What do you do with an old hot water...

[cstreit]

Originally Posted by mreid

You could build a North Korean missile out of it.

Hahahaha!



So how much longer does the hot water take to reach an upstairs faucet wth a tankless?

[redstrosekNic]

Originally Posted by cstreit

Hahahaha!



So how much longer does the hot water take to reach an upstairs faucet wth a tankless?

My cousin's house is quite large, yet he says the water temp is very responsive compared to his old tank unit.

[greglepore]

Originally Posted by cstreit

Hahahaha!



So how much longer does the hot water take to reach an upstairs faucet wth a tankless?

No longer, it heats instantly, but the cold water is still in the pipes. One issue is that you can't use one of those circulating pumps at a remote faucet that keep hot water in the line as the constant on/off it causes at the tankless is hard on the igniter and will void the warranty-you need to install a storage tank of some kind which sort of misses the point. Plumbers here might have a more elegant solution, and I'm all ears.

[scottmandue]

I'm going with the tank-less when my cheap tankers go... water heater used to last 20 year... then ten... now I'm lucky to six to eight out of them...

Are the tank-less DIY friendly?


As far as getting rid of the old one... if you are not going to make a smoker (or a missile) take it to a recycling place... in my hood any metal object left in the alley gets hauled away on trash day.

[greglepore]

Originally Posted by scottmandue

I'm going with the tank-less when my cheap tankers go... water heater used to last 20 year... then ten... now I'm lucky to six to eight out of them...

Are the tank-less DIY friendly?


As far as getting rid of the old one... if you are not going to make a smoker (or a missile) take it to a recycling place... in my hood any metal object left in the alley gets hauled away on trash day.

Depends on your diy level-but yes, two simple water connections, a power outlet (they have a cord and plug) and a gas line in (might need a pro for this as the supply houses won't sell the line or fittings unless your certified -or you need to use black pipe). You'll also need the chimney kit if its an indoor unit -they also make outdoor-and you'll need to vent this outside, no harder than a dryer vent, but you'll want to mount on exterior wall and hopefully you'll have easy access to vent above grade.

[red-beard]

[Hugh R]

In my old house, I took and old one and put it in line with my irrigation system. Water gets replaced daily and I had 50 gallons of emergency water available in case of something like an earthquake.

[Evans, Marv]

As far as a tankless getting hot water to faucets in different rooms, my plumber installed a circulation pump inline. Don't know for sure but I also believe they installed a circuit in the plumbing to sort of rotate the water through it & back in the area of the bathrooms. If you want instant heated water in the bathrooms, you push a button and the pump circulates hot water through the pipes for a short period of time. Works well, but we almost never use it.

[look 171]

Originally Posted by scottmandue

I'm going with the tank-less when my cheap tankers go... water heater used to last 20 year... then ten... now I'm lucky to six to eight out of them...

Are the tank-less DIY friendly?


As far as getting rid of the old one... if you are not going to make a smoker (or a missile) take it to a recycling place... in my hood any metal object left in the alley gets hauled away on trash day.

Yes Scott, they are DIY friendly. Get hold of me and I will walk you through it when the time comes.

[rick-l]

What about the huge gas line, that my house does not have?

[Teutonics]

Originally Posted by scottmandue

I'm going with the tank-less when my cheap tankers go... water heater used to last 20 year... then ten... now I'm lucky to six to eight out of them...

Spot on... our "lifetime warranty" top-of-the-line water heater just "let go" last week after a whole seven years and two months. Junk. It replaced the original WH which lasted all of 9 years.

It's replaced, but now I'm researching preventative measures to keep the water out of our living room the next time it happens.

[M.D. Holloway]

So the question is "what do you do with a hot water heater?"

Hmmm similar to ...

What'll we do with a drunken sailor,

Earl-aye in the morning?

