Water Heater

Dvanderbilt

My father is remodeling and he has to get rid of a two year old 75 gal. hot water heater in his apartment building. He offered it to me but I'm not sure if I should take it. I have a two story 3 bedroom home for just my wife and I. We have a 25 gal. currently which is copper and VERY old. It will probably fail this year because it is already seeping underneath. We only run out of hot water if we have guests over and everyone showers right after each other. My question is, would I be better off buying a new 50 gal. tank than taking a free almost new 75 gal. tank? I wonder how long it would take for the dollars to heat the 75 gal. to catch up with the cost of a new 50 gal. tank, seeing though I heat with gas. What would you do? Thanks - Dave.

Brad White_9

The biggest energy cost

is not in the tank but the amount of cold water you put through it. Depending on the tank insulation thickness (and you can add a blanket by the way), the standby losses between a 50 and 75 gallon tank are not appreciable. Weigh this against the cost you are saving from buying the new heater ($300?) and your summer gas bill now. If your summer bill is in the $25-30 range, might it go up a few bucks? Maybe. Marginal would be my guess.

Just a rough guess but your standby losses compared to what you are saving on a new heater will be minimal. I would take the heater. And sell the old one for scrap. You may be surprised what you might get for the copper. Hold out for a spike in the market if you like.

My $0.02,

Brad

Larry Weingarten

I'd start...

...by looking at your hot water demand and current heater firing rate and size. It may be that a forty gallon heater is enough bigger to meet your demand. Forty's usually cost a lot less than fifties too. Look at the floor space that each heater will require. Think about periods of low demand. Odor can be a problem in tank type heaters when demand is low. The bigger the tank, the more of a problem odor can be. Look at energy factor for each heater. It basically is the percent efficiency of the heater. The bigger the tank, the less efficient, due to greater standby loss. I'd consider as small a heater as you can live with, with really good insulation as the goal.

Yours, Larry

Brad White_9

Dave-

> ...by looking at your hot water demand and

> current heater firing rate and size. It may be

> that a forty gallon heater is enough bigger to

> meet your demand. Forty's usually cost a lot less

> than fifties too. Look at the floor space that

> each heater will require. Think about periods of

> low demand. Odor can be a problem in tank type

> heaters when demand is low. The bigger the tank,

> the more of a problem odor can be. Look at energy

> factor for each heater. It basically is the

> percent efficiency of the heater. The bigger the

> tank, the less efficient, due to greater standby

> loss. I'd consider as small a heater as you can

> live with, with really good insulation as the

> goal.

>

> Yours, Larry

Brad White_9

Dave, Larry and his wife Suzanne wrote The Book

on Water Heaters. I would take his advice to heart too. Just the cost of "free" can leverage other costs too was my point.

Larry and Suzanne's book is available under "Shop for Books and More" on this site.

Larry is much too modest to suggest that you buy his book, but I did and recommend it.

Brad

Dvanderbilt

Thanks

Thank you both for your info. I will look into that book. The more I think about it, it is a free heater and I can always replace it if my bills skyrocket or I get an odor. - Dave