Hot Water Heater Problems – Gas Water Heaters

It’s the forgotten appliance, but when you have gas hot water heater problems it can be very inconvenient. Most water heater problems are pretty easy to fix and some are impossible to fix.

I’m going to stick to tank type storage water heaters for this article because storage water heaters are much easier to trouble shoot and repair than tankless water heaters. They pretty much consist of a tank of water over a burner with a thermostat. They are pretty simple and very reliable.

Tankless water heaters are sophisticated high tech appliances. The tankless units have multiple sensors to monitor things like incoming water temperature, outlet temperature, exhaust temperature, and water flow all feeding information to an internal computer. The computer controls things like modulating gas valves and water flow valves. There are error codes and many models even have remote controls.

Typical problems you may encounter with your water heater are things like the pilot light going out or it won’t re-light, pressure relief valves that leak or drip, broken or damaged dip tubes, worn out anode rods, and leaking tanks.

Pilot light problems

Usually pilot light problems are a result of a bad thermocouple. The thermocouple sits directly in the flame from the pilot light and glows red from the heat. The thermocouple generates a small electric current from the heat and the current keeps the gas valve open.

If the thermocouple goes bad the pilot light will not stay lit. Replacing the thermocouple is relatively easy. Usually it’s held in place by a nut. It’s a small tubular shaped metal object with a small diameter metal tube which ends with a fitting that screws into the gas valve.

If the pilot light stays lit, but the burners won’t come one, check to see if the flame is bright blue. A weak yellow flame may not get the thermocouple hot enough for the gas valve to open.

The flame should hit the thermocouple about 1/2 inch from the end. The flame can be adjusted, usually by a small screw on the gas valve. Refer to the owner’s manual for instructions for your specific heater.

Dip Tube Problems

The dip tube is a plastic tube that fits down inside the water heater inlet. It directs the cold incoming water from the water main to the bottom of the tank to keep it from mixing with the hot water leaving the heater.

If the dip tube breaks, the incoming cold water will mix with the hot as it leaves the heater and you will a much lower temperature hot water. Broken dip tubes usually result in symptoms like running out of hot water very quickly, or the water temperature is too low.


Leaking or dripping TP relief valve.

Storage water heaters have a safety device known as a temperature-pressure relief valve that opens if the temperature gets too high or if the water pressure gets too high. Without the TPR valve, also know as a pop-off valve, the water heater can become a bomb.

I just watched a youtube video by mythbusters showing a water heater blowing up… it was very impressive.

The owner’s manuals usually state that you should test your TP valve at least once a year by lifting the handle and releasing some water. In my experience, after you’ve done that there is a good chance it will drip forever.

The only solution I know of for a leaking TPR valve is to go down to the hardware store and buy a new one.

Thermostat problems

Thermostats rarely break down. If they do you might want to leave it to a professional to replace. Gas leaks can be extremely dangerous.

Symptoms that my present themselves when there is a problem with the gas valve are no hot water, or hot water that is too low in temperature. Most often the symptom will be no hot water which you will discover when you get in the shower in the morning.

Smelly hot water

If your hot water smells like rotten eggs, then there is probably bacteria which consumes the anti-corrosion anode rod and releases the gas that smells like rotten eggs. Usually it’s a magnesium rod. You can get Aluminum rods that the bacteria doesn’t eat, or use bleach to kill the bacteria, but it will probably come back.

The aluminum anode rod is probably the best solution. They are easy to replace. They thread down into an opening in the top of the heater that looks just like the inlet and outlets.

Strange noises

Gas water heaters can create some interesting sound effects. The main culprit is sediment buildup in the bottom of the tank. As the burners heat the bottom of the tank steam bubbles can form, and make poping and other sounds as they escape from under a layer of sediment. To solve this water heater problem you must flush the sediment out of the tank.

Milky whitish appearance

Air can get dissolved into the water, and when you fill a glass of hot water it appears milking in color. This is actually thousands of tiny bubbles. Let the water stand for a while and the bubbles will eventually all go away. It causes no harm, just looks odd.

