Water heater recs please

[ultrarunner]

The entire brand has been discontinued


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Always wonder how warranty is handled when product dropped?

Once I received a full refund but sounds expensive for company to do.

 

[t1kilo]

The entire brand has been discontinued


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I hadn’t seen that. Thanks for pointing it out.

There are other manufacturers, and I would certainly replace mine with another condensing model when that time comes. I'll have to check on warranty I guess, huh?

 

[grsthegreat]

This thread got me off my lazy winter butt. I ordered and installed 2 full port drain valves to replace the crappy drains that come with the Raheem units. Now, when I flush the waterheater the water and crud blows out of the unit. Amazing difference.

then after looking at 1 year old anode rods, I tossed them and installed an electric anode to both units. Hopefully the last time I need to do that as there warranted 20 years.

 

[ponytug]

The powered nodes are just amazing. The Corro-protec systems apparently can be run in parallel with an anode for those of us without great standby power.

All the best,

Peter

 

[ultrarunner]

Never replaced a water heater anode.

I'm thinking 30+ years on a gas fired water heater and counting indicates something must be right.

More common in the rentals is 20+ years on low end 20, 30 and 40 gallon heaters.

Where I have experienced problems is when tenants turn up the temp dial to scalding...

At rental move-in I document Water Heater setting with picture plus thermometer reading of hot water temp at faucet...

Plus add a label do not tamper!

 

[grsthegreat]

we have hard water....hard on water heater anode. my anodes will dissolve in 4-5 years.

 

[ponytug]

we have hard water....hard on water heater anode. my anodes will dissolve in 4-5 years.

And mine in more like two. Did I mention I love electronic anodes?

All the best,

Peter

 

[MoKelly]

we have hard water....hard on water heater anode. my anodes will dissolve in 4-5 years.

Would a water softener help?

 

[grsthegreat]

I would assume so, but I hate softeners. Had one before. Could never get soap out of hair.

 

[ponytug]

Would a water softener help?

No, not really. The issue is the ions in the water (hard= calcium and magnesium, soft = sodium, or rarely potassium) help make the water more conductive. That means that the current from corrosion (galvanic action) is much larger, and the anodes dissolve more quickly. There are different flavors of hard water, and that is important for whether or not hard water will precipitate in the tank, and how much sludge accumulates.

One could switch to a stainless tank, but, if the tank isn't cleaned regularly the hard water deposits will line and insulate the inside of the tank.

Side note: typical water hardness meters measuring TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) actually are measuring the current flow or resistance to get to the amount of dissolved ions in the water. That's why hard water and soft water from the same source will have almost exactly the same TDS value. A reverse osmosis filter will keep 95-99% of the non-water ions out of the permeate, dropping the TDS by a factor of twenty or more. (Ours drops it by 60X, but that is partly due to our local water chemistry, a different story.)

All the best,

Peter