D.W. WHITEHEAD

Powerguy

There was a discussion back 18 years ago (2004) about DW WHITEHEAD water heaters. I found it through google when I had issues with my water heater.  Someone had met the owners daughter , who at the time had to be in her later years.  That was and is still the only hit I could find on google about my water heater. Well I wanted to share since many were intrigued about it. I still have one in use. If anyone has any literature on it I would love to get at least a copy/pdf of it.  Any other info on these bad boys other than I believe it is from 1947?  The only parts I could find were on ebay and it was just the Decal for 75 bucks!!!  Picture attached, works like a charm!!!

EBEBRATT-Ed

Probably made by Vaughn. I have a similar water heater made by Vaughn same color and everything. Probably relabeled by DW Whitehead. Very common around here. The electric utility's around here used to install them as rental water heaters. They are stone lined and weigh a ton but they do last a long time.

Powerguy

I reached out to Vaughn tonight via their website. I probably jinxed myself by taking the picture 

kcopp

I have a customer hat has a 60 gallon Vaughn that was installed in 1973. Still running just fine. Its in a tennis club so the use is a bit on the lower side vs. a regular household.
Crazy heavy...

EBEBRATT-Ed

@kcopp

I have an 80 gallon stone lined Vaughn in my condo. How they got it down where it is I will never know. We could easily get by with a 40 gallon, everything here is electric.

Gonna have to cut it up when the time comes

Larry Weingarten

Hi, Now I'm wondering if there was more than one Whitehead making water heaters. Here's a tag from a Whitehead Monel tank, probably from the 1950s.

Yours, Larry

EBEBRATT-Ed

@Larry Weingarten

Do you know if Whitehead mad their own tanks or were they relabled Vaughn's??

Larry Weingarten

Hi @EBEBRATT-Ed , Before now I didn't know Whitehead had a stone-lined tank. All I had seen or read about was the Monel tank. But, we may be talking about two different Whiteheads. D W Whitehead is a new name to me. The General Society has the file on Whitehead that I had collected. Maybe someone there can have a look to see if there is any useful information?

Yours, Larry

marvin9679

I don't mean to interrupt the thread but I was just doing a search on my hot water heater that's finally about to bite the big one. It's a DW White and the last owners are the ones that built the house in 1936 and their kids said they installed it in here in the '40s and I have no idea what I'm dealing with.

mattmia2

The one in the picture at the top is probably 70's or later with the vinyl romex and the Phillips screws.

Mad Dog_2

Monel...that was very popular at one time . Mad Dog 🐕 

Powerguy

Well its time to pass onto the afterlife for this one.

mattmia2

I want to know what happened to that pad.

Larry Weingarten

Hi, Could you find any sort of date on the tank? Curious to know how long it lasted. 🤔 Also, did you remove the upper hatch? Very slim chance it's just a leak where the element connects 😏

Yours, Larry

EBEBRATT-Ed

I suspect that tank is made by Vaughn. It is Identical to a Vaughn in every respect. The piping connections are in the same place.

You will need some muscles to remove that. Stone lined is heavy. @Larry Weingarten Mine was 20 years old and still ok. I mostly ditched it beacause at my age I didn't want to deal with it in the future and 80 gallon was way oversized for 2 people. 350lb up a flight of narrow stairs isn't fun.

Larry Weingarten

Hi @EBEBRATT-Ed , Yup, I've moved them and it isn't fun. These aren't very common in the West.
Yours, Larry