Rheem XR90 Series water heater

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In other words, Rheem doesn't really stand behind their product. They make exaggerated advertising claims. The likely problem is that small tanks are going to have too much mixing with incoming water and therefore cool off perhaps twice as rapidly as a 50 gallon tank. Who cares how fast they can recover if they get cold before the shower is over?

I'll stick with 50 gallon tanks. Reducing tank size doesn't accomplish much efficiency wise anyway, because much of the loss is in the uninsulated combustion chamber, flue wall, and nozzle projections. So if one is going to have a tank at all, it might as well be a 50 gallon or take the leap to tankless.

We sometimes have all three showers running (1.5-1.6 gpm shower heads) and never come anywhere close to running out of hot water. The only time we've come up short is during whirlpool tub fills with 125 F set point on the water heater in cold weather. And even that recovered in 15 minutes. Raising set point a few degrees has eliminated that issue as well.
 
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Seems kind of stupid or lazy for the manufacturer's rep to come out and then not measure the gas pressure. Eyeballing the flame isn't likely to show if the duty is only 2/3 of normal or so.
 

Hackney plumbing

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Seems kind of stupid or lazy for the manufacturer's rep to come out and then not measure the gas pressure. Eyeballing the flame isn't likely to show if the duty is only 2/3 of normal or so.

I agree. It should have been checked. If the input is low then the BTU rating goes out the window.
 

dbestor

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Just to cap off this thread, Rheem finally agreed to replace the 29 gallon tank with a 50 gallon tank at their cost (after more push back from me than it should have taken, but I understand they're trying to minimize costs).

I ended up going with Rheem's 50 gallon powered damper model that only lowers the efficiency rating (from the XR90's 0.7) to 0.68 (the damper closes after the flame extinguishes and helps further insulate the combustion chamber, which as you noted above RWB is a major source of heat loss).

I've been extremely happy with this unit, and am back to getting a seemingly endless supply of hot water.

-Dan
 

mosi0101

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I am looking at either the Richmond XR90 (Menards) or Rheem XR90(HD) and was just about ready to pull the trigger. I put it on hold when I inspected the present vent pipe ( 35+ years old) and discovered it had deteriorated and will not hold up much longer. Due to the location of where and how it ties into the chimney.... it will be almost impossible to replace. (I should say for a reasonable dollar amount) Does anyone know if PVC pipe can be used to vent the water heater through the basement wall to the outside?

Thanks in advance
 

DIYeverything

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I had recently purchased the XR90 water heater from Richmond which is the same unit as Rheem. did a completed install myself including the 120v install as well, was up and running about five hours later. Wife was first to try out by running a full bath of hot water. besides smoking out the basement after the first run/breakin all seemed to be well. day two, went to take shower and no hot water. inspected heater to find a blinking light with three pulses then three second pause and repeat. inspected exhaust pipe for restriction but all looked well. power cycled unit and it took off and started heating. day three 6am, no hot water. inspected heater to find plastic dowels for flue to be melted fallen out and exhaust fan was locked up tight. called into work then waited to call Richmond. talking to a customer service they said I must have an exhaust pipe restriction which would set this code. explained exhaust as described 3in pipe for 2ft then a 3in 45deg elbow into a vertical 6in pipe from basement to roofline. explained melted components and they said to inspect exhaust for restriction and they were going to overnight a heater manifold that sits on top. excellent. I was not willing to wait for new manifold so I started to tear this one apart to find point of failure. which was the exhaust flue hinge melting causing flue to fall into manifold and locking fan housing up. visual aids included. also included pictured of how I resolved this issue for good, and am glad to say it has functioned flawlessly after this repair with the original manifold. overnighted part actually took two days. I was only out of water for a few hours during repair. My wife can now run a full bath around 25gal and 20min later I can take a shower without a hint of water temp fluctuation.

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DIYeverything

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drill hinge hole with 11/32 drill, buy a short section of 3/16" brake line with fitting included from your local auto parts store then cut brake line off behind fitting with side cutter to flare pipe like picture. fitting for 3/16" should thread into aluminum with a little force due to making new threads. factory hinge was too short so I sourced a piece from a old grill grate which was perfect diameter to fit into 3/16" brake line with a little play for thermal expansion. reassemble then check to make sure flue can operate with little force. make sure to not thread fitting in to far to jam flue operation. flush with housing should work great
 

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