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?)