Way hay and up she rises
Earl-aye in the morning

1. Put him in the long boat till he's sober,
2. Keep him there and make 'im bale 'er.
3. Shave his belly with a rusty razor.
4. Put him in bed with the captain's daughter.

Earl-aye in the morning...

[MBAtarga]

Originally Posted by GWN7

You can lessen the damage by installing a water shutoff alarm. Water Heater/Tank Leak Detection and Automatic Shut-Off | North 42 Sales

But that product is from Canada!

[GWN7]

Originally Posted by MBAtarga

But that product is from Canada!

I'm pretty sure they make a product for that lighter 3.2 US water.

[GWN7]

Originally Posted by Teutonics

Spot on... our "lifetime warranty" top-of-the-line water heater just "let go" last week after a whole seven years and two months. Junk. It replaced the original WH which lasted all of 9 years.

It's replaced, but now I'm researching preventative measures to keep the water out of our living room the next time it happens.

Put a pan underneath the heater with a water activated pump to a drain. You have 40-50 gals in the tank + what is in the lines to drain out if you have a failure.

[cstreit]

Well it takes a good 10 seconds for hot water to hit our upstairs faucets anyway, so just wondering how responsive the tankless are. Will I notice?

[look 171]

Originally Posted by cstreit

Well it takes a good 10 seconds for hot water to hit our upstairs faucets anyway, so just wondering how responsive the tankless are. Will I notice?

10 min with a traditional heater? The tankless will take longer for sure. Whit a long run like, a return line should have been plumbed for a recir. pump from the beginning.

[drcoastline]

Most hot water heaters have a life expectancy right on them. The heating of the water creates a lot of rust, scale, calcium that settles to the bottom of the tank that creates a ridge that makes them rust and the bottom lets go. Over the last 15-20 years where I New Jersey fiberglass decks have become very popular for being maintenance free. A development of that has been to take that same idea and line the entire utility room in fiberglass. Create a sill for the door a few inches high and put a drain in the middle of the room. Essentially turning the whole utility room into a small swimming pool or shower. The Hot water heater, HVAC, Washer and Dryer all go in. If they fail no damage to the house no mess it all drains right out the drain. Need to empty the hot water heater. no more connecting hoses and throwing them out the window. Open the petcock drain the hot water heater.

The second thing I would do is replace the tank heater with a tank-less. No tank to fail, plus the internals are all copper.

[stealthn]

Timely...

I have been finishing the basement since Christmas, I was working on the bathroom and went to turn on the in floor heating breaker and opened the door to find water everywhere. The hot water tank was leaking from the top. I killed the water, the gas and drained the tank. I called a company and they were here within a hour, took the old one (12 years) and put in a new one in a couple of hours. I got my wife to run to a hardware store and grab a tank tray to put it under the tank. It has a hard tube that goes to the drain in case of a leak. I will add a leak sensor and tie into our home automation system.

This was the third water issue we had so we're done with them; toilet overflowed upstairs and leaked into a heater vent, the water line to the fridge burst and leaked on your kitchen hardwood, then the tank.

If it's over 10 years old you should replace your tank for safety sake...

[recycled sixtie]

Originally Posted by stealthn

Timely...

I have been finishing the basement since Christmas, I was working on the bathroom and went to turn on the in floor heating breaker and opened the door to find water everywhere. The hot water tank was leaking from the top. I killed the water, the gas and drained the tank. I called a company and they were here within a hour, took the old one (12 years) and put in a new one in a couple of hours. I got my wife to run to a hardware store and grab a tank tray to put it under the tank. It has a hard tube that goes to the drain in case of a link. I will add a leak sensor and their into our home automation system.

This was the third water issue we had so we're done with them; toilet overflowed upstairs and leaked into a heater vent, the water line to the fridge burst and leaked on your kitchen hardwood, then the tank.

If it's over 10 years old you should replace your tank for safety sake...

Yes thanks for that - we are replacing ours in the next 2 weeks with a regular one.