I know, anything with water, can cause so much damage. About a year ago, I came home, opened the garage door, and heard water running (with nobody home). Uh oh! Walked into the mudroom, and there was water spewing all over. I thought it was from the sprinkler system, and that it was going on all over the house. What a scary feeling! Turned off the water, and fortunately it was just from a frozen pipe in that room. A fair amount of damage, but nothing like it could have been if I hadn’t just walked in.
We also have two water damage issues from another condo. Apparently the biggest claim landlords have is generally from water leaking from a water line connection from a refrigerator. So now, we never hook up the water to a refrigerator, or we don’t buy a refrigerator that dispenses ice and water.
The utility company mentioned something about a water constrictor, that limits the amount of water leakage. I think I want to check that out!
When I did research a few years ago, the tankless water heaters were not appealing. They are more expensive and supposedly require annual maintenance.
Our water heater was new with house in December 1993. Since it is in an unfinished basement with a floor drain nearby, we’ve opted to not do proactive replacement. (We’ve made that decision a few times over the past 15 years, and it keeps going fine. Water heaters don’t seem to go on sale… if they did we might go for it. But at this point I fear the new one would only last 7 years).
If our tank goes caput, the water will run out of the garage… Our WD has a one-time “bill forgiven” feature. If the tank croaks while we are out of town, I will apply for the benefit. Otherwise, as we earned form a recent error (garden hose left on by someone) it will only cost us $400 in water bill.
A good friend suggested Bradford White (along with others in this thread), so I called my plumber and spoke to them about it. They said that if my current water heater was not leaking, it may be fine, so suggested a service call first. They came out, tested the heater and said it was fine. They traced the problem to a new dual shower head with massage hose that my wife installed a few months ago that had a dial to change from the main head to the hose which caused hot water loss. We went back to our original shower head and things improved. Also, since I took take the first shower of the morning and our bathroom is on the opposite side of the house from the water heater, he said I wasn’t waiting long enough for it to heat up.
I know what you’re thinking (new pulsating massage jets, not waiting long enough to heat up), but I swear there’s no problem in that department. At least I didn’t think so…
I was told that to get a tankless water heater i would need to change or move my venting to the outside. You should check that out before buying one. In our case, significant changes would have to be made to the current arrangement for tankless.
This thread reminds me of a horror story…involved my neighbor’s sister who had a water issue–can’t remember if it was hot water heater or something else–while they were at the beach. It made a huge mess in their basement–water ran for days. Their insurance company covered very little of it because they didn’t turn off their water. Policy had a clause that required them to turn the water off if the house was unoccupied for more than a few (3, as I recall the story) consecutive days.
After hearing that story, I always turn of the water when we are out of town! I don’t think my policy has such a clause, but it’s easy enough to turn off the water to save the potential headaches!
Our Tampa neighborhood does not have gas so we have an electric water heater. Moved here within four years and replaced the hot water heater (always gas in up north house). Figure out which would be cheaper where you live.
Get the long- 12 year warranty- one as suggested above. Better insulation and heating rod that won’t corrode as quickly. We used a plumber we liked that had been recommended to us for another job (leaky outside hose bib). Rheem was the brand of electric and was a brand we had in our old house at one time. We looked into tankless water heaters but the initial cost is much more expensive. Also considered point of service ones for our far from the water heater master bath but it wasn’t worth it to us.
You should google and not just consider the opinions here. I’m sure there’s a forum for professional HVAC and plumbers out there that will have some insight. I do know you should be draining your water heater once a year to remove sediment at the bottom. A garden hose will fit on mine so I can scald the cars with the hot “waste” water.
I replaced the builder water heater about four years ago. It was 16 at the time. I have a Bradford White 50 gallon gas. I live in VA so the weather is fairly mild but we have a few days of miserably low temperatures in the winter. The recovery is great and I ripped the anti scald valves out of our showers. An old crusty anti scald valve can prevent a shower from getting warm enough.
There is a subdivision close to me built in the early '00’s and they heralded the tank less water heaters they installed in every house. Everyone I know who lives there have replaced them with tanks. The recovery is too slow for a family to shower.
“do know you should be draining your water heater once a year to remove sediment at the bottom.”
Yes. Better yet, install a hot water circulator. When I drain water from the bottom of my heater to wash cars, there is hardly any sediment. The other upside is that your hot water is hot the moment you turn the faucet on.
I live in Florida and installed a solar hot water heater 7 years ago. One of the best purchases I’ve done. There was a federal and state rebate at the time which helped with the cost. The tank is large (I think 80 gallons) and replaced two older electric hot water heaters in my house. It does have electric back up if needed. I keep my back up off and have not needed it unless we have several cloudy days in a row. I no longer pay for my hot water.
These are very popular all over the world. I believe the company started in Australia where they are used in virtually every home. I’ve noticed them in many other countries when I travel.
These tanks last 20-30 years and require no maintenance. Even if I had a leak, the tank is up on my garage roof and would not damage my home.
Maybe it depends upon the water? We’ve never drained ours … and it’s 22 years old. (Worry not - it’s in an unfinished basement, next to a floor drain.) But we don’t seem to have the minerals in the water here like we did in NY. I don’t think I’ve ever even seen “iron out” product at the CO stores.
Otherwise, as we earned form a recent error (garden hose left on by someone) it will only cost us $400 in water bill. 