We've had intermittent problems with hot water this evening in ways that we never have before. It seems like the hot water is back, but I'm worried. I checked and it is 14 years old. Life expectancy is said to be 8-12 years, so... -_-

I will call our plumber tomorrow, but does anyone have any advice? It will have to be electric (we don't have gas running to our house), but beyond that, I know zero about water heaters.

Are tankless more efficient, both in terms of electricity and water usage?

Are there other things I should consider? Any brands to avoid?

can I come to your house to take a shower for the next few weeks?

Water heaters die by developing leaks. Everything else is generally repairable.

No fear!

You probably just need a new heating element. An easy fix.

Seems they are designed to crap out just after the warranty expires. Our most recent one luckily crapped out just before, and we got a new free one.

Yes, you can come shower here.

Thanks for the comments everyone!

quote:

Water heaters die by developing leaks.

Right, so if that was the problem, we would expect to see water somewhere, right?

Fortunately we can see all the way around the whole unit, and we don’t see any water. So that’s good at least.

As piqué said, maybe it’s a heating element, which would be good! If we can get even another year or two out of it, then we can save up for something better and more efficient. But if we have to replace it now, I think we’ll be going with the same thing (electric water heater w/ tank) because of price...

Pros and cons: https://ygrene.com/blog/tankle...ers-10-pros-and-cons

Consider what your demand for use is. I don't know how well they keep up if you have high demand needs.

The temperature of the groundwater is one consideration. The colder the groundwater, the heavier duty a unit that you need. Up here where it gets pretty cold it means the water coming into the unit is correspondingly cold and it takes a lot of energy to bring it up to the temp you want for your hot water. Chart:

https://www.eztankless.com/res...-temperature-charts/

I think Bernard looked into it, and the power requirements for a unit suited to his area would have required electrical work to accommodate a tankless unit and he ended up going with a conventional unit. Plus he lives in a place where winters are cold.

If you end up replacing your tank with another tank, it's not a bad idea to put a drain pan under it and run a PVC pipe to a drain, assuming you have one nearby. Then 15 years later, any leaks will harmlessly drain out without flooding the floor. Very cheap insurance.

We decided a tankless unit isn't worth it. It's more expensive up front and if it has a problem, it's more expensive to fix than a regular tank. In our area, the winter groundwater temps are pretty cold. Plus we're a low demand household anyway, so the payback just isn't there.

YMMV.

Tankless units, especially electric tankless units, are not worth the extra cost and are in may ways inferior to their tank-type counterparts.

* Even a smallish electric unit is likely to require an electric service upgrade - a cost which you will never recover in energy savings.

* The controls they use are expensive and not particularly reliable.

*They require a regular flushing and cleaning service that will cost more than the power they save in most areas.

WYG, Steve!!! Wow I had no idea!!!! Thanks for this important info.

Ok then, we will most likely not consider a tankless unit then.

Also, this morning, had zero problems w/ hot water, so we’re not sure what to do. Maybe we’ll watch and wait and plan to replace this summer...

Oh re usage, most of the time it’s just the two of us, so not much usage. But Mr. SK likes to draw a bath and so when he does then there’s atore usage. That’s was what happened yesterday.

Do you have hard water where you live? If so, mineral buildup can fill the tank, making your storage capacity smaller and smaller. Minerals also corrode the heating element. You can fix these things by draining the tank and replacing the element. When we first moved into our current house, the electric water heater had these issues. Drain, replace element, refill, and we've had no more issues for over two years now. We had a plumber do it, but now that I understand the problem, this is an easy DIY. Hook a hose up to the tank and let it drain outside. Unscrew the elements to examine them, replace with new ones if necessary.

What pique said. Arizona (at least where I've lived) has very hard water. We emptied and refilled the water heater 2x/year, and even so the general belief was that around 5 years was the maximum life of a standard hot water heater. That was pretty much what I experienced.

I've had a tankless water heater for about ten years now. It has both pros and cons, but overall I like it.

Pro:
1) unlimited hot water. As long as you run the tap, it will generate hot water.
2) much lower energy costs, since you're not paying to keep a tank of hot water hot at all times
3) small--you can install it almost anywhere
4) doesn't leak unless the pipe leading to it bursts

Con:
1) up front cost. We figured our cost "cutover" (where $ saved in energy bills were greater than the cost of the unit) was about 5 years, but everyone's situation is different
2) not everyone knows how to repair them if there are any issues
3) no power = no hot water. With a tank water heater, you generally have enough hot water sitting in the tank to last through a short power outage

Is your water heater electric or gas?

Do you do this maintenance thing or is your water soft enough that you don't need to?

Tankless water heater maintenance

What are your symptoms?

My 12 year old heater seemed to run out of water very quickly, but recover very quickly. Lisa suggested it was the dip tube. It was the dip tube. Less than $5 fix. Yay! Thank you, Lisa.

Unfortunately a year or two later it developed a leak and I replaced it. I was not planning to be in the house much longer and I was living alone, so I got a very basic 40 gallon unit. There are now three people living in the house. Ugh.

When I pulled the old one out, I noticed that the sacrificial anode was completely gone.

They should make the sacrificial anode easier to replace. Seriously. On mine, I would have to drain the heater, disconnect everything, and tip it at least 45 degrees -- if not lay it on its side -- to get a new anode rod in. It would be much better to replace the anode every five years than replacing the whole heater every 12.

Or why don't they just make the tanks out of stainless steel or even a composite that doesn't corrode?

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Miller:
Is your water heater electric or gas?

Do you do this maintenance thing or is your water soft enough that you don't need to?

Tankless water heater maintenance

I don't do it any more, but I've done it in the past. The water here is far less of an issue. The same dude that comes out every year for our annual heat pump check/maintenance does our water heater at the same time. Because I'm an old curmudgeon and willing to pay for other peeps to do some of that kind of stuff now.

EDIT: PJ, perhaps there's a hope that if they make it hard enough to repair, you'll just replace it. Boooo.

I think I remember seeing Rich Trethewey of This Old House use flexible/collapsible anode rods.

No tipping of the hot water heater required.

quote:

sacrificial anode

What is that? Is it related to a sacrificial goat?

We don't have very hard water at all. The town we lived in when I was in grad school had crazy hard water and you could see it just ruin everything. We lived in an apartment and the building didn't have any water softeners installed, but the people I knew who owned their homes all had them.

Anyway, so compared to that, we feel like the water here is not hard at all. But that doesn't mean there aren't any deposits etc.

I think maybe a general maintenance check is in order and then a plan to eventually replace the unit.

Re the electricity, just based on what I know about our house, I'm guessing we would need some kind of electrical upgrade to support a tankless unit, so I'm still thinking we won't consider that. Although Nina's post does make me want to think about it and not just automatically rule it out. I'll see what our plumber says, we like this company a lot, they do HVAC, plumbing and electric and we've worked with them a lot, so I expect them to be both knowledgeable and honest in terms of what would make the most sense. (I will of course do my own research to double-check their recommendations though!)