Oil fired water heater dying - need advice.

[JohnCT]

My son has a Superstor 30 gallon oil fired water heater, and it's leaking at the top (not a fitting). BTW, the Superstor is original to the house which is 1993! I figure we don't have much time left. No one around here even carries oil fired water heaters anymore so I'm trying to come up with options.

There is no 240VAC in his utility room, but I can get it there. There is no NG on his street and he has no propane tank on the property. He has a furnace, so an indirect is not possible.

He's planning on staying in this house maybe 10 years, so I'm trying to advise him what to do and I'm asking advice on what you guys would do. Do I wire in a resistive electric water heater, go to something like a hybrid electric, or try to find an oil fired one? Thoughts?

We're in CT, where electricity is very expensive ALL THE TIME and is projected to just go up over the next 5 years. Right now (10/26), oil is expensive but historically it has not been.

EDIT: The Superstor is 30 gallons, and I know that these oil fired heaters recover much more quickly than an electric, so an electric would need to be bigger, but if they're happy with 30 gallons oil fired, what size would they need to roughly be equivalent? Also, do hybrids recover at the same rate as standard resistance heaters or worse?

Thanks for any advice.

John

 

[Reach4]

Not cheap, I see. https://pexuniverse.com/oil-fired-water-heaters

There used to be a lot of discussion of heat recovery systems for hot water. The drain water from showers is routed thru a heat exchanger to pre-heat the water coming into the water heater.

I think CT has "net metering" for solar electricity. If renting, that won't be practical.

Heat pump electric will use less electricity than resistance. An extended warranty might make that more attractive to make up for the increased complexity. https://www.supplyhouse.com/Heat-Pump-Water-Heaters-34661000 If DIY install, check that the warranty applies, or if you need authorized installation.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Sylvan]

32-gallon oil-fired is available in NJ. When I need rapid recovery and oil is available, I use it rather than natural gas

#2 oil has 130,000-140,000 BTU per gallon. Natural gas: 900-1200 BTU per cu ft

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Bock Water Heaters

32 gal. Tall Residential Water Heater Tan​

 

[JohnCT]

Update - it was leaking very very badly last night so I told my son to shut the valve to the water heater and throw the breaker.

This morning, he bought a Rheem hybrid from HD who had it in stock, so I added a breaker to his panel and ran 240V to the utility room and installed the Rheem. Everything is done except the condensate drain. I installed the 3/4" fitting to the condensate outlet and dry fitted some PVC pipe to drain into a bucket just to get him going. Tonight he and the wife can take a hot shower..

There is already a condensate pump a few feet away from the new water heater for the furnace/AC handler. And there is already a Y with an unused open end (not sure why it was there) on the PVC drain pipe from the AC to the pump that is not being used (the other end is fed from the AC). Do I have to make a hard PVC connection to that drain system or can I just run a soft line into the open Y? If I have to run a hard line and glue it, I'll add a coupler.

Thanks.

John

 

[Samii]

Good call shutting it down and swapping it out — a 30-gallon tank dumping water overnight can do real damage fast. Since the old unit was leaking "very very badly," I'd give the area around the old footprint some attention even though the new unit is in:

- Pull back anything stored near it and check the floor and the bottom of the wall for dampness. Concrete looks dry on top while still holding moisture underneath, so aim a fan at the spot for a day or two.
- If there's drywall within a few feet, press along the base of it — soft spots or a musty smell mean it wicked water up and should be opened up before it turns into mold.
- On the new hybrid: those condensate lines clog more often than people expect, and an overflowing condensate pump is one of the most common "mystery leak" calls we see. Pour a cup of water through the line now to confirm it actually drains, and recheck it in a few months.

Glad the install went smoothly.