Water heater recs please

[Hay Dude]

I had (2) AO Smith natural gas hot water heaters and they lasted 19 years. I replaced them with (2) new AO Smith heaters in 2021.
I was a Builder for 25 years and always recommended them. I think they are the best. I have never repaired one for any reason.

The 2 newer AO Smith natural gas hot water heaters I have are flawless so far. The new ignition and adjustment systems on them are very easy to use.

 

[kenmac]

Just for the record.. They are ''water heaters''.... Not.... ''Hot water heaters''
Just wanted to clear up any confusion !

 

[plowhog]

if you are getting crud in your current water heater tank, I would strongly encourage you not to get a tankless as there is no place for the deposits to go, except in the pipes/heat exchangers of the tankless. The crud build up makes for a short life.

We went tankless in our new residence and like it. We never run out of hot water which is very nice.

Our plumber strongly suggested they do an annual service to flush sediments/deposits out of it. Which reminds me, its time to do that again. For the longevity of the unit.

 

[caver]

Friend of mine, who was an HVAC repair/contractor for many years, suggested Rinnai tankless (propane) for my new cabin build. He put one in his own place and has been happy with it. The sad thing is tank heaters are about as expensive as tankless heaters unless you get the wiz bang wifi, smarter than you, talks to google every day model.

 

[BlueKnife]

My power goes out to much for tank less hate cold showers
Gas stays on no matter just a thought

I live off grid and don't have power to our tankless heater at all. It uses a two C batteries for the spark to light the propane. Works great. All the hot water we could ever use.

 

[lman]

Just for the record.. They are ''water heaters''.... Not.... ''Hot water heaters''
Just wanted to clear up any confusion !

I thought they were cold water heaters however my cold water is about 100* since it's preheated by my geothermal system.

 

[deezler]

I thought they were cold water heaters however my cold water is about 100* since it's preheated by my geothermal system.

Wat. You don't have cold water for drinking? I love how cold my cold water is, in the 50s in the winter, rising into the low 60s by the end of summer.

 

[deezler]

My water heater was installed in 1995, so I have been thinking about a replacement. There is no gas here. I can get an $800.00 rebate from the electric company for a heat pump water heater or should I just hope I'll get another 30 years from my current unit?

We elected not to run a gas line to our house build (800' from the road plus unknown connection fees) and went all electric.

This basically forced our hand to go with a heat-pump 50-gallon electric. Ours is an AO Smith, zero issues for nearly 9 years now.

The only thing I don't like about it, and this really isn't it's fault: My gasoline generator doesn't have a clean-enough power sine wave to run it, it tries and then throws a code and quits. So we only get 50 gallons of hot water to use during a power outage.

Super efficient, quite quiet when running the heat pump, regular backup electric heat when needed (back-to-back kid baths, for example), and affordable. Ours was ~$1200 with no rebates in 2015, dunno what they cost now.

 

[Mtsoxfan]

We went with an AO Smith heat pump water heater hybrid. We can run back to back showers no issues. It has a hybrid version that uses both HP and Electricity for high hot water demands. By product is cold dry air, so in summer, basement is "air conditioned". In winter, wood stove overcomes any cold air. Generator has no issues running it with power outages. Been almost 3 years now, no issues.

 

[newbury]

I currently am using an AO Smith heater and the reviews on CU say they are junk. They come with a 6 year warranty and last about 6 1/2 years.

General statements like "last about 6 1/2 years" can be scary.

The actual life of a water heater usually varies with what kind of water you have along with sediment accumulation.

AO Smith installed in 2011, a couple of drains for maintenance, Fairfax county Va. water. Way over 6.5 years. Three residents, one is a son that tends to take a long shower every day, one is a wife who tends to split the laundry up into many loads.
I'd swear she'd separate colors down to different shades of every color and wash items individually in separate loads. Whereas I tend to do "colored", "not colored". (and isn't white a color?)

 

[deserteagle71]

General statements like "last about 6 1/2 years" can be scary.

Exactly!
I had to change out my water heater a few years ago. It was 27 years old...and had never been drained nor any maintenance performed on it.

