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Anonymous01/24/26, 15:33No.2972707Water Heater Thread
Lets talk water heaters.
My house still has its original 40 gallon, its 22 years old.
Ive replaced its rod, and I flush it twice a year.
I still cant get all the sediment out of it.
Should I replace it with a modern, more efficient model, and get 72 gallon?
I live with my fiance, no plans for kids, 3 bedroom/4 full bath house.
Right now we completely run out of hot water trying to fill a standard size bathtub to take a bath in.
Are electric tanks a good alternative to gas?
I am considering buying a tankless water heater for unlimited hot water.
What are its downfalls? besides taking longer to get water and having to clean it annually?
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Replies
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Anon01/24/26, 17:12No.2972720
>My house still has its original 40 gallon, its 22 years old.
I've never had one last longer than 12 years.
>Right now we completely run out of hot water trying to fill a standard size bathtub to take a bath in.
enjoy you sphincter water.
>Are electric tanks a good alternative to gas?
>I am considering buying a tankless water heater for unlimited hot water.
>What are its downfalls? besides taking longer to get water and having to clean it annually?
you will need something like 60 or 80 amp wiring for one unless you have gas.
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Anon01/24/26, 20:22No.2972753
tankless on gas are pure kino. you can get a halo ion from a plumbing supply store for like ~200$ that you put inline to it and you'll never really need to flush it. they have a whole house unit that is like twice the price.electric tankless you often need a panel upgrade, and even if not need to put in electrical service upgrades. they're also very expensive to run off electric rates, but you get unlimited hot water. unless you try to use one of the rheem point of use heaters, you'll regret it. a shower/tub needs like 3gpm to be reliably heated.electric tanks are fairly efficient, running cost on average is ~40$/mo
bigger the better imo.
all the new ones fail because of cheap anode rods, i highly suggest investing in an electric anode rod. they're sold at home depot and lowes online for ~$150. it'll take your heater way beyond expected life.if you have natural gas though I'd stick with it, hard to beat it's cost effectiveness.the rheem marathon is also a good product if you can get one that isn't a dud, they are the majority of the time.
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Anon01/25/26, 02:05No.2972803
the water heater in my parents' house is over 20 years old, and has never been flushed or had the rode changed. miraculous that it's lasted so long but I have noticed I run out of hot water if I shower too long whenever I'm visiting.
I'll probably push them to go tankless since their house is older and has gas service.
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Anon01/25/26, 03:22No.2972811
I just purchased a home with a 20 year old water heater. Hot water smelled like rotten eggs so prior to moving in, decided I would change the tank. The old one had probably 10 gallons worth of scale/cum/glass in the bottom. Got an equivalent size, same fuel (gas) water heater at Menards. Replaced the drain with a ball valve that is threaded for a garden hose for easy draining and maintenance. The old tank was virtually undrainable because of the scale clogging the drain. The ball valve will remove that problem. Also replaced the anode rod with an electric. No smell, forever, and should have less corrosion. Expect this tank to last me until the late 2040s.
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Anon01/25/26, 04:58No.2972816
I bought a cheap Eccotemp tankless natural gas, even cheaper because I bought it opened/scratched & dented directly from them. Worked great the first 2 years, then it started giving the same error code about bad ventilation. I fixed it recently, the contacts on the thermostat rusted and was sending inaccurate temps to the control board.Intake air and water temps determine the upperlimit on how much and how hot water it can deliver. I have to shower with lower pressure/flow when the weather is really cold because it'll throw out the same ventilation error code.Condensing tankless water heaters use exhaust gases to preheat the intake water, so they're less sensitive to cold weather. But it causes the water vapor in the exhaust to condense, hence the name. So you have to add extra plumbing for them to drain the condensate.>Are electric tanks a good alternative to gas?
No. Even if you upgrade your electrical panel, it can still cause your lights to flicker and damage electronics whenever it's turned on.>having to clean it annually
Depends on your water quality and how much hot water your household uses.