Leaking water heater tank

This is my favorite way for a water heater to fail. When I see a puddle of water forming under the gas water heater in the garage, I know it’s time to call a plumber and have a new one installed. That way I don’t get inconvenienced for long.

The worst kind of failure is the one that gives you no warning. That’s just my opinion of course.

There is no way to fix a leaking water heater tank, it must be replaced.

Recent Article: Motion Sensing for Residential Hot Water Demand Systems It talks about how to use a motion switch or timer to control your demand system and what kind of things you can expect to happen when you do.

Water Heater Guide - What Kind Of Heater Is Best?

At first it seems like a simple question. Which water heater is the right one for my application? But after taking a second look, it can become quite complex. There are a number of ways to heat water and a variety of fuels to choose from.

Items you need to consider include the initial cost of the system, cost of operation, maintenance, physical size, fuel type, and the flow rate of hot water needed during peak usage.


Solar Water Heaters

Solar powered water heating can provide you with plenty of hot water if you live where solar radiation is plentiful. Living where freezing temperatures occur complicates systems that are susceptible to freezing.

Solar water heaters can vary in cost from very inexpensive home made batch heaters to sophisticated high tech systems with pumps and solar panels. With the more sophisticated systems maintenance and repair can become an issue.

Solar systems rarely provide a positive return on investment without some form of tax credits or other incentives because of the high initial cost and relatively small savings.


Electric Hot Water Heaters

Electric water heaters are more efficient than gas water heaters, but heating water with electricity is about twice as expensive as heating water with gas. Electricity is the most expensive way to heat water though because electricity is much more expensive than gas. Electric water heaters also take about twice as long to heat water as gas heaters take.

Electric water heaters are pretty simple devices and as a result they are quite reliable. Typically the failure mode is for a tank leak. When the tank begins to leak go find a new water heater.


Heat Pump Hot Water Heaters

Heat pump water heaters use less energy than standard because they don’t produce the heat; they transfer it from the air to the tank. It takes less energy to move the heat than to generate it. Heat pumps can use ground water to obtain heat from the earth instead of the surrounding air in some cases.

Heat pump water heaters are more expensive than traditional gas or electric water heaters, and they take longer to heat the water.


Gas Hot Water Heaters

Gas water heaters are usually the least expensive method of heating water due to the low cost of gas compared to electricity. This applies only if you happen to have access to natural gas though. There isn’t much difference between propane and natural gas water heaters other than the cost of the gas.

Like electrics, gas water heaters are fairly simple and hence very reliable. As with the electrics a tank leak is often the first sign of a problem and water heater replacement the solution.


Electric Tankless Hot Water Heaters

Electric tankless heaters are typically small due to the high amount of energy required to rapidly heat flowing water. Often they are just big enough to supply a single fixture. With electrics you don’t have to worry about venting, indoor pollution, or carbon monoxide poisoning. They are small and silent operating.

With tankless water heaters a minimum flow rate a minimum flow rate must be maintained to keep the heater turned on. You won’t be able to get a trickle of warm water.

Selecting the proper size heater for your application is critical. Too large or too small and you will have problems.

For electrics capable of supplying larger amounts of hot water will probably need their own dedicated 220 volt circuits with larger than normal wiring. You may also need to upgrade your service from your power company.


Gas Tankless Water Heaters

Gas heats water more rapidly electricity providing much larger flow rates. They can supply endless amounts of hot water, they have higher overall efficiencies than tank water heaters because there are no standby losses.

Tankless heaters require a longer delivery time for hot water, increased gas line size in and venting, and potentially higher repair costs. Most gas tankless hot water heaters will not operate during a power outage. Some models generate their own electricity from the flowing water.

Gas tankless hot water heaters are considerably more expensive than traditional storage types and should any thing go wrong they are expensive to repair. It’s also harder to find experienced service people for tankless units.

