If you need a water heater, consider buying one before April 16, 2015

ABC Action News ^ | 3-23-15 | Dan Schaffer

[smokingfrog]

First it was light bulbs, now Uncle Sam wants your water heater to be more efficient - and it could cost you a lot more money to comply with the new rules.

Angie's List founder, Angie Hicks, said new regulations will save money in the long run. “Your water heater is the second largest consumer of energy in your home right behind your heating and cooling system. So, any improvement in your water heaters efficiency is going to pay dividends in your monthly utility bills.”

But it will cost you more in the short term, if you need to buy a new one once the new rules take effect in April.

“It’s going to be bigger. It’s going to be taller. It’s going to take up more room. A lot of water heaters are installed in a very tight quarters. So, all of these things could be a major impact if you are replacing a water heater after April in 2015,” said water heater expert, Chip Cochran.

[ncalburt]

Angie is huge lefty and Obama drone.

Her website is a racket.

She is being sued for taking bribes from scam contractors to hide bad reviews.

[BobL]

“When the hell did Angie’s List get to be the expert on anything? I saw her on a news piece last night spouting off about something that had absolutely nothing to do with anything associated with her ‘business.’”

Something to do with pizza joints, perhaps?

[ncalburt]

She is getting sued for being bought off to hide bad reviews.

[BobL]

“This is for residential and commercial water heaters 55 gals. and up. Not lowboys under a house. So this is a lot of them.”

Actually EVERY residential tank-style water heater was hit. The 55 gallon rules were more severe (forcing heat pumps on electric units and condensing systems on gas systems), while the smaller (40 gallon class) had their efficiency standards raised by a few points - but that means THICKER INSULATION, which doesn’t sound like much...

...until you try to get it through an attic stair opening where the original clearance was only 1”, but now is -1.5”. That is a HUGE PROBLEM possibly requiring cutting into ceiling joists.

Attic water heaters are VERY COMMON here in the south - but in the Northeast, where laws are made, most water heaters are in basements and usually don’t have such tight fits to deal with. So this is NOT GOOD.

[BobL]

“Every water heater that is over ten years old that I have flushed out started leaking after from the tank. I say if it is electric leave it alone and let the minerals build up.”

Good advice, and it makes my life easier too! It may well be that the crud slows down the decay rate of the tank, acting to help isolate the weak areas of the tank from the nasty chemicals in the water.

[Nervous Tick]

>> She is getting sued for being bought off to hide bad reviews.

Yep.

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news/lawsuit-insider-trading-ethics-problems-at-angies-list-123013.html

[CdMGuy]

This article refers to water heaters 55 gallons and over. Most all US single family homes have either a 40 or a 50 gallon water heater.

We just replaced our 16 year old water heater, and the total cost here in Southern California was $1,000 for a low NOX gas heater.

Having had two tank failures in prior homes, I had no interest in waiting for our tank in this home to rupture. The last time our tank ruptured, when I went to turn off the valve at the heater, it failed. When I went to turn off the valve for the entire house, it also failed. We had to have the water company come out and turn off the valve at the street. In the meantime, water kept gushing across our garage floor.

Lesson learned. Have lever type shutoff valves installed in place of the screw type valves. the lever valves cannot fail. The screw valves are subject to failure as they age.

[Georgia Girl 2]

We are going to go to an on demand.

[Inyo-Mono]

Two days? Great.

[Myrddin]

I have a 40 gallon tank with a 40,000 BTU natural gas heater/vent. The natural gas flash heaters are 128,000 to 150,000 BTU. That requires much more venting and often active fans to vent. The venting "improvement" was going to cost me $1,000 before the cost of the heater itself. If you live in a very cold climate, you must guard against the heat exchanger being damaged by freezing. You can't use the circulating pumps with a flash heater as it would be running continuously. The user's manual claims that voids the warranty.

[smokingfrog]

Yep. Always good to have a stainless steel ball valve on the water heater.

Also comes in handy when someone stays in the shower too long. ;)

[logitech]

ping

[Paid_Russian_Troll]

Isn’t it possible just to buy a heater abroad? Is delivery too costly and/or checked by custom officials for regulation compliance?

[steve86]

In the meantime, water kept gushing across our garage floor.

That's nothing. Be glad your water heater wasn't in the basement.

[MaxMax]

If they turn off the power at peak times, does anybody use power during peak times?
Seems like it wouldn't be peaked at all if everybody is offline.

[smokingfrog]

The cost to ship it might be a tad expensive...

[kiryandil]

Actually, even a blown-up water heater can hold water.

It just can't hold it at 40 psi.

I know because I took mine apart when it went, and I couldn't get it to leak after I filled it with the garden hose. Might be a good pre-heater/water holder in general.

I'll have to examine it more this summer.

[kiryandil]

This is from my FR home page:

Big Government on your back:

• no phosphates in your dish soap, so your dishes don't get clean.
• no phosphates in your laundry soap, so your clothes don't get clean.
• biodiesel in your diesel and kerosene, so your diesel equipment has trouble running, and your portable kerosene heaters clog the wicks faster.
• no coal plants, so the price of electricity goes up.
• no coal plants, so your concrete doesn't have concrete-strengthening fly ash.
• allowing Big Cheese to drive up the price of your cheese.
• emissions computers in chainsaws, so you can't use your chainsaw in the woods.
• emissions controls on wood stoves, so you can't heat your house with wood.
• gas cans with no vents, so you spill gasoline all over the place. >>> Fuel cans from hell http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3239561/posts
• ethanol in your gasoline, so that it eats the seals in your small engines.
• ethanol in your gasoline, so that you can't keep it for very long.
• biodiesel in your diesel, so that you can't keep it for very long.
• ethanol in your gasoline, so that the farmers use the winter heating propane supply to dry wet & immature corn, so that YOU pay for the scarce left-over propane.
• In 2005, the federal government (EPA) completed its phase out of a chemical known as methyl bromide, used to control pests in peach trees and other plants.
• The FDA has decided to regulate fecal transplants as "an experimental drug".

Looks like I'll have to update AGAIN. :(

[kiryandil]

Lesson learned. Have lever type shutoff valves installed in place of the screw type valves. the lever valves cannot fail. The screw valves are subject to failure as they age.

Here's a tip from the business:

Never bottom out your screw-type valves. ALWAYS open them all the way, then back them off 1/4-1/2 turn.

This will usually prevent the nasty surprises that you got.

People usually open them all the way without thinking. You actually have to force yourself to remember the back-off turn.

But lever-type is what I like to install in at least one place on the feed line - you're correct there.

[Paid_Russian_Troll]

In a place I live it is not an essential item as household hot water and steam are mostly bought from power stations to which it is a bi-product of making electricity.
Heaters are mostly cottage thing but you can buy a common 100 liter 1.5 kW of Italian make at around $100 online including delivery. I am sure you can find at half that price, of domestic or Chinese brand. There are no government regulations regarding heater efficiency. If you want to save energy it is your choice to buy more expensive heater.