Mckeand13
Engineer
I'm currently looking to replace my old hot water heater just due to the fact that it is old and I don't want to be replacing it when there is a problem.
Two bathroom house. Myself and wife, no kids just yet but hopefully a couple of them soon. With 40gal we have never run out of hot water even when a bunch of people are visiting. We are either efficient, or the current softener recovers very quickly.
Current hot water heater is an AO Smith 40 gallon gas. It was installed in 1993, making it 15yrs old. It's not leaking or doing anything bad, just want to be preventative. I actually have the temp. dial down really low which makes me think it's not all full of minerals inside. It currently gets softened water but I don't know that it always has. I have no idea what preventative maintenance (flush, anode) has ever been done. I haven't done any just for the fact that I don't want to disturb anything at this point.
I would say that a new 40gal would be fine, but a 50gal would be ok as an upgrade with the idea that there will hopefully be more people in the house at some point.
It seems like the tankless heaters are still very expensive, not only in product cost, but also installation. For that reason I'm looking for suggestions on tank style brands and models.
The current heater is vented into the chimney along with the furnace. Does it make more sense or offer improvements in any way to direct vent?
I'd like to install it myself, but is it possible to buy a quality heater without install by a dealer? I'm not all too impressed by the idea/look of the good,better,best heaters at Home Depot and the like. Where does one get a quality unit?
Thanks
Two bathroom house. Myself and wife, no kids just yet but hopefully a couple of them soon. With 40gal we have never run out of hot water even when a bunch of people are visiting. We are either efficient, or the current softener recovers very quickly.
Current hot water heater is an AO Smith 40 gallon gas. It was installed in 1993, making it 15yrs old. It's not leaking or doing anything bad, just want to be preventative. I actually have the temp. dial down really low which makes me think it's not all full of minerals inside. It currently gets softened water but I don't know that it always has. I have no idea what preventative maintenance (flush, anode) has ever been done. I haven't done any just for the fact that I don't want to disturb anything at this point.
I would say that a new 40gal would be fine, but a 50gal would be ok as an upgrade with the idea that there will hopefully be more people in the house at some point.
It seems like the tankless heaters are still very expensive, not only in product cost, but also installation. For that reason I'm looking for suggestions on tank style brands and models.
The current heater is vented into the chimney along with the furnace. Does it make more sense or offer improvements in any way to direct vent?
I'd like to install it myself, but is it possible to buy a quality heater without install by a dealer? I'm not all too impressed by the idea/look of the good,better,best heaters at Home Depot and the like. Where does one get a quality unit?
Thanks