New links page. Links 5

Solar hot water combined with tankless water heating: Solar and Tankless

Solar Water Heaters, Tankless Water Heaters, and Hot Water Demand Systems

I was asked by a potential customer about using a solar water heater in conjunction with a tankless water heater this morning. Using a solar water heater to feed a tankless water heater is a great idea and a green idea too.

Solar water heaters come in several types including active systems including direct, indirect, and passive.

The passive solar systems locate the storage tank above the solar panels, that way the hot water rises into the storage tank, and cooler water from the tank sinks down to the bottom of the collectors. This thermo siphon cycle continues as long as the water in the collectors is being heated.

In active type solar systems a pump circulates the water from the collectors into the storage tank when the temperature in the collectors is sufficiently high and above the temperature in the tank. Some systems use an indirect method of heating the water. These indirect systems circulate a fluid through the solar collectors and then through a heat exchanger in the hot water tank.

Solar hot water tanks are very well insulated, and they do not have a flue through the center, so they have minimal standby losses.

Tankless water heaters modulate the gas burners or electric heating elements to maintain a steady pre-set outlet temperature. If you feed the inlet with the outlet from your solar water heater the tankless unit will not turn on unless the water temperature coming from the solar water hater isn’t hot enough, and if it isn’t, it will burn just enough gas or consume just enough current to keep the outlet temperature at the pre-set temperature.

You end up with a highly efficient hot water plumbing system that uses the minimum amount of energy when solar hot water is available, and you still have unlimited amounts of hot water when you need it. It’s a great way to turn your residential plumbing system green.

Adding a hot water demand system makes the system even greener. By adding the hot water pump you save water as well as energy. A demand pump uses very little energy, typically about $2.00 per year in electricity costs, and saves many thousands of gallons of water per year.

By combining all three items, solar hot water heating, tankless hot water heater, and a hot water demand system you get the greenest possible solution to your hot water problems providing you with water savings, energy savings, and the convenience of fast and endless hot water. You reduce green house gas emissions and reduce your carbon foot print and save money.

More about Solar and Tankless Combined

Slow Hot Water

I got this email regarding slow hot water and thought I would use it and my answer as my blog for today, so here it is.
Hello,My Dad wants to install new copper piping throughout his 2200 square-foot 2-story house. He is very concerned about 'slow hot water' and has decided he needs 1-1/2" insulation on the copper pipes instead of the standard 1/2" insulation.

He is calling around the country looking for that 1-1/2" insulation - and to Canada! He's found a plumber willing to install it for a higher price.
Do you have any studies that compare 1/2" insulation on copper pipes versus 1-1/2" insulation, and what the cost/benefits would be? And also, I think your pump solution sounds great, so could you show a comparison between your pump solution with the standard 1/2" copper pipe insulation versus no pump and 1-1/2" copper pipe insulation?

He has a regular tank water heater. Does he need to swap out his water heater?Thank you for your help,
My slow hot water answer

Typically pipe insulation is used for energy conservation purposes although adding insulation will reduce the amount of time it takes to get your hot water slightly.

The speed of the hot water is most affected by the flow rate of the fixtures and the diameter of the piping.

The speed or velocity of the water is dependent on the flow in gallons per minute and the pipe diameter. The larger diameter the pipe the slower the velocity and the longer it takes to get hot water.

Generally speaking it takes about 45 feet of ¾” inch diameter pipe to hold a gallon of water and about 70 feet for ½” diameter pipe. With a flow rate of 1 gallon per minute, the water in the ¾” pipe will flow 45 feet in about 60 seconds, and for the ½” diameter pipe the water will flow 70 feet in that same 60 seconds.

Since the flow is restricted by the fixtures, it will take longer to get hot water with the larger diameter pipes.

To get hot water to the shower fast, turn on the water in the bathtub full blast, it has the highest flow rate of any bathroom fixtures!
The second most important factor is the amount of heat that is pulled out of the piping material as the water travels to the fixture. That is where the pipe insulation comes into play.

