water heater leaked, what do i do now?

[footprintsinconc]

ok, i got thanksgiving surprise early morning, water heater leaked at the bottom with water standing everywhere. luckly, none of my wood got wet.

we closed on the new house on 11/2004, so the heater is exactly 6 years old. its a bradford white. they are closed for today and tomorrow to find out if it is under warranty.

should i go with warranty replacement or go with one of those wall units that heats water as hot water is needed? all suggestions and ideas are appreciated.

thanks!

[dbhost]

I replaced my water heater 4 years ago. The same month my neighbor installed a tankless water heater. I wish I had. It made a huge difference in not only control of water heat, but also his utility bills... When this one goes, I am going to go tankless for sure...

[footprintsinconc]

I replaced my water heater 4 years ago. The same month my neighbor installed a tankless water heater. I wish I had. It made a huge difference in not only control of water heat, but also his utility bills... When this one goes, I am going to go tankless for sure...

the tankless are like $3k vs less than $700 installed energy star rated....i wonder if the tankless are not as beneficial here in AZ than any other state that has really cold winters?

[leehljp]

I have been used to tankless over here for nearly 20 years. When I get back to the States and if I have to replace a hot water heater, I will go tankless for sure.

Over here, we have two small tankless units - one for the kitchen and downstairs BR and one for the bathroom and laundry room upstairs. That arrangement makes for quick response. Our house in the Osaka area had the same setup. US house's plumbings are generally not built for that kind of setup though.

[LCHIEN]

once the tank leaks, it's time for a new one.
My two in the current house lasted 15-17 years (and I have to confess to not draining them periodically like they recommend).
Tankless is nice but you need to have the energy source near the heater and the heater near the point of end use. Maybe you need an energy source not the one you have which makes an additional installation cost.

[Chris_B]

The December issue of Family Handyman has an excellent comparison of the various water heater alternatives in the current issue. Unfortunately, they do not post the article online.

The article has a lot more detail & relevant links, but here is the bottom line for each alternative:

1. Tankless - "If you want an endless supply of hot water for long showers or to fill a gazillion-gallon spa, this heater's for you. Just be aware that you may not be able to run several showers at the same time in winter. The payback on a professionally installed tankless heater is 16 to 22 years, or six years if you install it yourself."
2. Hybrid heat pump - "If you live in a warmer climate and heat water with electricity, an electric hybrid heat pump will save you the most money over a conventional heater. In colder climates , it 'll still save money during the summer when you're not paying to heat the surrounding air. The higher your electric rates and the warmer the year-round climate, the faster the payback. In many cases, the payback can be as little as four years.
3. Condensing - "If you're replacing an existing gas water heater and need lots of hot water for long or multiple showers and tub fills, and want a high flow rate in summer and winter, this may be the way to go. It requires the least amount of re-piping and has a faster payback. Figure a 12-year payback at current prices, or an eight-year payback when the lower-priced models arrive in fall 2011."
4. Conventional - "If you need an immediate replacement, you don't plan to stay in your home for years or you just don't use a lot of hot water, a conventional unit may be your most cost-effective option."

[Chris_B]

Water heaters can last indefinitely with simple maintenance

This does not help the original poster, but with some very simple maintenance, conventional water heaters can last indefinitely.
See: http://www.waterheaterrescue.com/ The only tricky bit is removing the original anodes in an old heater. Otherwise the entire process is very straightforward.

In our case I considered installing a tankless model, but for our house this would have entailed a major gas re-plumbing effort. The tankless models require a stunning BTU input, which requires at least a 3/4" supply pipe... Also, note that tankless models require regular maintenance if your water has any significant minerals.

[woodturner]

should i go with warranty replacement or go with one of those wall units that heats water as hot water is needed?

I recently replaced my tank hot water heater with a tankless. Similar situation - the water heater started leaking.

