Water heaters

[toggleswitch]

I am getting the ungrateful itch to build another house... Oh no...

Impulse control, dahlink, Impulse control!
Quick get some Vagisil! (ducks and runs)

OOOOH thank you for the priceless information! Direct-fired Stainless Steel gas hot water heaters are a new one on me!

Bad thing is- doesn't work in a blackout.

 

[exploder3211]

LOL.. I really enjoyed doing the last one even though it was worse than a 3 month infection. I am enjoying this water heater info.. just always thought of them as a very mundane item

 

[toggleswitch]

~If you have an electric water heater, and your bill suddenly goes up, it may be that one of your elements has failed, which has made the other one kick into overdrive.

Also It is my understanding that the upper element should be set 20*F +/- LESS than the lower element. [Frequently they are set at the same temperature, in error.]

The upper element works (when hot water is running out) to quickly heat the upper third of the tank, near the hot water outlet. Once the upper thermostat is satisfied, the lower element is energized. The lower element heats the entire tank by natural convection.

 

[DADoES]

Late addition to this thread, and I hesitate to reply at all ... but ...

The local electric cooperative sells Marathon. I have not priced them but I understand they're on the expensive side.

My grandmother has a 30-gallon electric tank. Dad & I replaced it on Memorial Day. The lower element had gone out, which she didn't even know. I discovered it when attempting to fill the GWL08 with to high water level with hot water and it started beeping an error code. Local home supply had a 15% sale, which was timely.

Tankless typically does not need a pressure relief as there is no tank to become pressurized. Mine has a non-resettable thermal fuse for overheat protection, along with an cut-out thermostat for "normal" limiting.

panthera, a 70 amp circuit will handle only a small electric tankless, which may or may not be sufficient capacity depending on input water temp, desired output temp, and flow-rate. Higher-capacity units may require THREE input circuits (although not 3-phase) and 120 amps total or more.

 

[panthera]

hi Glenn,

Glad to see you're back among the living. Or what passes for such around here.
My thought was to hook up the "cold" water inlet to the "hot" water supply line which is, as I wrote, 30 feet or so from the hot water tank.
Since the dishwashers and washer fill by volume not time or flow rate, it wouldn't be all that important whether they were getting a strong flow or just a little stream.
And, should someone decide to run three or all four at once (possible, in my family it is standard to do exactly the opposite of what I request just to "prove" to me that I am an unwelcome idiot who doesn't know jack) then those 30 feet of "cooled" hot water would be cleared out of the system right quick and the load would be determined by only raising the water 30°F or so.
My tankless electric heater fills the bathtup very fast and runs at, oh, hell, 3-phase, never mind, must never mind.
Thanks again to all for the advice and help.
panthera