If you want the best, go for a stainless steel commercial water heater, a
couple of manufacturers make them, but be prepared for a shock when you hear
the price. The Vertex 100, model GDHE-50 is also sold as a commercial water
heater as model BTX-100 with a few changes, shorter warranty and the ability
to heat water hotter.

I am planning on ordering a GDHE-50 tomorrow, as they have just been
released in Canada. I have found that most contractors don't know anything
about them and/or only want to install what they have on hand, so I am
ordering it direct from a plumbing supply house and arranging for a licensed
gas fitter to connect the gas. I can handle the copper plumbing and the PVC
vent. Note for any Canadians installing PVC vents for water heaters or
furnaces, you cannot use regular ABS, PVC or CPVC pipe. It must be certified
to ULC S636 standards. This vent pipe is available in some Home Depots in
the Toronto area.


"ng_reader" wrote in message
...
I will be doing some work in the laundry/heater room shortly, including
installing a new natural gas hot water heater.

At one time I had no problem doing my own plumbing "sweats", but, for now
I think I will call a real plumber. I have some additional work that
needs done, and a *real* plumber would be oh so helpful.

I am in Willow Grove PA in case someone who is reading this wants to
volunteer! (give me to spring to move some stuff out of that room prior
to)

The question I have is when upgrading my 40 gallon unit, I came across
this $2000 96% efficient hot water heater by AO Smith called the Vertex
100. Sure it's pricey, but it looks like it could almost take the place of
my baseboard heater unit by some of the advertising I have seen on it.

A couple of questions, specifically.

Are the "guts" of this unit significantly different than a standard hot
water heater (we're talking gas here, not electric)? I think so, but, I
don't know.

The chimney on the unit today is a 3" stack going into an 8-10" chimney
also serving the purpose of venting the baseboard hot water heater, or,
err, heater. One guy I called, locally, told me that Vertex would have to
vent to an outside wall. Period. Huh?

And lastly, I made the part up about it replacing my heater-heater, but it
does say that it can run some radiant heating systems as well as provide
all the hot water I need. Anyone care to state real world results?

And, getting back to the original question; hot water heaters come in
"residential" and "commercial" but I am having a dickens of a time trying
to figure out --- besides warranty and price --- what makes them
different.

Thanks again...