Another water heater thread!
 

We have a gas water heater. It heats the cold water and does great but it is now 20 years old. Before it has a problem we want to replace it.

I looked through the numerous water heater threads.

We have gas now, it will be replaced with gas.

We will not go with a tank-less. We never ever run out of hot water, even when we have guests. I looked into it and it is not a viable option for our needs.

My only real question which brand should I go for?

Rheem or A O Smith seem to be the preferred brands. It will not be a big box store model. It will come from a plumbing supply store.

Opinions?

No opinions but in a similar situation. We're all electric (rural), but thinking about switching to tankless. Wondering why you have ruled it out or if there's a down-side I'm unaware of.

Concur. We are doing the same exact thing - preventive replacement - but decided to go tankless, mainly because the HWH is in the basement.

I'd be interested in your reasoning, GH.

The reason I ruled out tankless is to get a good quality tankless water heater is crazy EXPENSIVE. And I would have to get a bigger gas line brought over to the water heater area in the garage. We have just two people total living at the house. Running out of hot water is just never an issue. I ran the numbers and the payback was just never going to work.

If I had a big family using a lot of hot water tankless would be great.

Our water heater is in the garage in a room built for it when the house was built. If it had a major leak it would just run out the garage door down the street. The room is cozy and our gas bill is very low.

May I jump in here with a Q?
Got a gas water heater and want to drain it and refill.
Should I shut off the gas to it prior to draining?

Don't let it 'heat' when it's empty. Turn the control off, not the gas.

AO Smith.

Make sure you can adjust the water temperature, on the cheap models you can't....

Replaced mine saturday after thanksgiving with A O Smith 40 gallon gas. Went with local heating company and I paid a fortune. $980. I think it because i spazzed out and wanted it immediately because my basement is finished and the old one was pouring out rust and metal bits. So far so good. I don't mind paying extra for peace of mind.

Copy. We looked at relocating the HWH to the first floor with a drain...that was more expensive than a tankless.

I completely understand your rational and wish I could help!

Thanks!

Funny, I was thinking the same thing--preventative replacement.

A question to those already shopping around. We currently have a gas heater which has a pilot light. Is it still possible to buy a heater with a pilot? I ask because in a power failure we still have hot water and that would not be possible with the electronic ignitions. Plus, I'm a bit old school though I have lots of experience with ignition modules/replacements on our other appliances.

We have a tankless water heater in our SoCal home. It has the ability to keep up with all of our hot water needs; however, it sucks to have to wait a while for hot water to first show up when you open a faucet. On the positive side, we're not there but for a handful of weeks every year, and our gas bill stays very low since we're not continuing to heat a tank of water in our absence.

You could just turn the gas off when you are gone.

We have an American Appliances heater out in our garage. Mor Flo Delimer 10 Self Cleaning. Been doing a good job for at least 10 years if not longer.
I can remember living in Santa Monica as a kid, there was a water heater manufacturer down the street at 26th and Olympic. Dad would always try to get one of theirs when we needed one. Don't know or remember their name now.

Water heaters have a zinc annode that prevents the rest of the unit from rusting out. the annode gets eaten away instead. It's usually screrwed into the top of the tank.

As long as some of it is still there the tank is protected but after 20 years it's probbably gone.
You COULD just replace the annode and get more life out of it if you wanted, they're reasonably cheap on evil-bay, round $30 to $40 IIRC.

Tankless heater someone say?

Do it if:

Big old heater is in the house and want that space back
Endless hot water or need to fill a large bath
Want to save the world
Have the latest and the greatest

Don't do it :

Save bucks on fuel cost. It will take yeeeeears to catch up to a simple replacement of a traditional heater.
Hot water needed at the faucet within a reasonable time (depending on the location of the heater, it may not be too bad)
Maintain the stupid thing yearly
Need scale filter but no code requirement around here
Hard to control if cool water is needed. For example, cool shower in a hot summer night.

We went Tankless when our old one started leaking. So far love it. Rianni (SP) brand. Endless hot water... great when filling the hot tub (150 gal.)
-C

I forgot to add that its a PITA if a recirc. pump is installed with a tankless unit. A thermo switch is necessary and it usually void warranty with a recirc. pump.

I personally like to have two small tankless unit for a large size house.

We've been using AO Smith for years in new construction, can't remember a callback. 100+ installed.

Added to the list.