Triple the complexity too. The a newer gas water I installed 6 years ago had the Gas regulator go out 1 month after the 5 year warranty expired... cost $500 for a new regulator. Took over a week to get the part. New water heaters suck. Newer ones will suck even more.
“Triple the complexity too. The a newer gas water I installed 6 years ago had the Gas regulator go out 1 month after the 5 year warranty expired... cost $500 for a new regulator. Took over a week to get the part. New water heaters suck. Newer ones will suck even more.”
I agree that will get more complex (and of course more expensive), but they may also get more reliable, as the recent changes in design (starting about 10-15 years ago) had the manufactures trying to comply with the rules to contain an explosion, with an almost-sealed combustion chamber, which led to the pilots going out due to inadequate airflow or the thermocouple failing.
Easy solution for that would have been to use a system without a pilot, but that would mean requiring 120V, which would have greatly driven up the overall cost of replacement for people who didn’t have easy access to 120V. So the manufacturers tried to thread the needle, which meant keeping the pilot, while complying with the almost-sealed chamber. FAILURE!!!
Now, with the condensing requirement, 120V is required anyway, so no more pilots, and thus no more pilot issues.