Another water heater failure! 6 years

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askolover

askolover

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The gas water heater that was in this house when I bought it lasted around 20 years. The next one GE Smartwater (made by Rheem) lasted 10 years. The next one (Rheem) had a 6 year warranty and lasted 6 years 2 months. All of these had tank failure. I spent another $130 and got one with 9 year warranty. Same brand from HD...Rheem. I have no complaints about the performance. They've all given me wonderful hot water. I know it's the water softener causing the tanks to fail. I don't want to void my warranty on this one but in a couple of years I'm going to install one of those powered anodes and give it a try. I already have one that I was going to install in the just replaced water heater but it conked out before I could get to it. Today I'm going to pull the anode out of the old one and see just how much is left. All total for new heater and some misc fittings and a new gas connector was $818.99 with the heater being $709 itself. I started to change to AO Smith from Lowes since my parents first gas water heater was that brand, installed in 1989, and lasted almost 30 years! But they don't have a softener. I've seen a few videos of AO Smith water heaters not firing due to the air intake under the bottom getting clogged with lint and dust and must have the burner removed and then be blown out with compressed air. I have 4 cats and the heater is in the closet beside my washer so it's not easy to get to. The Rheem's have air intakes around the sides at the bottom and also have a filter inside. I can take the long wands of my Kirby and reach back there to vacuum the side holes easier than the bottom of an AO Smith. Bradford Whites are supposed to be the Cadillac of water heaters, or so I've read, but they have to be professionally installed. I'm not paying someone to do something I can do myself easily.

Funny, I've been "watching" the drain pan lately. There was no water in it last week. Today it was half full. So off I went to HD. Now it's installed and already hot. This 9 year model has a more powerful burner. I sure wish I could get one of those Monel heaters from way back when. It would last forever.

Rant over.
 
"I sure wish I could get one of those Monel heaters from way back when. It would last forever."

I'd love to find an NOS one, truly a "Buy It For Life" purchase.
 
A.O. Smith....

.....is what my plumber always installs. I find that they last just about as long as the warranty does.
I have softened water and did not know that contributes to tank failure.
My water heater is in the garage and I have never had to clean the intake filter or experienced failure to fire.
My plumber tells me that the water heaters are all built the same - all one is paying additional money for is the length of the warranty.
 
A house I had built in 1983 had an A O Smith, but thats back when they were made in the USA, not Mexico. It was still working when I moved out in 2000. I had a water softener from the day I moved in, as the water was 21 grains hard. That didn't seem to shorten the life obviously. Bradford White seems to be a preferred brand by plumbers, and made in USA. They can be purchased from some plumbing supply businesses and self-installed. A coworker did just that this year at his house.
 
Our first water heater

When I moved here the water heater was a 1959 Sears Gas. I installed a new Kenmore 12 year warranty electric unit in 2003, the Sears was still working. 44 years. I wanted electric for two reasons. It is in my garage and a new installation requires 18" above the slab. Not enough room. Also in 2003 it looked like gas prices were rising. New installations here in Calif. require a permit. I did not get one and did the installation myself. To do it correctly is over $1000. Maybe next time I will get the Heat Pump unit with giant rebates. No softener here although the pipes are there and used to be one before me.
 
Water Softener

 

<span style="font-family: helvetica;">What is the issue with having a water softener?  Two years ago we replaced a 20 year old water heater.  The insurance company installed one that says a Rheem Professional.  In this house the water is softened before the water heater.</span>
 
What is the issue with having a water softener?

They eat up the anode rods but if they're regularly checked and replaced, it's not an issue.
 
Anode rods

Overly soft water is corrosive (wh anode rod). The trick is to have softner set just to the point of occasional spots on glasses from the dishwasher (w/o using rinse aid). This also prevents glass etching from progressing.

I had a brand new wh leak in about a year, of course warranty picked up but still had labor to pay.

When my last wh blew, was just about to bed but took some leftovers to place in the freezer doenstairs - thankfully the wh had just started spraying within itself. Only had about 2 full shop vacs to dump.
 
The water heater (30 gal) in this house is about 40 years old. I replaced the anode rod about five years ago. It was about 50% gone.

