How do you prep for future power outages?

[two_bit_score]

The AO Smith water heaters really have been better than any others lately.

 

[MoKelly]

Are yours split into zones? Or does one feed into the other?
Im tempted to split them into zones to speed up hot water.

They are split into zones. Both are in the utility room in the basement. It takes approx. 45 seconds to get really hot water to first floor showers but about 1-1/2 minutes to get really hot water to the second floor showers.

Not sure why the builder didn’t put the second floor water heater upstairs. There is a furnace area located upstairs. The water does have to travel some distance to get to the upstairs bathrooms. Perhaps the original owners were not comfortable with a 50 gallon heater located upstairs? I can sort of understand that concept.

MoKelly

 

[Hay Dude]

They are split into zones. Both are in the utility room in the basement. It takes approx. 45 seconds to get really hot water to first floor showers but about 1-1/2 minutes to get really hot water to the second floor showers.

Not sure why the builder didn’t put the second floor water heater upstairs. There is a furnace area located upstairs. The water does have to travel some distance to get to the upstairs bathrooms. Perhaps the original owners were not comfortable with a 50 gallon heater located upstairs? I can sort of understand that concept.

MoKelly

Probably worried about a leak, but I am in complete agreement about the upstairs HWH. A pan underneath with a gravity drain to the outside and a water sensor alarm , similar to a washing machine.
If I could have done it again, I'd put the upstairs heater in a utility room near exterior wall with short drain tube to outside and floor water alarm.

 

[grsthegreat]

Mine are hooked together, so if one fails the other still provides hot water. I have my system piped with circulation pump, so no more than a few seconds to have hot water anywheres in house.

 

[MoKelly]

Mine are hooked together, so if one fails the other still provides hot water. I have my system piped with circulation pump, so no more than a few seconds to have hot water anywheres in house.

So, I am not the smartest person. I thought my problem was the hot water in the pipes cooled just sitting in the pipe with no use. Then, you turn on the hot water and all the cooled water had to flow thru the pipes until the hot water in the tank gets to the spigot.

The water flow is limited by the faucet.

How does a pump help? Does the pump continuously re-circulate the water so it’s always hot in the pipes?

Sorry if this is a dumb question.

MoKelly

 

[arto98607]

........................zip......................diesel will keep for over a year not like gas.................zip.......................

willy

Yes it will

I don't know how long Diesel fuel will keep, but I store few hundred gallons of off-road Diesel fuel stored in a safe place, out of the weather and buy it when the price is low by plan.

For sure I have used 10 years old fuel without any problems whatsoever, but in a different climate who knows?

I always add biocide and lubricant (Biobor JF & Opti-Lube Summer)when buying the fuel.

Cheers

 

[Hay Dude]

So, I am not the smartest person. I thought my problem was the hot water in the pipes cooled just sitting in the pipe with no use. Then, you turn on the hot water and all the cooled water had to flow thru the pipes until the hot water in the tank gets to the spigot.

The water flow is limited by the faucet.

How does a pump help? Does the pump continuously re-circulate the water so it’s always hot in the pipes?

Sorry if this is a dumb question.

MoKelly

yes

 

[MoKelly]

yes

Thanks. I never knew that even existed.

MoKelly

 

[not2old]

If the water heater has two elements in parallel, simply open the element's service door and disconnect one? You would drop from 4600W to 2400W, only when there is an outage if that works.

Edit: How about if you use a Single Pole Double Throw switch to 'switch' between the return from the other live line or a return line (white wire)? Would this effectively drop the usable power from 4600W to 2400W?

All of the electric water heaters I've worked on use 2000W elements on a flip-flop. Never seen anything else in a residential heater.

 

[ponytug]

So, I am not the smartest person. I thought my problem was the hot water in the pipes cooled just sitting in the pipe with no use. Then, you turn on the hot water and all the cooled water had to flow thru the pipes until the hot water in the tank gets to the spigot.

The water flow is limited by the faucet.

How does a pump help? Does the pump continuously re-circulate the water so it’s always hot in the pipes?

Sorry if this is a dumb question.

MoKelly

Yes; they are a couple of ways to do it. One is to plumb in a return line from near the far end of your hot water run back to the cold water inlet on the water tank and then the pump (we use a little Grundfos) pushes water around the line continuously. We have our on a timer. The other way is to get a thermal bypass valve or sensor valve(s) in addition to your pump, but not plumb in a return line. The sensor valve is a heat swelling plug between the hot and cold lines. When it is cold, it lets the cold "hot" water bleed through to your cold water line. When warm water gets there, it swells shut. You can put in several throughout your house to have instant warm water at distant faucets. They do wear out, but we have had ours for over a decade.

We love it.

We also replaced the anode rod with an electronic version that doesn't wear out and doesn't need annual cleaning. I highly recommend them if your water isn't super soft and you aren't in the habit of frequently cleaning your water heater anode rods. We bought ours from Powered Anodes - Water Heater Rescue Our water heater lifetime has more than tripled, and still counting...

All the best,

Peter