As a coffee machine service tech, I view lime formation as job security.
My house insurance policy contains a clause that says that water damage due to a water heater isn't covered if the water heater is more than 10 years old....
In before the Humblegunner whine and moan!
IBTHWM
When I was a kid, I did not know about water heaters in the house. I thought that if you turned the spigot that had an “H” on it, that the hot water would “flow” from some central location in the middle of town.
I haven’t heard of de-liming a tank but I suppose it’s possible.
water heater graphic missing a very important component.The sacrificial anode...very important in heater longevity.
I did not know that there is a sacrificial anode in the water heater. I’ll be having a look at mine tomorrow. Good post.
Bookmarked for future reference.
Thank you so much!
Running hot water is for the effete. Running water is for wimps, but this year, I wimped out, and no longer carry water.
If I want hot water, trees are going to burn.
/johnny
I have had a tankless W/H for the past 7 years and a water softener.
Sometimes I forget that I have one — that’s how reliable mine is. It does not need de-scaling because of the water softener.
Just keep replacing the sacrificial anode and the damn things should last for practically forever.
Thanks for the post - they have an EXCELLENT write-up on tankless water heaters...and concluded EXACTLY what I concluded after a lot of hours researching it, and doing a bit of my own work...
I once did a semi-controlled experiment on just how much it costs to maintain a heated water tank. I was in an apartment, and the water heater was in the utility room, next to the kitchen. It was electric and I could hear it activate - kind of a swishing sound due to local boiling at the heating element (that’s what started me on the study, I wanted to know where the noise was coming from). The tank held 46 gallons. The temperature of the apartment averaged about 68F. No hot water was used from the tank, and I was present 24/7 for just over a week. The water heater had no extra insulation on it.
The water heater element came on twice a day, for 6 minutes at a time - 12 minutes per day, or 6 hours per month. The element consumed 7 kilowatts - so 42 kilowatt hours per month. So, under those conditions, the cost of keeping the water warm was $5 per month - and that was for an electric unit - figure closer to $2 per month for a gas unit. This is for a roughly 50F temperature differential in the water (relative to ambient)...if the differential is increased to 75F (probably the most that people will ever see), then add 50% to the above costs.
Interesting because one of the big selling points about tankless units is that you don’t have to “keep the tank heated”. In my case, I determined that I can much easier afford “keeping the tank heated” than paying the added cost of a tankless unit.
Now that’s not the only factor - the other main factor is the efficiency of its heating - and a conventional gas unit is around 70%, while tankless units (and fancy tank units) are 90% or more (for gas - electric is always just about 100%) - so you will save something there, particularly if you use a lot of hot water.
But don’t use too much...because and “endless” supply of hot water, to many people, means “endless” showers - and your savings can easily go down the drain.
I did a lot of other research on water heaters and concluded that cheap tank-style water heaters that DO NOT have electronic controls are best for many reasons. Tankless is clearly better when it comes to space utilization (they take practically no room - which is why they are popular in Europe, as many are retrofits) - that is their ONLY clear advantage. The energy savings from tankless units may or may not work for a particular household (due to the “endless shower” effect, above). But there are a solid half dozen bad things about tankless - starting with the fact that a loss of power (even for gas units) simply means no hot water - you don’t have 40 gallons sitting there for at least 24 hours, and indefinitely if gas is still available (for conventional gas units, of course).
BTTT.