Water Heater dead in 5 years!

[oneoldbanjo]

My 2.5 yr old water heater is leaking. I had to remove the anode to get the side arm to work effectively. Is there any alternative to buying another water heater? I was thinking of maybe buying a tank and insulating it myself. I've never even had the breaker turned on for this thing. Not real excited about buying another one this soon.

I suppose you could buy a storage tank and use it - you would want to get one without a bladder in it. You would also have to find a way to install a dip tube so that the cold water would enter the water tank at the bottom with little turbulence induced that would cause mixing of the cold and hot water. The cool thing about doing this.....is you might be able to find a stainless or copper tank somewhere....then corrosion would never be an issue again as long as you don't use black iron or galvanized fittings.

 

[mtfallsmikey]

My 2.5 yr old water heater is leaking. I had to remove the anode to get the side arm to work effectively. Is there any alternative to buying another water heater? I was thinking of maybe buying a tank and insulating it myself. I've never even had the breaker turned on for this thing. Not real excited about buying another one this soon.

All of the major water heater mfr's make hot water heaters w/buildt-in coils for solar, some with electric elements for backup, but they are pricey, and the recovery rates are kinda weak compared to using a sidearm or plate HX

 

[bluestem]

All of the major water heater mfr's make hot water heaters w/buildt-in coils for solar, some with electric elements for backup, but they are pricey, and the recovery rates are kinda weak compared to using a sidearm or plate HX

I was looking at a few of the heaters with the solar coils running through them and how it would adapt to the OWB. You don't think the recovery rate would be very good utilizing one of these? This was my major concern or question about getting one.

 

[mtfallsmikey]

I was looking at a few of the heaters with the solar coils running through them and how it would adapt to the OWB. You don't think the recovery rate would be very good utilizing one of these? This was my major concern or question about getting one.

Well, I was looking at a Bradford-White 65 gal. model, had a coil and one 4500 wt. element for backup. Recovery rate was 23 GPH @ 90 deg. temp. rise, which is no better than the recovery rate w/electric elements. No one has any hard data on a sidearm, and a lot of plate HX mfrs. do not either, but I believe either of those would be higher, plus that heater I looked at was around $1,200, wholesale.

 

[oneoldbanjo]

My 2.5 yr old water heater is leaking. I had to remove the anode to get the side arm to work effectively. Is there any alternative to buying another water heater? I was thinking of maybe buying a tank and insulating it myself. I've never even had the breaker turned on for this thing. Not real excited about buying another one this soon.

If you have never used the heating element in your water heater.....you must be running your OWB year round. If that is the case.....maybe you should get a large plate exchanger and just make instant hot water and do away with the storage tank. I have both a plate exchanger and a sidearm installed.....as I didn't know any better when I installed the sytem. The plate exchanger makes so much heat that we don't really need the sidearm (the sidearm has a valve I can close to stop the flow of water through it).....and even if we are away from home for a few days the water from the plate exchanger is so hot when it enters the water heater that we still have warm water when we come home. The sidearm does keep the water very hot when it is turned on - and I suspect it could provide all the heat we need...but I don't know what the recovery rate is.

It might be that with a plate exchanger for use when your OWB is in operation.....and an instant and tankless water heater for those times you don't have the OWB running.....that you might not need a conventional water heater with a tank.

For me......I think the short life was related to my soft water. I read one website that said they anodes can be used up in as little as 6 months if the water is "over softened". Other websites claim the anodes are used up twice as fast when a water softener is in use.

 

[Peacock]

If you have never used the heating element in your water heater.....you must be running your OWB year round. If that is the case.....maybe you should get a large plate exchanger and just make instant hot water and do away with the storage tank. I have both a plate exchanger and a sidearm installed.....as I didn't know any better when I installed the sytem. The plate exchanger makes so much heat that we don't really need the sidearm (the sidearm has a valve I can close to stop the flow of water through it).....and even if we are away from home for a few days the water from the plate exchanger is so hot when it enters the water heater that we still have warm water when we come home. The sidearm does keep the water very hot when it is turned on - and I suspect it could provide all the heat we need...but I don't know what the recovery rate is.

It might be that with a plate exchanger for use when your OWB is in operation.....and an instant and tankless water heater for those times you don't have the OWB running.....that you might not need a conventional water heater with a tank.

For me......I think the short life was related to my soft water. I read one website that said they anodes can be used up in as little as 6 months if the water is "over softened". Other websites claim the anodes are used up twice as fast when a water softener is in use.

I'm leaning towards the plate exchanger. How well does it keep up with demand with no tank?

 

[Como]

Having sold water heaters for many years, remember that when you buy a water heater with a 10,12 year, or lifetime warranty, you are not buying a better quality heater, you're buying a warranty. And that warranty is pro-rated after 5 years usually.
8-10 years is a good life expectancy out of any of them.

How do they pro rata a life time warranty?

With regards to tanks I am sitting next to my Triangle Tube Smart, currently powered by a Triangle Tube Prestige Solo Boiler, shortly by my wood boilers.

 

[oneoldbanjo]

I'm leaning towards the plate exchanger. How well does it keep up with demand with no tank?

I would think that it would be an endless supply with a large enough plate exchanger. My system has the plate exchanger before the tank - and with the electric element turned off and the sidearm valve closed we have never run out of hot water. I don't know how many plates our exchanger is....I will have to count tonight when I go home.

 

[mtfallsmikey]

How do they pro rata a life time warranty?

With regards to tanks I am sitting next to my Triangle Tube Smart, currently powered by a Triangle Tube Prestige Solo Boiler, shortly by my wood boilers.

Let's use as an example, a 10 yr. warranty.... your heater blows at the 6 yr. mark. The mfr. would pay full replacement (less labor) for the first 5 yrs., 90% after 6 yrs., probably 75%, at 10 yrs. maybe 50%. It depends on the mfr., how they do the warranty. I sold a few"10 yr." warranty heaters, but the price is dramatically higher, and unless you have extremely hard/skanky water, it's not worth it.


Hope your Prestige boiler is holding up, Triangle makes pretty good equipment.