Home Water Heater - Mine fail fast!

[Hirschkopf]

After returning to AZ from my OK deer hunt, a week from today, I’ll need to have my home’s electric hot water heater (HWH) replaced. When we moved to AZ in 2009, the house we selected had an 80-gallon HWH. Strangely, we’ve had to replace one about every three years. I’ve learned to drain them yearly, and taught myself to replace elements if needed. About 6 years ago there was a law-driven shift in the industry that a residential HWH could not be over 65 gallons (IIRC) or it needed to be a heat-pump electric hybrid. At the time I did not think the space it was installed in would work with a heat pump, so I was faced with either going smaller or having a “commercial” heater installed. Since I have a wife, and three kids (now teenagers), I figured it risky to decrease capacity. Thus, I used a family-owned plumbing company that only installs water heaters (1.1 million since 1968), and we decided to go with an AO Smith light duty commercial. That one lasted three-ish years and was replaced under warranty with the onset of rusty-looking water followed by leaking into the pan occurred. Two years later the replacement (out of warranty) is doing the same thing.

I have a 4 December appointment to see if they think a heat-pump HWH will work for me. I sure don’t want the very same AO Simith commercial one again. I think our area has good water. The home’s hot water system includes an expansion tank and a recircultion system. The amount of yearly sediment is not “epic”, so I don’t know why my luck with HWH is soooo bad.

I’ll likely go with what the “Water Heaters Only, Inc” folks say, but figured I put this out in case any of ya’ll are plumbing experts.

Thanks!

 

[xseler]

You might look into the addition of a whole house water softner to stretch the working life of the heaters. A softner could possibly double the life of the water heaters you choose to use.

Good luck!

.

 

[sushi & pistols]

I live and own a Remodeling Business in Oklahoma and have found in my tenure that electric water heaters tend to last about three weeks longer than the five year warranty. I have replaced MANY in my 40 years and while this three weeks longer than warranty is a joke unfortunately its usually not.

 

[Hirschkopf]

You might look into the addition of a whole house water softner to stretch the working life of the heaters. A softner could possibly double the life of the water heaters you choose to use.

Good luck!

.

Good point! I should have mentioned we do have a whole house water softener (Kinetico); maybe I should have it’s function tested again.

 

[jakeman]

Good point! I should have mentioned we do have a whole house water softener (Kinetico); maybe I should have it’s function tested again.

Pull some water and take it to your softener guy and have it tested. Your softener can be functioning correctly, but if your not getting a big enough dose or often enough it doesn’t matter.

How much salt are you using? My well is as hard as granite. I go thru 3 bags a month and there are only 2 adults living here.

My appliance’s life span has tripled since I had the softener installed.

 

[cowadle]

My childhood home was 8 people and a 20 gallon hot water heater. They lasted about 20 years. There is an anode that you can replace that might help them last a bit longer.

 

[Hirschkopf]

Pull some water and take it to your softener guy and have it tested. Your softener can be functioning correctly, but if your not getting a big enough dose or often enough it doesn’t matter.

How much salt are you using? My well is as hard as granite. I go thru 3 bags a month and there are only 2 adults living here.

My appliance’s life span has tripled since I had the softener installed.

Thanks, Jakeman. I probably go through about two bags per month. I check and put two bags in as needed. Will check with the Kinetico dealer about bringing a sample to them. The last time it was tested was while installing a new drinking water filter system for the “candy cane” kitchen dispenser.

 

[Hirschkopf]

My childhood home was 8 people and a 20 gallon hot water heater. They lasted about 20 years. There is an anode that you can replace that might help them last a bit longer.

Thanks cowadle; I’ve studied on the anode replacement before. I figured I’ll do that about every five years or so, but none have made it that long. And, I think the main issue is that things just are not made as well as they used to be.

 

[cowadle]

Thanks cowdle; I’ve studied on the anode replacement before. I figured I’ll do that about every five years or so, but none have made it that long. And, I think the main issue is that things just are not made as well as they used to be.

The anode is a sacrifice. The corrosion attack it instead of your tank and elements. Change as needed. Consider a tankless water heater?

 

[TerryMiller]

While it isn't on the same scale as a home HWH, our RV has a 12 gallon that can be heated by electric or gas. For the most part, we heat the water on electric unless we have just returned from our Summer jobs and are turning the hot water heater back on, and in that case, I will turn both electric and gas heat on to speed up the process.

RV HWH's have an anode rod as well. I try to change that about every 2 years at the most, and we've been on this original HWH now for 12 years of living full time in the RV.

(Now, I've probably jinxed myself by bragging on the HWH.)