Electric Hot Water Heaters

[keegs]

Question for keegs: With regard to "well grounded", do you consider the ground provided by the AC power connection to be OK? And do your grounding concerns change if you have plastic/PEX vs. copper pipes?

Pete

Hi Pete,

We have poly from the city main here in Jersey to the house and copper indoors. When I installed the tank I ran a strap between the water lines (in/out) and a strap from the water line to a seperate ground I set through the basement slab.

 

[eepete]

keegs: Makes perfect sense.

By any chance do you have a sacrificial anode installed anywhere in you're houses grounding system (either a hunk of zinc or whatever they put in if you have a propane tank) ?

Pete

 

[SpringHollow]

They did not install any sacrificial anode for our propane.

One in your hot water tank makes a lot of sense. There are two different kinds, depends upon your water conditions which one is best.

Ken

 

[keegs]

keegs: Makes perfect sense.

By any chance do you have a sacrificial anode installed anywhere in you're houses grounding system (either a hunk of zinc or whatever they put in if you have a propane tank) ?

Pete

Pete,

There's a grounding electrode at the main switch (outside the house) and there's one in the basement. There's an anode in the tank but that's it.

 

[eepete]

One in the tank means you're good to go. When I was on well water, the key was get the pH under control and have an anode somewhere.

ksimolo, what are the two different kinds? I've just been using marine-type anodes attached to the ground system for the house. I have one I can dig up every 5 years and see how it's all going.

Pete

 

[RichZ]

Sorry, I should have been more specific in my original post. The heater isn't leaking, but it isn't putting out much volume anymore. our hot water pressure is very low. And the unit is OLD. We've been in this house ten years, and the people we bought it from were in it for 17 years. They say the hot water heater was old when they bought the house 27 years ago. I have no idea how many heating elements it has, and I figured that it was so old, I'd never be able to get parts for it to do any repairs on it. I also thought that it's got to be much less efficient than a modern unit.

 

[kenmac]

It's been there too long . Just replace it. Not much difference in any of the so called brands. Longer tank warranty just means larger or multiple anodes

 

[RichZ]

Kenmac, ,that's what I was thinking, and our HVAC guy (who is a friend) said that he hasn't noticed any difference between repairs on any of the brands, and he's certified to do warranty work. He feels they're all pretty much the same. That's why I posted here, I wanted to know if anyone had any good or bad experienced with electric hot water heaters. I figured unless I heard otherwise, I'd just try to find one at the best price possible. I'll probably check out Home Depot and Lowes for prices soon, for starters.

 

[SpringHollow]

THe two types of anodes are magnesium and i believe aluminum. If you are on a well and there are iron bacteria, the magnesium will give you a sulfur smell.

Ken

 

[eepete]

ksimolo: Tnx! What a great way to start the day, learning something new. I've used the magnesium/zinc ones, didn't know aluminum could be in the mix. If you had the aluminum, you'd not want to use water from the hot water tap for cooking, since that might raise your aluminum intake.

Pete