 

[two_bit_score]

ust for the record.. They are ''water heaters''.... Not.... ''Hot water heaters''
Just wanted to clear up any confusion !

Thank YOU! That always bothers me too.

 

[ning]

6 yr warranty means the anode should last 6 yrs. So they only provide a 6 yr tank warranty. You can always buy a larger anode ,or just keep one on hand and replace it every 5 yrs
I really don't understand your comment about tankless being no good for showers .
Never had an issue with mine . I installed it 5 yrs ago

My tankless is "ok" for showers; occasionally the hot water stops and I only get cold, but I think that's because it's a very low-flow shower head (particularly because of water deposits making the holes in the shower even smaller) and depending on the heat your "hot" is set at, mixing it down you may have the hot water flow be below the cut-in for the tankless, so it stops heating a very low flow of water. This is part of why I consider tankless to be "possibly energy efficient but not water efficient" since it encourages you to use more water to keep the hot engaged.

 

[etpm]

Thanks Everyone! I am going to reconsider the tankless. In the past all the ones I used were very temperature and flow sensitive. They would either be too hot or just cold. It may require a bigger gas line as others mentioned. A heat pump would require running wire which in my case would not be easy or cheap. But I'm gonna look at them anyway.
Eric

 

[Mtsoxfan]

Whichever way you decide to go, take the initial install charges like larger gas line or running wire with a grain of salt. Those "extra" charges may pay themselves off in a very short time. Unless it's special circumstances like digging and running very long lines. IIRC, the wiring needed to install our HP water heater was 10', so not much $$

 

[lman]

Wat. You don't have cold water for drinking? I love how cold my cold water is, in the 50s in the winter, rising into the low 60s by the end of summer.

I have cold water coming from my well to all of my taps. I also have a line that is recirculated through my geothermal to preheat for hot water. Basically, I already have water that is heated by a heat pump. It's just not quite hot enough. I have two water heaters, but one is not connected and does not heat. It is used as a reservoir for the excess heat that my geothermal makes and my 30 year old water heater draws water from the that preheated water heater tank.

 

[ericm979]

Thanks Everyone! I am going to reconsider the tankless. In the past all the ones I used were very temperature and flow sensitive. They would either be too hot or just cold. It may require a bigger gas line as others mentioned. A heat pump would require running wire which in my case would not be easy or cheap. But I'm gonna look at them anyway.
Eric

If you have 120v near the water heater location there are heat pump water heaters that can run off 120v 20a (maybe even 15a) circuits. They're made especially for replacing gas heaters.

 

[grsthegreat]

If you have a water recirculating pump like I do, tankless don’t work without some juryrigging a small standby tank or some such nonesence. I have twin 40 gal direct vents that are 10 years old, have replaced anode 2 times. Have another set sitting in WH room. I’m thinking about getting another pair of them and storing them because I don’t know what nanny state will do in near future with propane water heaters.i don’t want heat pump or elect units. Ive been called out to too many heat pump water heater failures over the years. And while elect units are ok, my standby isn’t large enough to add two elect water heaters to it.

 

[4570Man]

I’m not that sold on tankless water heaters. Electric ones are garbage. They strain a regular 200 amp service for the first problem. Putting that aside they struggle to produce hot water. Gas ones do produce plenty of hot water but the upfront cost is high. The heater itself cost nearly 3x what a regular 40 gallon water heater cost. The plumber also charges a good bit extra. If you have a lot of people in the house maybe it would be worth it but a 40 gallon heater should provide plenty of water for at least 4 people. If that’s not working you could piggyback 2 of them and still be cheaper than a tankless. My last complaint with the tankless is they require electricity to work. A tanked gas heater will continue working without electricity. I’m really not sold on the energy saving aspect.

 

[newbury]

If you have 120v near the water heater location there are heat pump water heaters that can run off 120v 20a (maybe even 15a) circuits. They're made especially for replacing gas heaters.

The Rheem line of 120V heat pump water heater seems to start out at about $2K (at HD) vs a basic Rheem Natural Gas for < $700.