap ( ~ 60F?) to ~ 130F, a 70F delta. That's where the energy and cost comes into play, and is equal for both (actually, the tank has a slight advantage with its slow/steady rise). An electric tank heater is well insulated and just doesn't lose much heat.

Simple numbers - if the tank took 2x the energy, it must be losing an equal amount while standing. So if you use 50 G of hot water a day (and therefore heat that much to a 70F delta), a 50 G tank would also need to loose that much over a day. And anyone who has a tank water heater will tell you it only loses a couple degrees a day. No where near 70F a day.

I've turned mine OFF when we went on a long w/e away, and the water was still over 90F when I returned. And that's a gas unit, which has more loss through the chimney than an electric, which can be totally insulated.
 
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