"Lowboy" 30 gallon hot water heater

[Michael Davis]

"LowBoy" 30 Gallon hot water heater B.T.U. 25000 21.0 gallons per hour it fits under the counter where can I find one or find parts

 

[Terry]

Any hardware store will carry, or can get the 30 gallon lowbow electric. They should also carry parts like elements and thermostats.
If it's over ten years old, we normally replace, not repair.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[hj]

Electric heaters are not usually rated by BTUs, but rather watts.

 

[Jadnashua]

FWIW, 25K BTU = a bit over 7Kw/hr, or at 240vac, about 30A, so would require a 40A circuit to run. Trying to run a gas WH under a counter would be problematic, and a gas one, because of the burner requirements today, would probably be too tall, whereas an electric one could be considerably shorter.

 

[hj]

i do not know where he found that BTU rating, but I doubt very much that he did that conversion computation. ONLY , a commercial heater would have a 7kw input and it would be using two simultaneous elements.

 

[Jb9]

I am also interested in finding a low boy that will fit under a kitchen counter. Do they make them with side connections to minimize the height requirements?

 

[Jadnashua]

Most WH that will fit underneath a counter are quite small...not 30g. I've not done an exhaustive survey...good luck.

 

[Jb9]

Thanks Jim. The models I am looking at seem to quote dimensions of around 30-32" tall with a diameter of around 24". P&T relief seems to be on top. Ideally, it would be great to find one with side inlet/outlet and P&T relief on the side. I may do a slab foundation so perhaps I could recess the slab too. I wonder about this one:

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Whirlpool-38-Gallon-6-Year-Lowboy-Electric-Water-Heater/50397582

 

[Jadnashua]

24" diameter would make it tight front-back in a cabinet...and, while the counter height on typical kitchen cabinets is 36", the 'floor' of them inside is almost always raised...you need to carefully measure, both the width of the opening in the cabinet and the height since you may not be able to slide it in vertically, and then would need to turn it upright. You could probably drop it in with the counter off, but maintenance or replacement would also entail removing the counter...probably not a viable solution. I suppose you could cut a hole in the bottom of the cabinet and set it on the subflooring. STill, it would be tight.

 

[Jb9]

Thanks Jim. I am starting to think a crawlspace (36"-42" in height) might be the best solution for my foundation. Having a crawlspace might allow me to use one of these lowboy tanks. On the other hand, I could maybe even find a smaller tank that might fit under the counter. The tankless does solve some of these issues, but I think the water at my site is too cold and it seems like the prevailing professional sentiment from the pro's is that they don't always get the job done. I think if I can come up with some solution that offers a 10 minute shower, that will be good enough. I also wonder if a small tank and one of these Seisco boost units could work (seems like a bad solution since I'll need the wiring for full tankless with this).

 

[Jadnashua]

IMHO, forget about an electric tankless solution. Depending on where you are in CA, and if you're on a well verses public water, your incoming wintertime water temps might support a NG or propane fired tankless, but you're better off, I think, with a tank.

Keep in mind that you do not get the full capacity of any tank since the incoming cold does tend to mix some on inlet, bringing the outlet down eventually even with the upper element running. But, 30-gallons and a standard NGT 2.5gpm head should give one person more than enough to take a shower, but two successive or some other hot water use simultaneously, might be a problem.

 

[Jb9]

Thanks Jim. I think I agree with you. Going with a tank sounds like a better solution to me as well. I think I'm going to design a crawl space and make sure the inspector is comfortable with it. Is it the plumbing inspector or the building inspector who might have to sign off on a small electric lowboy tank in the crawl space. Also, I did see some smaller ~10 gallon lowboys as well...

 

[Jadnashua]

I'm not sure on which inspector would need to give approval, but being electric verses gas, it should be easier.

As to the volume...most of those smaller units do not have high wattage elements, and some only have one verses an upper an lower. You can typically get maybe 80% of the volume out of a tank type WH before you start to notice it cooling off significantly. Those with an upper element tend to be a little better. To partially offset the cooling off of the outlet, my preference is to use a thermostatically controlled shower valve...it will adjust itself to maintain your desired setting as the hot cools off. It obviously can't make hot water, but it can help keep the outlet temp constant until there's just not enough hot to do the job.

You can also extend the amount of effective hot water for your shower by installing a tempering valve on the WH, and raising the temperature. The tempering valve keeps the outlet temp safe, adding cold water, until things get too cool, and it just lets out the hot supply, whatever it is at that point. The combination of a tempering valve, higher storage temp, and a thermostatically controlled valve, and you should have a pretty stable shower temp for the longest possible time.