On Sun, 12 Oct 2008 19:20:12 -0700, N8N wrote:

On Oct 12, 9:39Â*pm, (David Combs) wrote:
Well, water heater's bottom (near pilot light) is getting rusted out,
inner "door" is like a quarter eaten away (is no longer rectangular),
is 15 years old.

(Was looking in home-repair book, described how water heater works
(fairly obvious!), except learned about something called the
"sacrificial anode" -- so I guess that's gone, no hope for the water
heater to last. Â*Also, drip drip drip.

So, what's out there? Â* Anything decent available these days?

Thanks!

David

They're all pretty much the same (probably made by the same handful of
companies) unless you go to something real high end with a stainless
steel tank or similar.

Just look for something with a long warranty and/or multiple anodes.
Also I don't know if they still have them or not but I prefer a tank
with a standing pilot - that way if the power goes off you can still
have a hot shower.

Finally I recommend before you even fill the new tank to replace the
drain valve with something a little more robust - I used a dielectric
nipple, a 3/4" ball valve, a 3/4" MPT to male garden hose adapter, and a
brass garden hose cap to make one for mine. Something like this:

http://www.waterheaterrescue.com/pag...ish/Longevity/
sediment-in-hot-water-heaters.html

but made from stuff I had laying around and/or purchased at my local
plumbing store. When we moved into the house, I thought a good thing to
do would be to flush all the water heaters (I have three) - not a good
idea! every single drain valve failed in one fashion or another.
Fortunately I have only had to replace one tank, although of course that
one was the one upstairs in the garage and I didn't realize it'd failed
until water started coming through the ceiling below. Whoops. New tank
has a proper drain pan under it, you betcha.

Which reminds me, it's about time for the annual water heater flush...

nate

Nate:

Replaced my HW Tank last spring. As someone already posted, they all
look the same, just the name on the tank is different. Lowes sells a
brand named Whirlpool, Whirlpool don't make HW tanks, Lowes just uses the
brand name for sales reasons. Warranties seemed about the same also.

BTW: cheaper price, higher install costs; the end total cost appeared to
me just a few dollars difference. The big savings comes with DIY
installs as then you just deal with the costs of the tank; I, however,
won't mess with Nat-Gas so I got hit hard with install costs.

Hopefully you won't have to go thru what I did. In my municipality, any
HW tank install requires a city building permit (about $70.00 fee for
inspection) plus the cost of the install is bumped up by about $200.00,
if needed, for installing a smaller diameter metal flue, and re-working
the chimney connection. The city inspector focused on the rise of the
metal flue, the mortar (some new pre-mixed stuff in a plastic tub) around
the metal flue and the bricks of the chimney.

I also got a lecture (free of charge) by the city inspector encouraging
me to install a carbon alarm in the basement area with furnace, HW tank,
and gas-dryer.

Aside: I found out a bit later, if replacing a gas furnace, that also
requires a building permit. The city requires a new chimney liner
modification to reduce the diameter of the chimney. Something about
major effort by city and county to reduce the back-drafting of flue gases
during very cold weather (below 0 degree F.)