Posted on 12/08/2023 4:09:18 AM PST by CptnObvious
Water Heater Saving Project.
I've moved into a new home in a retirement community and don't want big bills to replace my Water Heater down the line. I also don't like the idea that my energy bills may go up significantly with the global climate change policies that many are embracing. What can I do?
Powered Anode (With LED) - $99 Amazon. $10 - Water Pressure gauge Home Depot. $5 Meat Temperature gauge. Plumber $89.
First: High Water Pressure and High water Temperatures kill Water Heaters prematurely (as low as 5 years). Over 80 PSI or over $180, I consider too high. (Google Water Heater pressure temperature too high). If you find either of these, buy the Powered Anode with LED ASAP and call your plumber.
Inside your hot water heater is a Sacrificial Anode,a rod 4' long in the middle of the tank, attached to the top as a Bolt. It rusts rather than your tank and at about 4 years drops into the bottom of the tank and the tank starts to rust. After 2-3 years of the tank rusting, it usually leaks and has to be replaced.
You can replace the sacrificial anode every 4 years or go to the Powered Anode with LED (a much better idea) one time.
Note: I do NOT Consider this a DIY Project unless you are a plumber or have plumbing experience.
Results: My water pressure and Temperature was way too high. I knew enough via YouTube to adjust the water pressure regulator, water heater temperature control and set the air pressure in the Bladder Tank to same average Water Pressure.
When doing regular maintenace, I was draining the tank a bit as usual and the LED to the anode went out. Proving that the powered anode was working. From then on, I unplug the anode charger wait 10 minutes, drain a bit, re-establish pressure, and reattach the Charger.
I love this little green LED as it will tell me if the Water Heater has an issue with the anode.
SIDE BENEFIT: Adjusting the Water Pressure, correctly, stabilized the pressure. Now it only changes about 6 PSI from heating to stabilization (before about 12 PSI).
Thanks for the tip. Two years ago I replaced my water heater with a hybrid water heater— the idea being more on saving in monthly energy costs, which it’s really good at. But your approach might be better in the long run saving on maintenance.
YouTube
Hybrids still have tanks, which means they still have Anodes, as far as I can tell. So, maybe do both, install a hybrid, but also have the powered Anode.
Buy a new water heater and save it for when your existing one dies.
“Buy a new water heater and save it for when your existing one dies.”
Either that or dish out $2,000 plus labor when you replace it 10 years from now (thanks to the Leftist).
For other gas appliance, the best approach is to pre-purchase all the key parts, and have them ready as replacement parts start to disappear, due to the ‘transition’ that the Left is in the process of doing.
Have you ever tried to remove the existing anode? Requires you to chain your pickup to a come along.
Water heaters are remarkably easy to install yourself. Gas and water lines are flex tubing.
It’s more difficult to get the old one up the stairs than it is to install.
I think my last one was about $400 (2-4 years ago)
If anyone goes hybrid water heater (runs at only 300W or 350W), I strongly recommend looking at duct work to optimize it. For example, the attic being right above my water heater means I have prime warm air to utilize from the attic on most days, particularly here in Alabama. The air intake of my water heater is ducted from the attic so that it doesn't have to run as long during the warm half of the year (it doesn't have to work as hard to find heat energy in the air it draws in). 2 to 3 hours per day at 300W means 0.6 to 1 kWh per day to warm the water tank enough for two people to shower and use for other appliances. Not shabby.
As far as the water heater's air output goes, during the warm half of the year I duct it into my hvac's air intake. My water heater isn't close enough to the central hvac (a variable speed heat pump with variable speed air handler). My water heater is in a closet in the laundry room in the living quarters of the house (not in an unfinished basement or garage like some people's water heater). So I ran a new air receiver for my hvac into the floor of the water heater closet. Thus the cold air from the water heater is used as a free cold air source for my home during the 2 or so hours the water heater runs after my wife and I shower (perhaps 3 total hours in the day if we run hot water for other reasons like washing dishes and clothes). This means my home's variable speed heat pump can stay in low speed (drawing low power) for 2 or 3 hours longer each day -- a very important energy savings step in warm Alabama where most of our energy costs are for cooling the house.
