On Tuesday, March 10, 2015 at 2:26:44 PM UTC-4, Jerry Pennwalt wrote:
If you are considering buying a new water heater, you might want to do it soon
because updates to the National Appliance Energy Conservation Act (NAECA) that
will go into effect April 16 will impact your choices and costs in the future.

http://www.omaha.com/money/new-water...19941a401.html
- or - http://preview.tinyurl.com/khkbtlw

http://www.kvue.com/story/money/cons...pril/24390441/

Well, that's just lovely. The govt screwing the folks again. I especially
like the part about an electric WH bigger than 55 being mandated to be of
the heat pump variety. Faced with that, most people are probably going
to buy two 40 gallon non-heat pump ones. There goes that bright idea.

And then they say the new higher priced WH's will save a whopping $1 a
month. What's the pay back time on that?



I just bought a new natural gas water heater and will be using a 3/4" flex
connect kit.

Which one of the 2 flex kits below is preferred?

http://www.lowes.com/pd_185259-135-9008084046_0__

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Watts-Lea...CK18/202255002

The HD kit is basically a rubber hose inside a braided stainless-steel sheath.
The one at Lowes is corrugated stainless-steel (no rubber core).

Looks like it comes down to whether you want dielectric fittings or
not. Otherwise, I don't see much difference. I've never seen dielectrics
on gas lines before. My WHs have always been plumbed in without using
anything special. Black pipe for the gas. No problems either.