The cost of tank type hot water heaters has gone up, due to the new safety features. For a 40 gallon gas water heater, the cost in this area is $500 to $1,000, depending on efficiency. The tankless was $600 plus $150 for the vent kit, less the 30% federal energy credit - so call it $525 net. I would have qualified for another $300 rebate from the state, but I installed it myself and the rebate required contractor installation.

Installation was straight forward and relatively easy. There is more to do than with a tank type heater, though. A newbie with reasonable DIY skills could probably install a direct fit tank heater in two hours or so, but the tankless realistically could take four to eight hours to install. If you install it in the same location or nearby, little additional plumbing is required and it goes pretty quickly.

This is my first tankless, and I won't go back. It's wonderful. Contrary to what people told me, the tankless does NOT take longer to initially provide hot water, it's actually a bit quicker. More significantly, the water is full hot and stays hot - forever. No more lukewarm showers or running out of hot water.

Sizing of a tankless is CRITICAL. Most complaints seem to be from people who have undersized units. I got the smallest whole house unit Home Depot sells, a 4.2 gallon per minute unit. It's plenty for two people - but if I still had teenagers at home and two showers running at the same time, it might not be enough.

The spec you want to look at is the rate of temperature increase per volume. Figure out what the coldest incoming water temperature will ever be in your area. Figure out how hot you need the water to be, and how many gallons per minute you will have to maintain. The temperature difference is the heating the tankless has to provide.

For example, in my area we get 50F or higher incoming water, I like 118F shower temperature, and my shower head has a 1.8 gallon per minute flow rate. Therefore, assuming I can ensure no one else will use the water while I shower, I need a 118-50=68F temperature rise at a 1.8 gallon per minute flow rate. That's actually a pretty modest requirement - I think the unit we have is 90F @2.4 gallons per minute. In any event, it's just fine - even when the washer is running while I shower.

[footprintsinconc]

BTW, we have gas and i have a water softener in the house. i use salt, not protassium as the agent. i read some where, that the water heater life will be around 5-7 years for someone running a water softener.

wood turner, thanks for the info, i didnt realize that they were that cheap....does that mean their quality is not compromised? its cold tonight, i will measure that water temp to get how cold it can be....but in the summer, the cold water is actually warm, so i am sure the temp difference at that time wont be much.

what brand did you buy from HD?

any other information that you can give me about the install that you think is important, that would be helpful.

[MikeMorgan]

Anode

For what its worth, replacing the anode in a tank type water heater every 3-4 years will greatly increase the life of a water heater if it it heating softened water.

[footprintsinconc]

For what its worth, replacing the anode in a tank type water heater every 3-4 years will greatly increase the life of a water heater if it it heating softened water.

how do you replace the anode in a water heater? i thought they were sealed units?

[pelligrini]

Tankless heaters are a pretty good option. They do have some limitation for capacity flow though. Most homes don't run into this problem, but if you've got a high end shower with multiple spray heads many tankless units can't keep up with the volume.

[gerti]

I'd love a tankless, but the 3/4" gas pipe requirement is making that difficult in our house. Gas meter is about 60 ft from where the heater would need to sit, and it is not a straight run either.

[jlm]

We replaced our water heater last year, and really gave a lot of thought into the tank vs. tankless, and ended up going with a 9-year-warranty tank model (the longer warranty models tend to be more energy efficient, as they're built a bit heavier and have more insulation). We live in Austin, TX, and our water heater is in a closet in the garage. We only have a few weeks a year of what I'd call "cold" weather, so our gas bills are really low when we're not running the furnace.

The math just didn't work out for a tankless, it would have taken more than 20 years to make up the difference in cost, even using very liberal estimates for energy savings. Most tankless heaters we looked at had 5 to 10 year warranties, so we figured we probably wouldn't get 20 years of life out of one anyway, so we'd likely never break even, much less save money.

Now, if you have a big household with a lot of kids or whatever, and routinely run out of hot water, then the tankless would have other advantages. But for just the two of us, it didn't make sense to go tankless.

[All Thumbs]

For you guys switching to tankless, did you have to increase the size of your gas line from the meter to the water heater?