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Anon01/26/26, 19:11No.2973066
we have an 80 gallon heat pump water heater from Rheem. it made it through "snowmageddon" with no issues. it is in heat-pump only mode & provided us with the "normal" amount of hot water it always does. it draws 400-800w when running. daytime setpoint is 50° overnight we have it set to drop to 43°.it has not been totally flawless: twice it threw codes and switched to resistance element because I forgot to clean the filter... that's on me. cleaned, reinstalled, problem solved. it did have an evap coil thermistor that failed after 2 years of service. the part was covered under warranty, no cost to me. it took me 10 min to install.I am overall very satisfied with it. it has saved us hundreds of dollars over 2.5 years of operation. it will cover 100% of purchase cost after 6 years of service.
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Anon01/26/26, 22:16No.2973081
can you turn the heat up so you use less hot water?
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Anon01/26/26, 22:41No.2973086
Bro get rid of it we don't even work on a 10y old hwh, just replace it.
And yes big box Rheems are shit so find a supply house who will sell to you and gwt a commercial rheem, ao smith, or bradford
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Anon01/27/26, 19:23No.2973185
I had an electric tankless when I lived in a condo high rise without gas service. My panel had space but I had to upgrade with wiring to the unit, which was almost as expensive as the heater itself. For tankless, gas or electric, it's a game of temperature delta and flow quantity. In the winter when the water coming in is colder, you'll be unable to have as many hot water uses happening simultaneously as you do in the summer. Depending on the unit size, during the summer you might both be able to take showers in different parts of the house with the dishwasher running. During the winter, you might only be able to do one of those at a time. Otherwise you get lukewarm or even cold water.
For my condo it was a good solution as it freed up a large amount of closet space and it was just me living there, so the only time water temperature was ever a problem was in the coldest days of winter. I wouldn't go with an electric tankless unit in a house, especially with multiple people living there.
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Anon01/29/26, 01:26No.2973420
tankless.
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Anon01/31/26, 17:06No.2973880
Mine is going out, so I've been slowly piecing together a build to spread out the costs. Going to buy an electric anode rod next, and a brass drain valve. For the heater I'll probably just buy an AO Smith or Rheem
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Anon01/31/26, 23:47No.2973985
Can an ambitious DIYer change out a hot water tank himself, or should I leave it to the pros?
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Anon02/01/26, 18:42No.2974102
Is Rheem actually that bad? Feels like Rheem is all they sell around here, I want one of the fancy heat pump ones but it will be tough to get anything but Rheem.
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Anon02/01/26, 20:38No.2974125
I got a 2 story house, well water, whole house filter, 50psi pressure tank, water softener and iron filter.
my water pressure slowly tappers off and then picks up again.
my pressure tank is holding 50psi fine, ive flushed it many times, it fills up very fast via the well pump.
whole house filter is half dirty, i flipped it.
im not sure why my water pressure tapers off like that.how can i improve water pressure in my home?
i want ot go tankless but trying to take two showers at the same time kills off the water pressure too muchim also looking for a new water heater. are all modern heaters made to last their warranty +1 day?
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Anon02/05/26, 10:28No.2974786
>replaced its rod
is it true that you only need to do this in certain areas? I got my hot water heater in like 2020 and so far I've done nothing at all to it
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Anon02/09/26, 13:33No.2975478
I thought this was /diy/. You fags actually buy your water heaters instead of making one with nuts n bolts and bottles? Phonies.
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Anon02/11/26, 23:10No.2975948
Have you changed the thermostats and heating elements (assuming electric)? 40gal with a good hot temp should give you a full warm bath even if there’s some sediment in it.I thought about tankless too but I have heard a lot of negatives. You will need to add circuit breakers, and depending where you live and how cold your tap water is, the results vary.
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Anon02/23/26, 15:54No.2978073
Can I get more info on commercial water heaters, and where to buy them.
are they generally 120v or 220/440v?
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Anon02/27/26, 19:19No.2978743
I've got a 6 year old water heater and I'm trying to replace the anode rod but I can't unthread it. I've had my dad hold down the heater while I winge on it with a 4 foot long breaker bar, tried having him hit the socket with a mallet while I do it, tried hitting the end of the breaker bar with the mallet to act as a manual impact wrench, nothing worked. I'm afraid of using an actual impact wrench on it incase I fuck up the bolt or the heater itself, is there anything else I can do?
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Anon03/03/26, 06:46No.2979322
I bought a house with a 10 year old electric tank water heater. When it finally goes, should I consider a gas one? I have a gas boiler right next to it. Should I just stick with the electric set up?