How badly do I want to remove the old water heater from my attic?

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CoconutPete

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So .... water heater is from 1996. It has been acting funny for a while and the most recent attempt at extending it's life was a thermal coupling .. did not do anything. It has to go.

It's a 50 gallon which I'm told is slightly larger than the "default" for a 2.5 bath house.

Plumber has a 50 and a 40. The 50 ... will not fit through the attic door. The 40 will.

The old 50 ... will not fit! WTF! Houses here are weird!

So ... I really want/need hot water. He is installing the new 40. Going to disconnect, drain and move the old 50.

The question is ... How badly do I want to start hacking this thing into pieces up there so I can get it down?

Do I care that it's up there? Is there a reason it should be removed?

The roof is from 2012 so it will be a while before I need that replaced and can have the roofers just pull a sheet of plywood during the project.

I need a little over an inch removed from the total width in order to get it down.
 

WJcandee

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Um...you do know that the 50s come in different widths, right? It is possible that one might have fit going up...or not. Did you just trust your plumber or did you do some research first?

attic-water-heater-boyce.jpg
 

CoconutPete

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Um...you do know that the 50s come in different widths, right? It is possible that one might have fit going up...or not. Did you just trust your plumber or did you do some research first?

Plumber looked at my house and in his opinion a 40 gallon tank would be sufficient - the answer to your question is yes, I trusted his recommendation. If a month from now that water heater isn't serving my house well, then i'll take it up with him and i'm sure I'll feel compelled to start a new thread on that - if that situation ever comes to be.

However ..... Even if I had ordered a "slim" 50 gallon tank - it doesn't address my main question .... how badly do I want to remove the old disconnected empty 50 gallon tank. Do you have any input on that?
 

Moby

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If you don't mind it taking up space up there, leave it. It's not going to explode or anything.

I'd personally have held out for a narrower 50 or gone tankless.
 

CoconutPete

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The 50 up there never worked right, plus it's 20 yrs old. Even in it's "half a$$" state, it somehow supplied this house just fine (2 adults, 2 kids). It wasn't until it quiter literally stopped making hot water that we felt compelled to replace it.

If a new 40 gallon tank, which I have to assume is more efficient than a 20 year old tank, is in proper working order then I have no reason to believe it won't be sufficient.

Tankless - yes, we did consider that. If this was my first house and I was still in the "Overbuild everything" mode then I would have no doubt gone tankless. The reality is though ... we may move in 2 years and none of my neighbors have tankless.... I'm done going top end - until I buy the house I'm going to retire in.

Thanks for the feedback, I may end up just leaving it there till the roof needs replacement again.
 

Moby

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You didn't mention the old tank leaking or anything, so theoretically, you could make use of it up there. Plumb it in line with the input of the new heater and its contents will reach room temperature. Then the new water heater will not have to use as much power to heat the water, saving you money.

Of course you will also be significantly increasing the amount of weight up there, so you'd probably want to place it some distance from the active heater and confirm that your ceiling isn't going to collapse.
 

Jadnashua

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Some people take 3-minute showers, some take 30-minute showers...what works for some, won't work for others. Then, you can get high output versions that use more energy to extend their useful first hour output and provide faster recovery. You should try to find out what the first hour output was of the old one, and the one being proposed, and see. If, for example, the old one had a 150g first hour capacity, and the new one is 120g, you may find it an issue. Those numbers are probably high, but hopefully, you'll get the idea.

Efficiency is one thing, and you didn't say if this was electric or has a burner (probably electric since burners don't usually last that long), but has little to do with the first hour delivery...it's about the standby losses, and if it has a burner, how efficient that is. Being in unconditioned space is a big energy waste most of the time, too. Personally, I'd find a place for the water heater elsewhere where it can be seen to help catch things when they start to leak rather than after it's potentially a major issue.

FWIW, WH are being mandated to be more efficient, and that's mostly resulting in better and thicker insulation.
 

Themp

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Can you take a hammer or sledge hammer with a wooden board and pound the sides of the water heater on two opposite sides to get you the inch+ you need to get it down? There has to be just insulation on the sides, the hard part will be the top and bottom seam. But still I think you should be able to crush it.
 

WJcandee

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I forgot to sincerely wish you good luck with the project, and thanks for reaching out to us. We're often a little direct, but we mean well...
 

DaveHo

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We are a family of 4 also. How old are your kids? The older they get the longer the showers. There is no way a 40 gal WH would cut it in our house. Even our current 50 is pushing it. If your access to the attic is a simple hole cut in the drywall ceiling I'd enlarge it. Doing so is pretty trivial.
 

Dj2

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I would enlarge the opening to the attic as well. It will involve some framing and drywall work. I would want the old 50 gal out of the attic.

Now, what about the new heater? 40 or 50? It depends on your water use habits. I've been installing 40 gal tanks for a long time. For every 50 gal heater I install ten 40 gal tanks. Out here, folks take shorter showers - we all know why.
 

Cwhyu2

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I would enlarge the opening to the attic as well. It will involve some framing and drywall work. I would want the old 50 gal out of the attic.

Now, what about the new heater? 40 or 50? It depends on your water use habits. I've been installing 40 gal tanks for a long time. For every 50 gal heater I install ten 40 gal tanks. Out here, folks take shorter showers - we all know why.
Most attic access openings are spaced between joists or trusses and to widen would requier major structual changes.
 

Reach4

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If the attic has some room, I would consider putting in a pull-down attic stairs. In the process whoever installs will widen things. It is a fairly standard thing, so it might not be too expensive to get it done.
 

Master Plumber Mark

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I would enlarge the opening to the attic as well. It will involve some framing and drywall work. I would want the old 50 gal out of the attic.

Now, what about the new heater? 40 or 50? It depends on your water use habits. I've been installing 40 gal tanks for a long time. For every 50 gal heater I install ten 40 gal tanks. Out here, folks take shorter showers - we all know why.


Odds are that You will probably not be happy with a 40 gallon heater because you are already spoiled with the 50.
just try it and see.. and you can just turn the 40 up to a very high setting and hope for the best....

.some day you might want to sell this home and then that 50 tank sitting in the attic
could pose a problem.....
 

JerryR

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Install the 40 gallon with a tempering valve. That will give you equivalent to a 60 gallon capacity tank. My 50 gallon would run out of hot water filling our 50 gallon large jetted garden tub. Now it fills fine and doesn't run out.
http://www.forwardthinking.honeywell.com/related_links/water/amx_300/sell/67_7381.pdf


Here's a link to Terry's posting about tempering valves
https://terrylove.com/forums/index....c-mixing-valves-water-heater-tempering.45651/


And yes, get the old tank out. I just sold a house and the buyer's hone inspector would have flagged the home if there was a dead water heater in the attic.

You should be able to cut the exterior shell off opposite sides or as suggested smash them in enough to get it past the opening.
 
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