"Tim C." wrote in message
oups.com...
My 6 year old Rheem 50 gallon gas hot water heater is seeping water out
the top and about to die. The warranty expired last month, of course.
It is installed in a corner of my garage and vents out the roof of our
second story house. We have 3 1/2 baths and a family of 8 and often
run out of hot water. We are considering upgrading to a 75 gallon gas
model, with higher BTU and larger first hour recovery specs.
I have found a number of places that sell 75 gallons models, home
depot, sears, lowes, and many different brands, etc. No one seems to
have 75 gallon in stock since it is not a common size, and all say 2 -
3 weeks to special order.
Most of the specs list a 4 inch vent. Currently I have a 3 inch vent
as far as I now. Does this mean the vent size all the way up and
through the roof will have to be upgraded? or can it just be adapted
above the heater from 4 back to 3 inch? I assume that would be unsafe
and violate some codes.
I have thought about a tankless but have pretty much ruled that out due
to higher initial cost and concerns about its ability to keep up with
my family's usage patterns.
Does anyone have any advice on how I can get a 75 gallon in short
order? or any suggested alternatives or advice? I like traditional
gas hot water heaters and I am relunctant to try anything unusual.
Thanks,
Tim C.
This is Turtle.
Yes i can get a commercial 75 to 200 gal. hot water tank in short order but get
your bilfold out when you order one. Now there is very little difference in the
price of a 75 gal. and a 150 gal. models. Now when we said the magic word
Commercial Hot water tank you said well I have the need and the money to pay
good money for a commercial hot water tank. I'm not in the hot water tank
business but i can order them over nite but i would venture to say it would be
north of a $1,000.00 + installation to start with the regular models. Then it
would travel farther north when you said I want QUICK recovery ability.
Now let me pull out my United warehouse CD and look you up one.
Hummm i see here a very nice one Residentiual Gas Water heater by Bradford White
ML75S6FBN with 75 gal. tank / Natural gas / flow rate 76 G.P.H. / Shipping
weight 264 # / and a nice price of $1,732.66 but i do get some discount here but
the shipping will eat that up.
Now here is a very nice one that i like and it's a Commecial type and will feed
hot water just about as fast as you can use it in about 2 or 3 bath rooms. It is
a Brad Ford D100T2503NA / 98 gal. tank / 250,000 btu burner / 242 G.P.H. /
Shipping Weight 609 # / and is a little high at $9,226.36 .
Now these prices can be beaten if you shop around but it is hard to do as a
customer dealing with the Commercial warehouses.
Now if you just want all the hot water you want for 3 bath rooms and never run
out 24 hours a day 7 days a week and run the water all the time at a flow rate
of 8.5 G.P.M or 510 G.P.H. and this being 2 times the ability of any Commercial
hot water tank you can buy less than $10,000.00 . The local prison uses these
type water heaters for they need hot water for 3,000 inmates taking showers and
just about running water 24 hours a day. the have a show bank of 18 shower heads
and hook up 6 rinnai heater to the show head piping bank and 18 inmates can use
all hot water at 140ºF each and run the water contenously 24 hours a day and
stay at 140ºF water coming out Non-stop. Just get you a Rinnai Instant Natural
gas hot water system which has a 10 year warranty on the whole unit. The best
part of this things is if not in use it will turn it's self off and burn NO gas
at all and only burn gas if you ask for water by opening a focet and start a
flow rate. If you don't open a hot water focet it will not cost you nothing to
keep the hot water ready to go on demand but will have a multi-gas heat BTU
rating depending on the flow rate from 1,500 btu's to about 200,000 btu heating
rate. Also it has anti-freeze thermostat that will turn on the heat just a
little to keep the water above 40ºF and even hung on a outside wall. Also it has
no pilot lite and has spark ignition. Here is the Website to look at them.
http://www.foreverho****er.com/products.shtml For about $1,000.00 to $1,500.00
you can buy all the equipment [ it being two different types ] but will have to
pay to have it installed. Now this thing can be installed by yourself for it is
just really just can hang it on the wall and pipe to it if installed outdoors.
Now with all this said. the flow rate that your looking for will not come from a
hot water tank but a instant hot water system.
TURTLE