When winter comes I flip two diverter levers to duct the water heater's air output into the attic (I don't want the free cold air from the water heater going into my living quarters during the winter). It'd be more efficient if I could duct the cold air out of the house, but that's too far to run the duct as per specs for the water heater's heat pump. So dumping the cold air to the attic will do, with me depending on the layers of insulation in the attic to keep most of the cold air from seeping into my living quarters. Even during the winter I still duct the air intake from the attic, though admittedly sometimes the attic air is cold. But that's not often. I do that because I don't want to draw in air from my living quarters that I've already used energy to warm up, only for my water heater to cool it back down. Months later when winter is over I flip the diverter levers again and direct the cold air to stay in the water heater's closet so that I use the cold air to help cool the house.
I’ve been using a Rheem-Ruud Point-of-Use Water Heater, gas fired, for the past 16 years, and it’s doing just fine. Set-up costs were high back then, for gas/electric/water line routing, but payback is amazing in electric over those years.
I had a very early model — seen on “This Old House” in 1989 — in my 20ac Nursery.Garden Center Complex back in 1990 — and it was still working fine when I retired and closed the business in 2012.
“It’s more difficult to get the old one up the stairs than it is to install.”
We had to replace our 15 year-old water heater back in February. Thankfully, it is in the laundry room on the ground floor. Now hubby and I are a lot older than we were the last time we replaced it and I assure you that the next time it is done, it will be someone else’s problem. Previously, hubby would have just picked up the hot water heater and carried it out. We don’t have the muscles to heft is like we used to. We had to get creative this time but finally managed to get it out on the deck and get the new one inside.
We had to take everything out of the laundry room which I do not recall doing the last time. It was obvious that the project that in the past would have taken us an afternoon was going to take us all weekend. So, we went ahead and took the opportunity to repaint the laundry room while we were at it. It ended up taking us a week from the day I discovered the water all over the floor to the time we had hot water again.
As I said, that is the last time it will be a DIY project for us.
Find an old Ruud water heater made in the 1950s that has a monel tank. Pass it on to your grand kids.
“””Buy a new water heater and save it for when your existing one dies.”””
The problem with that is if you get a bad water heater or even a leaker, and that happens more than you think.
High water pressure wears out all the plumbing fixtures in your house, the ballcocks in the toilets, the valve in the dishwasher, faucets, the shower valves, the washing machine, and the hoses on the washing machine are more likely to burst, high water pressure is bad, bad, bad.
An older plumber told me you could extend the life of the older upright tank water heaters IF you drained them out once every summer.
Just hook a hose onto the bottom of the tank. Run the hose outside and turn on the valve.
He told me this as he was replacing the electric hot water tank exactly 6 months to the date after the prorated warranty expired.
“””Water heaters are remarkably easy to install yourself. Gas and water lines are flex tubing.”””
I’ve seen even hired handymen make mistakes in what looks like a simple water heater replacement that could kill people, or cause damage.
Make sure you get the venting right (really and truly make 100% sure) and make sure the water from the relief valve flows downhill if it goes off, rather than keeping the relief valve wet and corroding it as the water sits in the line.
Remember that the water heater you are replacing may have been poorly installed so be sure to look at your own installation with fresh eyes so that you don’t repeat an unsafe condition.
My take on flushing water heaters was that they are largely self-cleaning now with the tube going to the bottom of the tank to constantly flush the bottom, avoiding that accumulation of minerals and pebbles from the old days.
Other than that my take was if you are the type of guy who likes that sort of thing then do it, but if you don’t care for those types of handyman chores skip it, and just get a new water heater when the old one goes bad.
Most people just want things installed and for them to work, but if you do drain your water heater remember not to run that hot water onto your grass or plants.
bkmk
Oh, I NEVER did it. It was just what he told me to do. I sold that house a few years later.
My current house has an electric super stor hot water tank. Meaning, I have a coil going through my oil burner furnace to heat the hot water. Then it goes into a holding tank.
The downfall is that the furnace turns on even in the middle of the summer to make hot water.
Impact wrench, air or electric, works every time
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