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New water heater

spiffylubes

spiffylubes

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Shopping for a new water heater for my new house very soon, does anyone have any brand suggestions? The current electric tank one is 30 or so years old, so should be replaced. Gas isn't really an option, running the line would be more cost than I'd want I think. I've read about electric tankless (I didn't even know what existed until 30 minutes ago or so), but they seem to not be as effective or as good as gas tankless, so maybe just getting a new electric tank is the way to go. Anyway, any help is appreciated.
 
Don't bother going with an electric tank less. Gas is the only way to make it worthwhile. As far as a typical water heater, figure up your usage and go with the most efficient at that stage. No sense in spending $$ on a massive water heater if you aren't going to use the capacity on a regular basis.
 
Don't know if you are planning to have it installed or are planning on DIY. It's not a hard project if you have a plumbers torch and some modest electrical skills. Everything you need should be there from the previous one.
 
Go with a Bradford White. Don't get some cut rate piece of crap from a big box store.
 
wfumike02 said:
Go with a Bradford White. Don't get some cut rate piece of crap from a big box store.
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Can you get those from just any dealer? Looking on their website, the only dealer I see anywhere near NoVA is in Richmond. I unfortunately don't have the tools to install it myself, and since we're in the process of moving in, I'd rather just have someone install it for me.
 
I'd suggest trying to find a reputable plumber in the area from word of mouth. A good number of them will at the very least be able to order one.
 
Consumer Reports rated electric water heaters in the Aug 2013 edition. You might want to check it out before you buy. They are pretty good on giving you the reasoning behind their ratings. If you don't get it, most public libraries have it.


If you don't have to replace it immediately, you may want to use the existing one to see how it works (capacity wise) for your situation. Do you get enough hot water? if so, then the same size is probably OK. If not, then need to go bigger/faster recovery. Also gives you a little breathing room to find a plumber, particularly if you are new to the area. Go look at Washington Consumers Checkbook. They rate service providers like plumbers for quality of service and price. If you don't have access, PM and i'll look.
 
Deaconblue said:
Consumer Reports rated electric water heaters in the Aug 2013 edition. You might want to check it out before you buy. They are pretty good on giving you the reasoning behind their ratings. If you don't get it, most public libraries have it.


If you don't have to replace it immediately, you may want to use the existing one to see how it works (capacity wise) for your situation. Do you get enough hot water? if so, then the same size is probably OK. If not, then need to go bigger/faster recovery. Also gives you a little breathing room to find a plumber, particularly if you are new to the area. Go look at Washington Consumers Checkbook. They rate service providers like plumbers for quality of service and price. If you don't have access, PM and i'll look.
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I've used that handbook for a car body shop and it worked out fine, but do you think it's any better than Angie's List? We do have a membership to that already, using it to get our floors refinished.
 
Don't think there is that much difference in quality. WCCB has been around a lot longer - goes back to the dark ages when everything had to be on paper.
 
TheTwinAndreBen said:
Just put in a gas tankless Rinnai. Rinnai is the brand to go for tankless.
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Well, I'm going to have the gas line quoted and we'll see what it costs. If it's not outrageous, and our gas inflow is enough to run tankless, I'll consider it.
 
I love my tankless Rinnai. My gas company gave me a 500 gallon tank for free as long as I paid to have it put in the group. Once done, they ran the line to the house. I had to pay the plumber to run the line from the wall to the unit, but that was already included in the installation cost. I think it may have cost me $300 bucks out of pocket to have the gas run to it.
 
spiffylubes said:
Well, I'm going to have the gas line quoted and we'll see what it costs. If it's not outrageous, and our gas inflow is enough to run tankless, I'll consider it.
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Gas is worth it. You want to run as fast as you can from electric.

ETA: Now that they use the hoses for gas lines mostly it shouldn't be too expensive to run one.
 
wfumike02 said:
Gas is worth it. You want to run as fast as you can from electric.

ETA: Now that they use the hoses for gas lines mostly it shouldn't be too expensive to run one.
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But is still dependent on psi of the gas line, right? As in, if we don't have enough pressure we might not be able to support a tankless water heater? At least, that's what I've gathered in my research.
 
Rates for electricity are variable across the country. What makes perfect sense in one locale may be a bad idea in another. I live in an area with very cheap electricity rates (so I am told) and so electrical things aren't as big an issue as it would be for my BIL in San Diego. That said, I have a gas water heater at my house. I also have an electric one that supports my basement and guest rooms, which I turn off when we aren't having company (no way to vent the gas so I had to get electric for this one).

I was under the impression that your gas company can run a pretty good size pipe into the house. Issues arise when you split that pipe throughout the house. Then things like gas logs might not get as much juice as they could get with a larger pipe. You gas man can help you decide what size to get. Agree with above, flex gas lines in the house have made things much simpler.
 
BacktoBack said:
Rates for electricity are variable across the country. What makes perfect sense in one locale may be a bad idea in another. I live in an area with very cheap electricity rates (so I am told) and so electrical things aren't as big an issue as it would be for my BIL in San Diego. That said, I have a gas water heater at my house. I also have an electric one that supports my basement and guest rooms, which I turn off when we aren't having company (no way to vent the gas so I had to get electric for this one).

I was under the impression that your gas company can run a pretty good size pipe into the house. Issues arise when you split that pipe throughout the house. Then things like gas logs might not get as much juice as they could get with a larger pipe. You gas man can help you decide what size to get. Agree with above, flex gas lines in the house have made things much simpler.
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Right, I'm expecting that they'd just be able to split the line that runs into my boiler to have it come to the other side of the basement where the water heater currently is, unless the pressure isn't high enough to support a water heater. If it needs more pressure, I assume I'd have to have more work done to have a bigger pipe coming into the house, which might cost a lot more, I don't know.
 
DeacWatcher said:
How much does it cost to run a gas line from the street to your home?
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No idea, but I'd think it would take a lot more man hours since they'd have to dig to get to the existing pipe then replace it? That labor alone would add a lot to the cost.
 
spiffylubes said:
Right, I'm expecting that they'd just be able to split the line that runs into my boiler to have it come to the other side of the basement where the water heater currently is, unless the pressure isn't high enough to support a water heater. If it needs more pressure, I assume I'd have to have more work done to have a bigger pipe coming into the house, which might cost a lot more, I don't know.
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A larger pipe would increase the volume of gas coming to you, but the pressure should be the same coming from the source. Typically though, the initial pipe they put down should be large enough to support both the boiler and heater. I've got a 1" pipe, and its enough to support: my heater, the tank less water heater, a gas dryer, and a gas stove/range.
 
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