Water Heater Question
 

Anyone have any experience with AO Smith, G.E., or Whirlpool natural gas water heaters?
I have a 14 year-old AO Smith 40 Gal looking to replace before it dies. Thanks!

Read this site before you pitch your water heaters.

http://waterheaterrescue.com/


--

Roger Shoaf

About the time I had mastered getting the toothpaste back in the tube, then
they come up with this striped stuff.


wrote in message ...
Anyone have any experience with AO Smith, G.E., or Whirlpool natural gas
water heaters?
I have a 14 year-old AO Smith 40 Gal looking to replace before it dies.
Thanks!

On Sun, 26 Dec 2004 05:05:38 GMT, wrote:

Anyone have any experience with AO Smith, G.E., or Whirlpool natural gas water heaters?
I have a 14 year-old AO Smith 40 Gal looking to replace before it dies. Thanks!



These are standard brands. I've found out that heaters made today do
not last like they did 30 years ago (like most products, I see
cheaper, thinner materials). I guess the most to expect is 15
years, even with the recommended regular flushings.

Phisherman wrote:
....
These are standard brands. I've found out that heaters made today do
not last like they did 30 years ago (like most products, I see
cheaper, thinner materials). I guess the most to expect is 15
years, even with the recommended regular flushings.

Depends on what you buy...cheaper stuff at Lowes, HD, etc., may well be
so as they tend to target the initial price-conscious purchaser.

You can now get tanks w/ plastic-liners or solid that have lifetime tank
warranties. W/ proper sedimentation control they'll last a long time...

wrote in message ...
Anyone have any experience with AO Smith, G.E., or Whirlpool natural gas water
heaters?
I have a 14 year-old AO Smith 40 Gal looking to replace before it dies.
Thanks!


This is Turtle.

The 14 year old A.O. Smith hot water tank you have now is one of the older good
ones and if you buy a new one your going to the new cheaply made stuff. I would
not say go to the cheapest stuff made unless you had to , by failure.

Now I'm not a expert at hot water tanks but if I was going to replace my hot
water tank I would go with a Ruud - Ruudglas EnergyMiser Gas hot water tank. 6
years warranty on all parts. The second choice would be the A.O. Smith but it is
a cheap one like the rest of then of G/E , Whirlpool , and Frigidaire. Thes 4
seem to come out of the same factory for they are iditically made.

TURTLE

Erma1ina wrote:
wrote:

Anyone have any experience with AO Smith, G.E., or Whirlpool
natural gas water heaters?
I have a 14 year-old AO Smith 40 Gal looking to replace before it
dies. Thanks!

The local pros go with A.O.Smith or Bradford-White (sometimes State).
They avoid heavily marketed brands like Rheem and Ruud.

I replaced my old A.O.Smith about 4 years ago with another A.O.Smith
ProMax, made in South Carolina. So far so good. ;-)

Speaking of Bradford-White, here is a link to some of their tankless,
and some of their competitors. Anyone have a brand preference and a
reason for tankless water heaters?
http://www.plumbersurplus.com/Category.aspx?ID=8

Thanks in advance!

I installed an AO Smith a couple years ago. So, yes, I do have experience.
Replaced a dip tube in another one, and can't think of the other time I had
experience with one.

--

Christopher A. Young
This space intentionally left blank
www.lds.org
www.mormons.com


wrote in message ...
Anyone have any experience with AO Smith, G.E., or Whirlpool natural gas
water heaters?
I have a 14 year-old AO Smith 40 Gal looking to replace before it dies.
Thanks!

I have a 26 year old AO Smith (40 gal electric) that is going strong. I
have virtually no sediment control other than a 26 year old Culligan
softner. I think these are the third set of elements on them. I worry
about the energy efficiency of the unit as 26 years ago they were not
so great. It looks quite ancient and the home inspector couldn't
believe it still ran at all. I will just keep replacing elements on it
until it quits.

If it should ever quit, I do hear good things about the tankless units
so I may give that a try.



Stormin Mormon wrote:
I installed an AO Smith a couple years ago. So, yes, I do have
experience.
Replaced a dip tube in another one, and can't think of the other time
I had
experience with one.

