Water Heaters

[Lunatic Fringe]

I know there are some smart people on here and I'm hoping to get some recommendations.

My water heater gave up the ghost and needs replacing. The current unit is a 66 gallon electric by State Industries and lasted a long time.
I do not have natural gas service at the home so electric is my only option.
The whole house tankless systems intrigue me but I'm concerned about the reliability and possible excessive maintenance for them.

I'd be interested in hearing opinions if anyone has researched these and also what manufacturer makes a good quality unit.

Secondly, who is considered on the upper tier in manufacturers of the regular storage tank systems?

 

[caldezrat]

Subscribed. I'm interested in the answer to this one. I just replaced my wh and I wondered if I did the right thing.

 

[riverroyal]

all the rest are junk. The home depot and lowes stuff is junk. The prices there are based on length of the warranty. Basically the same junk heater, just how long is it under warranty. Which, can also be issue of who installs it. If you Mr home owner does the install and it floods your house your insurance company can deny your claim since your not a licensed plumber. Pay a PRO, its worth it and really not that much more, I just did it.

 

[Ibeplumbing]

The electric tankless world hasn't caught up to the gas tankless yet. They are still inferior imo. There might be something out there I don't know about but I've seen almost all of them, not impressed. There are some made out of Texas that we have used in commercial settings. They will require electrical work to make them work however. I'm more a fan of the hybrids if you are going to go wth something different than standard tanks. The hybrids use a heat pump for the majority of the heating, rarely dipping into the standard elements the make up the difference. Out of all the hybrids the GE goespring actually seems to be one of the best. Haven't had to work on any yet, so no info on that end. But the rheem, AO smith ones I have worked on have been nightmares. For the cost of them, especially installed by a professional correctly, I don't think you will ever make your return on investment. If so, not by a ton for the risk of expensive issues. And without good softened and filtered water going into them, you are asking for issues. That goes for any tankless install as well. Tank types are still the way to go for electrics imo. They are cheap and last 6-10 years. The Ruuds are currently my favorite. They use spray foam insulation, maintain a small size compared to the bradfords, AO smith, American, etc. They also use stainless steel elements vs standard galvanized elements. They have a resistor on the anode rod which is supposed to make them last longer as well. Honestly for the most part, electrics are electrics. I don't believe they make 65's anymore, or even the 80's. Get a 50, if you need more hot water, you can add a mixing valve to give you the effect of more hot water

 

[Yellowboat]

for the larger electrics a solar hybrid system is pretty good. it will save you money, but there is a lot of up front costs.

 

[blue2184]

Ibeplumbing is spot on! Anything above a 50 gal traditional tank type heater went by by thanks to the epa... The tankless electric I don't think will ever catch up to tankless gas... Their is only so much you can do with electricity, and unless you have a extra 150 to 200 amps inside your control panel? The tankless electric is going to be an expensive and not very good option... If you are thinking of going tankless you need to be using gas... If not like ibeplumbing said go get you a good 50 gal elect and keep on trucking...

 

[Lunatic Fringe]

I appreciate the responses and it does seem that the tankless, while an interesting idea, are not the be-all end-all the manufacturers will have you believe. Particularly in electric.

A standard storage tank elect. will be in my immediate future.:thumbsup

 

[Mandelon]

We did an interesting install for a guy here in San Diego. He had another company install a solar heated prewarming tank and coil set up. So it would heat the water during the sunny part of the day, then hold that warm water in a storage tank.

We put in a smallish tankless electric heater. I was surprised how little it was honestly. The prewarmed water was piped in, heated the rest of the way up to shower temperatures and into the house. I think he also had them put on solar electric panels as well.

He never called back to say it wasn't working... but I don't know how well it would work after a few days of cloudy coldness...

I would agree with the other guys here.... just pick up a high quality standard electric unit. It should last for many years. :thumbsup

 

[Lunatic Fringe]

Done and I'm putting it in right now.
Bradford White 50 gal.