New water heater

Hi,

As I am replacing my furnace to high efficiency furnace, I am considering buying new water heater (natural gas). My house is not to tight, so powervented is not a requirement, although an option. Could anyone recommend brand/model for most efficient heater? Same salesmen told me to switch to powervented one, but I was told that per year I'll save about 6$ ! Another saving will be that heat in my home will not go through the chimney... I checked home depot and they had 3 regular natural gas water heaters and one power vented water heater. Home depot guy was not able to explain much about them...

Thanks

Reply to
IHateSpam
Loading thread data ...

Actually, there is another issue here that you haven't looked at. It is highly recommended that a water heater not be the sole heating appliance connected to a masonry chimney.

The chimney will rapidly deteriorate from the acidic condensation from flue gases. A second effect is that it can take a long time for proper draft to develop after the water heater fires.

You can have the chimney lined with a metallic sleeve (liner) as one answer. The Powervent is the other. The cost difference may be small.

If a permit will be required from your city/town for this work, get their input beforehand.

Jim

Reply to
Speedy Jim

Thanks for pointing this out.I believe my chimney is out of metal. Not 100%, I'll check that tonight. In that case is there still a problem if water heater will be just a single appliance connected to this chimney? Do you still need linear for metal chimney? Powervented water heaters are about twice as much expensive, so I am still trying to see if it is worth to buy them. Also, they are more noisier and as somebody pointed in this group - much more likely to need a repair, so in a long run not much savings (?). I am not sure about all this myself, that is why I posted question here.

Thanks

considering

Reply to
IHateSpam

If it *is* a metal chimney, that should be OK. Might be a good time to inspect it though.

You are right about the added noise and costs that go with a Powervent. Jim

Reply to
Speedy Jim

Bosch or Takagi gas tankless will save you apx 20% in operation costs

Reply to
m Ransley

Depending on how much hot water you use, it could be more than that. We replaced a 50 gal gas tank water heater with a Bosch tankless. This water heater supplies the kitchen and laundry. We have another 50 gal gas tank heater supplying the bathrooms. Our summer gas consumption dropped by half, showing that almost all our summer gas usage is for standby losses.

In any case, if efficiency is a major concern, tankless is the way to go.

-- Doug

Reply to
Douglas Johnson

Doug - would you thing that just one 50gal tankless water heater would be enough for family of 4?

Thanks

Reply to
IHateSpam

There really isn't a 50 gal tankless water heater. Tankless heaters behave differently than a conventional water heater. With a conventional water heater, you can have as many simultaneous loads as you wish and you are fine until you drain the tank and run out of hot water.

With a tankless, you never really run out of hot water, but you are limited as to the number of simultaneous loads you can have. So with the Bosch 125, you might be able to run the shower all day, but if you turn on the dishwasher, both will get warm water instead of hot.

I installed a Bosch 125 and am really pleased so far.

formatting link
It is one of two hot water heaters (the other is conventional) in the house, the tankless handles one shower, the kitchen, and laundry room.

The Bosch 240 has more capacity and is claimed to handle two major loads at the same time. I'm inclined to use it to replace the conventional heater when it dies. Caution: they need bigger gas lines than a conventional water heater.

-- Doug

Reply to
Douglas Johnson

My tankless saves me at leat 50 % over my double insulated old tank which I now use as a storage pre heater from air temp. Bosches large unit is made by Takagi. Bosches small unit is 117000 BTU the large Takagi is 188000 BTU enough for 2 showers at once. They also have a remote thermostat option. But you may need a 1" gas feed on a long run. Worth the money as it will last 30 yrs +, no tank to rust out. My gas bills in summer are 6$ now and I have a Gas dryer and cooking. Tankless are worth the expense as gas prices will continue up. This winter a 10-

20% rise is expected.
Reply to
m Ransley

There is a middle ground: a non-powered direct vent unit. Bradford-White has such a model. They claim very high efficiency, and they don't need power.

I believe B-W sells only via installers, not direct.

On another note that was mentioned: prior posts in this NG have suggested that, at least with some makers, the difference between the

8 and 12-year models is the addition of a second anode rod - typically, via a fitting that's present, but capped, on the 8-year models.

Chip C Toronto

Reply to
Chip C

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.