Water Heater Question

[whirlcool]

We have had good luck with Rheem and Bryant hot water tanks. I even once saw Maytag hot water tanks at Lowes a few years ago.
I have also heart that A.O. Smith makes a good one. We had a Sears tank in one house, and it seemed to supply hot water unevenly. You'd get in the shower and the water temp on the hot side would fluctuate slightly during your shower.
Also, draining about 5 gallons out of your tank on a monthly basis sure does extend the life of the tank!

 

[sudsmaster]

I second the advice to insulate the hot water lines. AFter I did that, the hot water seems to get hotter sooner, and of course it stays hot at the tap longer between uses. This means the water heater has to work less to provide hot water to the taps during intermittant use.

Regarding the blanket... if the mfg says don't add one, then I wouldn't. 2 inches should be enough for significant savings anyway.

 

[rp2813]

Blanket

No, not Jacko's unfortunate kid--the fiberglass kind . . .

I did the feel test and sure enough, I couldn't find much difference between the side of the dryer (which hadn't been running) or the side of the water heater. I'm thinking the 2" of insulation that's built into the heater is doing the job fine.

I can see where insulating the pipes would be a good thing if there was a demand being made for hot water at frequent intervals but that's generally not the case in my household. The only time that would occur is when the dishwasher is running and it's not that far from the heater. The owner's manual that came with the heater mentioned something about "stacking" which occurs when there are frequent demands for like 3 gallons of hot water over short intervals. I've never heard of "stacking" before but apparently it can throw things off kilter a bit with water temperatures. I did notice with the old water heater that when the dishwasher was running, the hot water coming from the tap was hotter than normal. I suppose this has something to do with "stacking" and isn't uncommon.