If you had perfect pipe insulation and no heat could leak from the pipes, you would always have instant hot water. But there is no such thing as perfect insulation, and the heat will leak out fairly rapidly no matter how much insulation you use.

Pipe insulation is normally only used when a continuous hot water circulating system is being incorporated. It doesn’t really save energy, since the hot water will cool off very rapidly even with heavy amounts of pipe insulation. The reason 1-1/2” insulation is so hard to find is that it is a waste of money.

I don’t know of any studies that involve 1-1/2” thick pipe insulation.

Slow hot water delivery time is also related to the water velocity in another way. When water velocities are slow, the hot water traveling through the pipe travels much like a bullet would through the pipe.

Higher velocities cause laminar flow where a smaller diameter flow of water travels through the center of the pipe and the water in contact with the pipe walls doesn’t flow, getting the hot water to its destination even more quickly.

Plumbing layout is very important.

If you are planning on using a pumping system then the plumbing layout should be looped from fixture to fixture instead of a layout with T connections and lots of branch runs. That way a single pump can supply fast hot water to all of the fixtures.

About the water heater

I presume you mean should he replace is tank water heater with a tankless water heater? If so then the answer is no. Tankless water heaters take longer to deliver hot water since they have to turn on and start heating the water while the tank type water heater has already hot water to start the journey.

Tankless water heaters typically take 10 to 20 seconds longer to deliver hot water than tank type heaters.

So in conclusion, unless you live in a very cold area using pipe insulation will have a very small affect on how slow or fast your hot water delivery is. Increasing the pipe insulation beyond ¾” thick will most likely have no measurable effect.

Smaller pipes will deliver the hot water faster than large diameter pipes for a given flow rate.

Pumps such as the Chilipepper pump at a faster rate than typical flow rates available from the hot water fixtures.

For true "instant hot water" use a full time hot water recirculation system and insulate the pipes with at least 3/4" thick insulation.

State Industries Storage and Tankless Gas and Electric Hot Water Heater Website.

A Quick Look At State Storage and Tankless Gas and Electric Water Heaters

OK, that’s it. I’ve looked at the State water heater site, and it is just the same as all the rest. Besides the ones I’ve recently blogged about, I’ve also written articles about Rinnai, Takagi, Noritz, and Bosch tankless water heaters. You can see the articles here: Bosch Noritz Takagi Rinnai

While reading through the manual for one of the tankless water heaters I ran across this tid-bit, and I’ve seen it with other brands of tankless hot water heaters too.

An “LC” or “00” error code indicates the unit is beginning to lime up and must be flushed. Failure to flush the appliance will cause damage to the heat exchanger. Damage caused by lime build-up is not covered by the unit’s warranty. After flushing, reset the LC fault code by turning off the power to the unit and turning the power back on.

Here is what you need and instructions on how to flush the lime out of the tankless water heater…

Circulating Pump
5 gallon pail of virgin, food grade, white vinegar (or virgin, food grade, citric acid).
Cold Water Line
Hot Water Line
In-line Filter

1. Disconnect electrical power to the water heater.
2. Close the shutoff valves on both the hot water and cold water lines (V3 and V4).
3. Connect pump outlet hose (H1) to the cold water line at service valve V2.
4. Connect drain hose (H3) to service valve V1.
5. Pour approximately 4 gallons of virgin, food grade, white vinegar or citric acid into pail.
6. Place the drain hose (H3) and the hose (H2) to the pump inlet into the cleaning solution.
7. Open both service valves (V1 and V2) on the hot water and cold water lines.
8. Operate the pump and allow the cleaning solution to circulate through the water heater for at least 45 minutes.
9. Turn off the pump.
10. Rinse the cleaning solution from the heater as follows:
a. Remove the free end of the drain hose (H3) from the pail.
b. Close service valve, (V2), and open shutoff valve, (V4).
Do not open shutoff valve, (V3).
c. Allow water to flow through the heater for 5 minutes
d. Close service valve, (V1), and open shutoff valve, (V3).
11. Disconnect all hoses.
12. Remove the in-line filter at the cold water inlet and clean out any residue. Place filter back into unit.
13. Restore electrical power to the water heater

Boy doesn’t that sound like fun? Something to consider when you are trying to choose between a storage water heater and a tankless unit.