--

Christopher A. Young
This space intentionally left blank
www.lds.org
www.mormons.com


wrote in message
...
Anyone have any experience with AO Smith, G.E., or Whirlpool natural
gas
water heaters?
I have a 14 year-old AO Smith 40 Gal looking to replace before it
dies.
Thanks!

I was also considering a tankless Bosch Aquastar 125 HX, but the guy at
Home Depot said the Bosch technicians told them it was only for a cabin
or small apartment. According to the Bosch web site, the 125HX is for a
family of 3 to 4 looking to replace an existing 40 gal tank heater. I
wouldn't want to spend all the money only to find it doesn't provide
sufficient hot water!

Mike wrote:
I have a 26 year old AO Smith (40 gal electric) that is going strong. I
have virtually no sediment control other than a 26 year old Culligan
softner. I think these are the third set of elements on them. I worry
about the energy efficiency of the unit as 26 years ago they were not
so great. It looks quite ancient and the home inspector couldn't
believe it still ran at all. I will just keep replacing elements on it
until it quits.

If it should ever quit, I do hear good things about the tankless units
so I may give that a try.



Stormin Mormon wrote:

I installed an AO Smith a couple years ago. So, yes, I do have

experience.

Replaced a dip tube in another one, and can't think of the other time

I had

experience with one.

--

Christopher A. Young
This space intentionally left blank
www.lds.org
www.mormons.com


wrote in message

...

Anyone have any experience with AO Smith, G.E., or Whirlpool natural

gas

water heaters?
I have a 14 year-old AO Smith 40 Gal looking to replace before it

dies.

Thanks!

I have an AquaStar and while the great part is when you are in the shower
you never run out of hot water. The down side is if the Mrs. decides to use
hot water in the kitchen while you are in the shower then you get iced.

Tankless water heaters also need a bigger gas line and a bigger vent than a
tank. You also have more maintenance on a tankless and the parts are
stinking expensive. Some of the real high end units can maintain a constant
outflow temp but when you price them you would have to save an awful lot of
gas to make your payoff.

--

Roger Shoaf

About the time I had mastered getting the toothpaste back in the tube, then
they come up with this striped stuff.
"Peter Bagrationoff" wrote in message
...
I was also considering a tankless Bosch Aquastar 125 HX, but the guy at
Home Depot said the Bosch technicians told them it was only for a cabin
or small apartment. According to the Bosch web site, the 125HX is for a
family of 3 to 4 looking to replace an existing 40 gal tank heater. I
wouldn't want to spend all the money only to find it doesn't provide
sufficient hot water!

Mike wrote:
I have a 26 year old AO Smith (40 gal electric) that is going strong. I
have virtually no sediment control other than a 26 year old Culligan
softner. I think these are the third set of elements on them. I worry
about the energy efficiency of the unit as 26 years ago they were not
so great. It looks quite ancient and the home inspector couldn't
believe it still ran at all. I will just keep replacing elements on it
until it quits.

If it should ever quit, I do hear good things about the tankless units
so I may give that a try.



Stormin Mormon wrote:

I installed an AO Smith a couple years ago. So, yes, I do have

experience.

Replaced a dip tube in another one, and can't think of the other time

I had

experience with one.

--

Christopher A. Young
This space intentionally left blank
www.lds.org
www.mormons.com


wrote in message

...

Anyone have any experience with AO Smith, G.E., or Whirlpool natural

gas

water heaters?
I have a 14 year-old AO Smith 40 Gal looking to replace before it

dies.

Thanks!

I looked at the Aquastar 125 and 240 a few years ago, but the flow rate
was too low for my house. If you are considering a tankless for a
whole house, look at the gas requirements, flow rate and how it
regulates temperature. Also, they work much better if you have a
recirculation pump.

I have been using a Takagi tankless for a couple of years and it has
been terrific. My inlet water temperature in a cold winter is about
49F and it raises it to 117F with about a 4.2g flow rate. In the
summer I get about 6g flow rate.

My rationale for the heater was endless hot water and efficiency (85%).
A high efficient traditional water heater will give you equal savings
without the endless water.

Regards,
John