Hot Water Tank Is Leaking!

[Scrounge]

tankless heaters can be great-----but it depends on the water quality you have. any hardness and you will need to do loads of upkeep, even with good water they require service regularly. the tank do waste a little money and you dont have an unlimited amount of hot water but they are tried and tested. nobody around here will sell or install tankless because of the water quality, and the fact that they dont want to hassle with getting paid under warranty. some areas of the country they work great, do your research, talk to local plumbers.

True that! My 4yo Takagi is dying. We reset it several times a day, babying it along. I need to get my back worked on a bit before I want to replace it. I've gained more than a bit of weight since I installed it.

[MT Gianni]

40 years ago a gas water heater had a standing pilot and a one time over temperature device called an ECU. They vented into a common vent with the furnace. Now they cannot have a pilot unless there is a special waver, congress believes the heat from a pilot is wasted and doesn't heat the water. That requires electricity, so a new gas valve and control systems come into play. The old tanks failed from leakage, the new ones fail because the controls cost more to repair than a new tank does. This retired gas guy with 40+ years in the business went electric from the cost saving of not having a vent when I built.

[waksupi]

If you get a tankless, you need a good water treatment system before it enters the heater. Hard water ruins the elements in short order.

[centershot]

Thanks for your responses guys, I really appreciate it! Several of you mention hard water, I hadn't considered that. We live in a small city of 35,000 and the water is chlorinated. We use a Britta water pitcher so we don't have the chlorine taste in our drinking water but the plumbing is unfiltered. I've pretty much written off the tankless heater at this point. So, gas or electric? Electricity is relatively cheap here, the city generates it's own power from a gas turbine plant and sells/buys power to/from National Grid. If you live outside of town and have to buy from NG, it is EXPENSIVE! In the city, it's attractive to consider an electric water heater. Any pro's/cons on that thought?

[Brassmonkey]

I helped my friend install a rinnai tankless three years ago he bought it used lol, other than repairing it initially as it had a bad over temp sensor, he's had no issues.

If you stick with a tank unit be sure to flush it every year and replace the anodes regularly for a long life.

[MaryB]

Look at temperature rise vs your ground water temp... I like HOT water, not barely above body temp... ground water here in winter is 45f ... summer it hits ~55f.

[downzero]

A tankless heater is worth every penny. They're a pain to install though, you're going to have to replumb the water to come out the bottom instead of the top, and you're probably going to need both an air intake and exhaust.

[Mal Paso]

Thanks for your responses guys, I really appreciate it! Several of you mention hard water, I hadn't considered that. We live in a small city of 35,000 and the water is chlorinated. We use a Britta water pitcher so we don't have the chlorine taste in our drinking water but the plumbing is unfiltered. I've pretty much written off the tankless heater at this point. So, gas or electric? Electricity is relatively cheap here, the city generates it's own power from a gas turbine plant and sells/buys power to/from National Grid. If you live outside of town and have to buy from NG, it is EXPENSIVE! In the city, it's attractive to consider an electric water heater. Any pro's/cons on that thought?

No Brainer! Electric Tank Water Heater is the least expensive to buy if your electric cost is low. If you have hard water spend an extra $35 and buy 2 Low Watt Density Heating Elements and replace the short factory ones before you hook it up. You will have less mineral build up inside the WH. Takes a 1 1/2" socket.

If you had a 40 gallon gas you'll want a 50 gallon electric, recovery is slower.

There are no electric demand heaters practically speaking. It would require too much electricity.

[Bmi48219]

Water on the floor around the WH doesn’t necessarily mean a leaking tank. I’ve seen element seals start leaking from age.
Don’t know about now but Gas fired tank style water heaters used to heat the tank bottom, making it real important to drain and flush the tank. Sediment buildup on the bottom acts as a barrier to heat transferring to the water. Also causes bottom of tank to rot out faster.
IMO electric tank heater is the best value for the $$. Only Two thermostats and two elements to go bad that can be easily diagnosed and replaced by most any somewhat handy guy.
No exhaust flue required, no CO gas worries. No pilotless ignition to fail. No computerized burner control box to fail.
We bought a house in 1990 that was built in 1967. It had the original A O Smith electric 85 gallon heater. We sold that house in 2002 with the heater still working. I had to replace the element seals and the upper thermostat. Raised two daughters and never ran out of hot water.

[Handloader109]

My WH is in basement and with no vent, is electric. We have plenty of hot water. Daughter's new home we installed an electric. We have no gas close and propane isn't a real option in KY opinion. We went with big box model as things were difficult last year to find. Got the cheaper mechanical NOT the newer electronic controls. WaY too many bad reviews of very short life and failures of the smart controls. Your power company may have a model that you can get at good price

Sent from my SM-S908U using Tapatalk

[Rapidrob]

I just replaced my hot water heater three weeks ago. Be glad you have natural gas and not propane like mine. The "Green New Deal" has added a 200 dollar charge over the 500 dollar normal price.
If you have hard water, do not buy a demand instant hot water heater.

[Randy Bohannon]

I had not considered the hard water issue as it’s not a issue here , by all means don’t go the demand HW . I would do gas over electric just for the recovery time.

[Brassmonkey]

Some thing I think that would benefit tankless water heaters and tanked units as well is a pre heater holding tank where the water could acclimate to the temperature before its heated.

[Bmi48219]

Some thing I think that would benefit tankless water heaters and tanked units as well is a pre heater holding tank where the water could acclimate to the temperature before its heated.

Yes and no. First there’s the cost of adding a dedicated tempering tank to the hot water system. Then the fact every time hot water is drawn from the heater, water is drawn from the tempering tank and cold water enters the tank. The more hot water used the colder the tempering tank water becomes. Plus in heating season the tank full of cold water will wick heat from the home air. Anytime you raise water temperature you use BTUs. Not a lot but enough to make your furnace run more. Then there’s the condensate on the tank to deal with, year round.
We’re on municipal water which comes into the house at 75 or 80 degrees. Our Electric tank WH is in the garage which is usually around 80 degrees. So we’re only need to heat water another 40 Degrees to 120 F. We make out on hot water but cooling the house is another matter.

One thing that’s weird is that there are two capped 1/2” rigid copper lines, protruding from the drywall, one above and one near the bottom of our WH. I was told they were for tapping exhaust heat from the A/C condenser to help heat our water. I am guessing the idea was to route WH fill water through a coil installed in the A/C condenser, preheating the fill water; but it doesn’t appear the system was ever completely installed.
I did install a mechanical timer on the W/H power leads. We don’t heat water from 10 pm until 6 am. That cuts our electric bill $10-$15 / month.

[samari46]

Most plumbers use old fashioned gate valves for the shut off on the hot and cold water legs. Unfortuneatly sediment gets under where the gate seals off the water. And you sometimes cannot get a good shut off. I used 3/4" ball valves and cycle the valves once a month. They always seal. Used to work in a tank farm so found about the gall valves. A lot of the gate valves sold here are made in China. Frank