State water heaters has some electric water heaters that have 3 inch thick insulation and have an energy factor of .94. I think that is the highest I have ever seen for an electric storage type water heater.

Not much else of interest at the State site, so that’s it for now.

I think I will try to find a new topic for my next blog. I am all water heater’d out.

Bill the Hot Water Guy

General Electric Water Heaters, Storage, Heatpump, and Tankless Water Heaters

G.E. Water Heaters and Web Site

One would think that GE, as big and wealthy as it is, could do better than number 15 in the Google search results, but that is where it is.

The first thing you see when you arrive on the home page is GE’s new “Hybrid” water heater… a heat pump water heater. It’s not on the market yet, but is supposed to be available later this year, I think it said November.

The heat pump is mounted on what I presume to be a standard electric water heater and the controls allow you to run it in several modes, like heat pump only, heat pump with electric assist, and electric only etc. There is a vacation mode too.

GE’s heat pump water heater has an impressive Energy Factor of 2.3! That is the best I have ever seen. So if you really want a green plumbing system, at least the hot water part, this is the heater for you!

GE Tankless water heaters

While I was reading up on all the tankless water heater hype I ran across these statements:

“Care for your water heater should include evaluation of water quality. If the water exceeds the target levels provided in the table, you should treat or condition the water.

If you are in a hard water area, it is recommended to install a GE water softener prior to the water heater.”

Apparently scale buildup can ruin your tankless water heater and can even void the warranty!

Here are the maximum levels allowable without treatment to keep your warranty valid.

* Source: Part 143 National Secondary Drinking Water Regulations

MAXIMUM LEVEL

Total Hardness Up to 200 mg/L (12 grains)
Aluminum* Up to 0.2 mg/L
Chlorides* Up to 250 mg/L
Copper* Up to 1.0 mg/L
Iron* Up to 0.3 mg/L
Manganese* Up to 0.05 mg/L
pH* 6.5 to 8.5
TDS (Total Dissolved Solids)* Up to 500 mg/L
Zinc* Up to 5 mg/L

So if you live in a area with hard water you might want to get it tested before you purchase that tankless hot water heater… you might need a water softener as well.

Standard Gas and Electric Water Heaters
Like the other water heater sites, the GE site has no shortage of models. I really like the search functionality they have though.

You can search by fuel type, size in Gallons, length of warranty, and tank diameter. You are presented with all of the models that meet your criteria. Then you can sort them by price. Very handy if you are trying to choose between the 64 models they carry.

I Checked out what I think is the most expensive 50 gallon electric water heater… the Model #: SE50T12TAH

Here are the specs:

Brass drain valve
Heavy duty anode rod
Double 5,500 Watt Heating Elements
Stainless Steel Upper Heating Element
Energy Factor 0.94

Great energy factor and the 5,500 watt heating elements are the biggest I’ve seen anywhere for residential water heaters.

The GE site is useless for trouble shooting information.

I didn’t see anything else of particular interest, so it’s off to find another water heater site with storage and tankless water heaters to check out…

Bill the Hot Water Guy

Checking Out the Rheem Water Heater Web Site

Rheem Water Heaters

The first thing I noticed is that Rheem is number 1 on Google when you search for “water heaters”. They must be doing something right.

After looking over all of these hot water heater sites, they are getting pretty boring. However, Rheem does have a nice looking site and easy to navigate. There are some interesting things that I haven’t noticed at the other sites though. For instance, Rheem makes heat pump water heaters! Don’t run across them very often!