 

The water here is naturally reasonably soft (sierra mountain water) so no softener is needed.

 

The heater does tend to bump and grind while heating, which I assume is from debris at the bottom of the tank. But, no leaks. I drained it about five years ago, some debris. I guess they don't make them like that any more.

 

I have a spare 20 gallon heater just in case. A neighbor was selling his house and the realtor made him replace the water heater he'd installed about 7 years earlier. I've never hooked it up but I figure it would be fine in an emergency. I might scout around for a replacement 30 gallon before the California ban on gas powered heaters takes effect.
 
Does anyone have any experience with heat pump water heaters? We just bought a condo in Palm Springs, CA with a 27 year old gas w/h on a riser in the garage (next to the washer/dryer). We could replace like-for-like, but I'm curious about using a heat pump w/h. Never had the guts to in Michigan (too cold tap water to be reasonable and don't need more cold in the basement), but the desert is a different story...warmer tap water, less need for temperature rise, seasonal use, etc.
 
I've had a GE heat pump WH in a second home for about 10 years. Very happy with it, no trouble so far. Cost $100 bucks or so after rebates and tax credits. Very cold town water,  and a cool basement besides, so recovery is slow but ok. In my basement location it does double duty, replacing a dehumidifier. Too bad you'll lose that advantage in a garage location, but still considerably less to run than a standard electric.

 

What's the consensus on anodes in naturally soft water? Is it worth the hassle of replacing it? A guess on how often might be worthwhile? Same advice for gas or electric?
 
Well, as far as anode rods go, if you're handy and have a very big wrench, it shouldn't be too difficult to pull the anode rod yourself. I recommend getting a spare in advance just in case.

 

If more than 50% of the original is gone, I'd recommend replacing it.

 

Make sure the water heater is braced well before wrenching on it. The last thing you want is for the water and gas connections to be damaged.
 
Greg, you ever thought about a Gas tank-less? That's what Dad  put in at the farm and its wonderful.Water heaters don't last at the farm because, the well water has sooo much mineral content  in it.Its very clean water but, very different water almost tastes carbonated.

My Dad got a Rinnai , I don't know much about them save for knowing I want one but I don't have gas at my place.  I am getting a Tank-less electric when mine goes. There is only one size electric tank that fits in my place a Bosch 38 gallon  and there $$$$ as hell.
 
 
Tankless gas requires a large incoming gas line, a typical whole-house unit has a 200,000 BTU burner.

Tankless electric likewise requires a large circuit, mine is on 120 amps ... 60 amp breaker x 2.

So, replacing a tank with tankless typically requires other infrastructure upgrades, it isn't a simple, direct swap-out.
 
The only positive of water heaters lasting 7-10 years is the sediment build up in some installations ruins usefulness of the water heater. If you ever watch videos of water heater grinded open, some worse case scenarios have the tank literally half full of scale or sediment.

 
@dadoes: Yup, and typically the power company wants to know about it. Most pole transformers are already maximized (overloaded) taking advantage of the thermal inertia of the oil. 100 extra amps on a pole pig already being driven at 200-300% during peak periods can simply pop it.

Truth be, tankless water heaters aren't for everyone. I've heard of many cases where due to the unlimited hot water people take longer and longer showers which off set the savings. A long hot shower with music is very therapeutic from personal experience lol, some only realize this when the hot water never runs out.

Also- if you loose power during a shower goodbye hot water. You don't have any way to finish up as you would with tanked heater. Even a sub second voltage dip from the utility could leave you without hot water for up to several minutes.

Stick with a tank, IMO its the best overall.
 
Tankless water heaters are not maintenance free....https://www.waterheaterrescue.com/water-heaters-101/tankless-water-heaters.html
My neighbor from Germany got one several years ago....she hated it and went back to a tank.
Today I took my impact wrench and pulled the anode....it was gone! I don't know how often it needs to be checked. I've been thinking about turning the water softener back a little. It's on standard settings and only runs every 12 days for two people.
 
"Today I took my impact wrench and pulled the anode....it was gone!"

