On Sat, 06 Feb 2021 22:33:15 -0500, micky
wrote:

In alt.home.repair, on Sat, 6 Feb 2021 15:02:42 -0500, Ed Pawlowski
wrote:

On 2/6/2021 12:51 PM, Dean Hoffman wrote:

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Common sense would say to stay with the 34k. Maybe add a water heater blanket
if the heater is in a cool spot. You might want to look at on demand or tankless water heaters.


If considering an "on demand" heater do the math. I don't know what my
bill for just heating water is, but my gas bill for the dryer, grilling,
cooking and hot water is $10 to $12 a month. No way to justify the cost
of equipment.

I've thought of it so that I wouldn't have to wait a long time upstairs
for hot water. Too much effort to do it myself and too much money for a
cheapskate like me to pay. Some day I should time it and see how long I
really have to wait.

If the "instant" heater is in roughly the same place as the present
water heater, the time it takes for hot water to get upstairs is not
going to change. You can't get much more instant that 40 gallons of
hot water just sitting there waiting for you to open the valve.
OTOH if wasting energy doesn't bother you, you could put in a loop and
let it thermal siphon. If the heater is in the basement you don't need
a pump, gravity works fine.
We had that in my old 1954 house when gas was cheap.
They just snaked a piece of 3/8 copper tubing up to the bathroom
upstairs that was also on the same wet wall as the kitchen below and
we had instant hot water in both places. You hook the copper tube to
the bottom of the tank and the upper most hot water pipe.