Heat Pump Water Heaters

Heat pump water heaters work just like your air conditioner, taking heat from the air around the heat pump and putting into the water. Since the heat pump is just moving heat energy from one place to another, it consumes much less energy than just heating the water up.

The warmer the ambient air temperature the more efficient they are, but if the ambient air temperature drops to around 40 degrees there just isn’t enough heat in the air for the heat pump to work effectively.

An energy factor of .9 is considered pretty good, where as the Rheem heat pump water heater has an energy factor of 2.0!

Solar water heating

Rheem seems to have a little of everything. They have several models of solar water heaters, both passive and active designs. They have all the specs and details you would ever want to know as well. And as you could assume, they have backup solar storage tanks with heating elements.

The Marathon water heater is interesting.

It’s a non-metal electric water heater. It has a plastic tank wrapped in fiberglass and other stuff. No metal to rust, and what they call a lifetime tank warranty.

It has two and a half inches of insulation which allows only 5º F heat loss in 24-hours! Other advantages include not needing an anode rod, so you don’t need to worry about smelly hot water. That rotten egg odor will not infect this tank.

It comes with a factory installed T&P (temperature & pressure relief) safety
valve and 4 feet of pipe insulation.


Tankless Water Heaters

Rheem also has a line of tankless water heaters. Typical sizes and energy factors comparable with the rest of the industry.

I did see a few features I wasn’t familiar with and have not seen with other models or brands, but then they might exist and I just haven’t run across them before.

They say they have a special cable to link two units together to operate as one for when you have for instance, really cold incoming water etc. The other related item is the ability to link up to 20 heaters using an optional manifold control assembly.

Probably wouldn’t need to do anything like that in a residential setting. LOL

Well that’s about all I’ve got for Rheem water heaters and the Rheem web site.

Later… Bill the Hot Water Guy

A Visit to the Bosch Tankless Water Heater Web Site

At first glance the Bosch water heater site looks intimidating, but it only took me one click to find what I was looking for. On the left navigation column at the top under the heading “Consumer Information” I clicked on the link “Gas Products” and landed on a page with brief descriptions of the various gas water heater products that Bosch manufactures.

One thing I noticed right off is I don’t have to deal with PDF files! The Bosch web site quickly sends me to the page when I click on a link, and I usually find what I am looking for. Very nice.

The Model 2700ES Gas Tankless Water Heater was the first on the list, and so I clicked on the link to check out this model. The first thing I noticed was the statement that this model would supply 2-3 showers simultaneously! Wow!

I was certainly impressed. I immediately went to check the specs. Skimming the hype at the top of the page I noticed they claim a 20 year average life for the heater. I wonder if there is any evidence to back this up. Of course that doesn’t mean it did not need servicing or repairs during the 20 years, so it is of limited value at least to me.

The next section down the page is a large bulleted list of features, the first stating the water heater has an output of 7 gallons per minute! Enough for two good showers at once anyway… I don’t know about 3 though.

Now I am intrigued so I scrolled down to the technical stuff and discovered that it puts out 7.2 gallons per minute at a 45 degree F temperature rise. How disappointing! I mean it puts out plenty of hot water, certainly competitive with all the other brands, but I think the advertising is miss-leading.

After a more thorough look at the features and specs, I have to conclude that there isn’t anything very special about this gas tankless water heater.

I returned to the gas tankless water heater section and scanned down the products, and saw something that caught my eye. What I read was “The Bosch AquaStar Model 1600H incorporates a revolutionary hydro-generated ignition system, allowing the water heater to operate without a standing pilot, electricity, or a battery.”

So off I go to check it out. The features and specs page did little to enlighten me about how it works, all it said was no electricity needed, it generates it’s own. I wanted to know more about it so I went looking for some manuals.

On the manuals download page I was finally confronted with those dreaded PDF files. I first check the literature drop down box and downloaded the spec sheet. Nothing new there. Next I tried the Bosch Installation Manuals drop down box and selected the English version of the manual for the Model 1600H tankless water heater. They have the manuals in a number of different languages.