How old is your water heater?
 
 
I've had no problems with power regards to the electric tankless in the nearly 18 years here.  The house was built with it.  The pole-drop transformer serves me and one neighbor.  I can't recall an instance of a power glitch during a shower.  The Feb 2021 ice storm doesn't count.  Power didn't fail except for the out-periods during the couple days of controlled rolling outages and I could have showered during the on-periods ... but I had no need to take a shower during the few days of that weather.  There are days when I don't use any hot water so it doesn't exist within the structure of my house on those days, no power is expended to create it.

Coincidentally, I checked the stats on the tankless during a shower a few days ago.  1.7 GPM flow, 101°F setpoint, running 22% of maximum heating capacity.
 
Water heater life etc.

Having a water softener should not shorten the life of the water heater, in fact especially on a gas when it should greatly lengthen the life of it by not allowing heavy mineral buildup in the bottom of the tank.

Hi Greg, since you got such a short life out of the last water heater it would probably pay to check that anode in three or four years and replace it if it has significantly worn away.

A gas water heater that rumbles and sounds like an old tea kettle when it’s heating should be replaced it’s going to fail fairly soon it’s all so much less efficient in operation.

The hotter you run a gas water heater the shorter time it will last, ideally should not run it over 120°, anything over 140° for a home water heater system it’s just ridiculous it ruins everything in the house from hoses to the appliances etc. to say nothing of the severe scald danger to somebody just washing their hands even.

John L
 
The first water heater in this house was just a coil in the oil fired boiler used for hydronic space heating. There was a small, maybe 30 gallon, storage tank. My parents found it to be impractical, so a couple years after moving in it was replaced by an 80 gallon Rheem electric heater (1960). This tank lasted until sometime in the mid to late 80's. It was replaced by a 52 gallon A.O. Smith, which was in place until construction began for a renovation in 2006. After that phase of the renovation was complete, a 52 gallon Rheem was installed. I have found it to be suitable. The plumber installed a circulating pump, as the new (unfinished) kitchen area is a long way from the heater, but I haven't hooked it up yet. I considered electric tankless, as the house has a 300 amp service. If the tank fails, I might change to that; probably one for the baths, and another for the laundry and kitchen.
 
We have lived here since the house was built in 1968 and we are on our 5th water heater.  4 of the 5 have been Ruud.  One of the Ruud lasted 18 years.  We had one Bradford-white and it lasted 8 years.  We did have expansion tank installed about 10 years ago.  We have gas hot water and our current is a 40 gallon Ruud installed in 2016 🫣
 
@Dodes: Because your home was built with it, the power company has already done the math restricting your transformer down to two homes vs the typical 5-7.

I guess people with very reliable power can live with the probability, but me personally I'd hate for a car to hit a pole while I'm in the middle of a soapy shower.
 
I'll try to snap a pic of the anode today since the old tank is still at the curb awaiting the city to pick it up. The impact wrench was very loud but it made easy work of getting it out of an empty tank that would otherwise have just spun around while I was using a breaker bar.
I have one of these to install in a year or so
https://www.corroprotec.com/powered-anode-rod/
Recommended on water softener sites.
 
 
ChetLaham, the subdivision is outside the city limits, no city water/sewer, no natural gas service.  My neighbor's house was one of the first two in the subdivision in 1982.  My house was built in 2003/4 (I bought it in 2005), among the last three of the twelve total.  I'm sure the transformer was changed at that time being that his house was the only one on the transformer on that pole for the previous 21 years.  My lot at a front corner wasn't developed until the house was built and isn't part of the original land plat of the subdivision.

All electric cooperatives in TX except one (which is not the one here) opted-out of the open retail market when that was established by deregulation.  The local cooperative owns their transmission lines so no other retailer can supply power through those lines.  There are a few areas around town that are dual-certified with two sets of transmission lines.  Residents/businesses within the coop's single-certified areas have no choice for electric retailer unless they can convince another line provider/retailer to build service lines to the location.  Mr. Neighbor worked for the coop for 44 years, ending as Manager of Engineering.

dadoes-2022112009255702580_1.jpg
 

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