While reading the manual for the model 1600H water heater I made some interesting discoveries. How about the fact that there is periodic maintenance that needs to be performed on the heater.

Here is an excerpt from the manual:

“The GWH 1600 H requires periodic maintenance. The
below time maintenance intervals should keep the unit
operating for many years.

Every year
Inspect inlet water filter screen ( 5.2)
Inspect pilot assembly and flame ( 5.3)
Inspect burner assembly ( 5.4)
Every 2 years
Lubricate and clean water valve ( 5.2)
Every 3 to 5 years
Rebuild water valve ( 5.2)
Clean pilot assembly and clean or replace orifice”

The manual also states” Warning: Failure to perform recommended maintenance may result in complete failure of the unit over time. The warranty does not cover failures
due to improper or insufficient maintenance.

So maybe the maintenance should be done. The problem as I see it is that most people would not really want to do even the simple yearly stuff let alone rebuilding a water valve, or replacing a pilot assembly orifice.

I did find a drawing of the generator that provides the electricity to run the unit. No real useful information about it though.

I checked out the electric water heaters section and nothing new or different there. Electric tankless water heaters are pretty limited in usefulness due to the huge amount of electricity they require. Bosch doesn’t make standard tank type heaters, and only two models of tankless heaters.

They do have a couple of what they call point-of-use electric water heaters that have 5 or 6 gallon storage tanks, use 110 Volts, and produce about 6 gallons of hot water an hour.

Well I think that's about it for the Bosch Site.

Bill the Hot Water Guy

Residential Water Heaters – A Comparison Between Brands

Residential Water Heaters - Comparing Different Brands of Water Heaters
Water heaters can be a confusing topic, and there is quite a bit of competition between the various water heater manufactures to get you to purchase their brand.

I thought I might take a look at the websites for the various manufacturers to see if there are significant differences between the various brands of residential hot water heaters. Water heaters are a commodity product. Basically they are a tank of water with either a gas burner under them or electric heating elements inside of them. There isn’t really much to differentiate the water heaters from one manufacturer to another, with a few exceptions.


Comparing Brands

In the coming weeks I’ll examine the features of the basic residential models like 40 gallon gas water heaters, 50 gallon heaters, 40 and 50 gallon electric water heaters and I’ll take a look at the energy efficient models as well. I’ll go through the list of manufactures in Alphabetical order, and I’ll also include tankless models if they are produced by that manufacturer.

The manufacturers I will compare are American, A.O. Smith, Bosch, Bradford White, G.E., Marathon, Noritz, Rheem, Rinnai, State Industries, Takagi, and others.

Previous article comparing some brands of tankless water heaters.


Gas water heaters

All gas water heaters (storage type) have a gas burner, tank, flue, thermostat, drain valve, insulation, pressure relief valve, anode rod, dip tube, gas valve, pilot light, thermocouple, and tank insulation. That’s pretty much it for any storage tank type water heater.

There may be some gas water heaters that do not use a standing pilot light, but ignite when the thermostat calls for heat. I know there are commercial units with that technology available, but I am not sure about residential units. I shall find out and report back.

More about gas water heaters.

Electric water heaters

All electric tank type water heaters have a tank, electric heating elements, high limit switch, one or two thermostats, drain valve, anode rod, pressure temperature relief valve, and dip tube.

Electric water heaters are all pretty efficient as far as converting electricity to heat energy, the main difference in electrics being the amount of standby loss.

More information about electric water heaters.


Heat pump water heaters

I'll also be examining heat pump water heaters as I run accross them. They are very efficient at heating water but are pricy. More about heat pump water heaters... Heat Pump Water Heaters


Miss-leading statements

When I see glaring errors or miss-leading statements on the web sites I may very well make note of them as well. I find it very irritating when web sites miss-lead the visitors.


Stay tuned, American water heaters is the first water heater product review I will do, and I should have it up by tomorrow…

Bill the Hot Water Guy