Hot answers tagged water-heater
23
The best way to speed up hot water to the tap is through the use of a booster heater, also known as a "point of use" hot water heater. This is a small (~4 gallon) hot water heater installed very near the sink. If you need a lot of hot water and you want it to start fast you can install the hot water line as the supply for the point of use heater. That way ...
18
Install a hot water recirculating pump.
Older pumps required that the house be plumbed with a return loop to support circulation, but newer designs can be retrofitted if a house wasn't plumbed that way.
More info: http://www.askthebuilder.com/413_Hot_Water_Recirculating_Pumps.shtml
$ saving tip: put the pump on a timer and have it come on only when you ...
17
When most people think of a water heating system, they think of a tank (40-75 gal. on average) with a heating source. However, a robust water heating system probably shouldn't be so simple. How you want to configure things depends on what your exact situation is, and what features you want maximized. Some examples:
2 tank, parallel
This kind of setup ...
17
It's part of the recommended maintenance for the heater, so there's definitely value in it. No matter how clean your water supply, there's always going to be some amount of sediment getting through, sand and grit or dissolved minerals. As the water sits in the heater's tank, that can settle out and build up on the bottom of the tank.
How much does it cost ...
16
I have a tankless heater, and I love it for the efficiency (energy and space wise) and of course the endless hot water. But there are some drawbacks:
There is a minimum flow rate required for it to "fire up". That flow rate is high enough that you won't get hot water out of a faucet unless it's turned all the way over to "hot" and on full blast. In ...
10
If you have an electric hot water heater, it may mean that one of your two elements has burned out. Most electric hot water heaters have an uppper and a lower element; the upper runs until the top of the tank is hot, which provides quick recovery time, then when the top thermostat is satisfied, it transfers power to the lower thermostat, which heats until ...
9
A lot of water heaters (that I've seen anyway) are in unheated spaces -- basements, garages, attics (in some countries). The rate at which you lose heat from the water depends mainly on two things:
the difference in temperature between the water and the outside environment. The greater the difference, the faster the heat loss.
the R-value of the ...
9
There really isn't a perfect solution to slow-flowing water, other than carefully planning your home so that the water heater is as close to the faucets as possible.
As stated by Josh, one solution is water recirculation. But depending on usage scenarios, water recirculation can waste a lot of energy. "Sense" technology that enables recirculation when ...
8
The concern that I know of is about the size of the pipe and all appliances that can be running at the other end. So if they ran out of a larger dimension pipe (or just had a lot of the smaller dimension) this would almost make sense. But I'd think any normal installer would try to minimize the parts cost and split it closer to the appliances.
However, if ...
8
It could be that the Thermocouple has failed or is failing. This would cause the system to think there is no flame present, and shut off the gas supply for safety (so it doesn't fill the house with gas).
If you don't feel comfortable working on the heater; or you don't have the knowledge and/or tools to do so, call a trained professional to come take a ...
7
The amount of oxygen consumed by a hot water heater is negligible. The risk of the gas heater sucking all the oxygen out of the room is zero. Now that does not mean that it's code to have it in a bedroom, but there is no safety issue from consumption of oxygen.
The safety issue is on venting of the carbon monoxide (CO) from the hot water heater. In order ...
7
Tankless heaters are rated by the amount they raise the temperature of the water at a specific flow rate (and as the flow goes higher, the amount they raise the temperature is lower), for example:
Rise in Temp: 50°F 75°F 100°F
Flow rate: 3.8 gpm 2.4 gpm 1.9 gpm
Basically, the lower your incoming water temperature, the larger a unit you ...
7
Several possibilities:
There's a thermal shutoff that automatically stops the gas if the pilot light doesn't heat it up. This prevents you from leaking unburned gas into the home, which would be very bad. Check that the probe is in contact with the pilot flame. The fact that it stays on for 15 minutes makes me think this may not be the issue, but ...
7
9 times out of 10, like Tester mentions, this is going to be the aerator. Unscrew it, run some water without it, and clean it before screwing it back on. There's all kinds of stuff that gets knocks around in the pipes when water is shutoff and things are added or replaced in the plumbing system, and the best place for them to end up is the kitchen sink ...
6
You may have the thermostat on your heater set too low. Gas heaters are either on or off; when they're on, they can really make that water nice and toasty in a hurry. Check the thermostat and the temperature of the water in the tank (if you don't already have a temperature gauge you can read on your tank, this may require professional help as the tank will ...
6
What Danny said - someone didn't use a flame shield while soldering the pipe.
The soldering process involves blasting the copper pipe with a hot flame until the lead solder melts:
A RESPONSIBLE plumber will use a flame retardant barrier while soldering. Whoever did your pipes just chose not to and nearly burned down your house.
Sorry, so to answer your ...
6
If you haven't noticed a lack of hot water, I would say there's no reason to have both water heaters running. Just make sure that the gas line to the one that's not working is turned off. While the second water heater is currently doing more work than it would typically do if they were working in tandem, it's not using nearly as much gas as you would if ...
6
After doing a bit of research on what exactly hot water return lines are I found this page which goes into a lot of detail about how they work and their benefits and drawbacks.
The big drawback I see is that you will need to make sure that all your hot water lines are well lagged to minimise the inevitable heat loss that will occur with the hot water ...
6
There is absolutely no difference between the materials used for hot and cold water pipes (at least there isn't in the UK!). The same copper is used for both and if you have a piece of pipe that was previously used for hot water you can use for cold water and vice versa.
As long as the pipes are connected up properly then there'll be no problems.
6
Can I use an old aluminum road sign as a replacement floor for my hot
water heater closet?
I'm sorry, but that made me laugh.
First thing you should do, is find what is causing the floor to rot and fix the leak. What is "spongy"? The floor or the joist? If the joists are rotten, you need to replace them, then put a new floor down.
After you fix ...
6
If you are on a municipal system and have pressure that high, you quite likely already have a pressure reducing valve (PRV) installed near your water meter. The International Plumbing Code requires PRVs on any water supply over 80psi. If this is the case, your PRV may just need adjustment. As they age, the spring regulating the device's operation can soften. ...
5
One option is a recirculating water pump, which can pump hot water into the pipes based on various triggers (on demand, based on a timer, based on water temp, etc depending on model). I used one at my previous house, and it worked pretty well. There's more info here:
http://www.askthebuilder.com/413_Hot_Water_Recirculating_Pumps.shtml
5
I live in Michigan, so it get's pretty cold here, and I'm pretty happy with my tankless water heater. Might want to check out my answer to this question for some other pros/cons though.
5
You may have already done this but not sure from your question. When testing the thermostats be aware that you must test the input and output sides. A thermostat is really just a switch. First be sure you have 240VAC on the input sides across the hot leads and 120VAC from each leg to ground. Now connect to the load or element side across the element and look ...
5
Most water heaters have an inner tank surrounded by an insulation material surrounded by the outer shell. If it is the outer shell that has some rust spots then there probably is not anything to be worried about. So depending on where the rust spots are located you may not need to worry about them at all.
But considering that you are seeing rust spots on ...
5
You get the bast cost saving when you have to replace your tank or boiler anyway for another reason. Remember that for some of the year, the lost heat from the tank may be of value to you depending on how the tank is sited and how cold and long your winters are.
Also are you having to use more air con due to the tank, if so the air con savings may be well ...
5
It's got to do with the volume of gas delivered to each appliance. The gas coming into your home is at some standard pressure, through a large-diameter pipe (2 inch or so diameter, perhaps). That means that some particular volume of gas can come into your home per second.
Each appliance has a certain volume of gas per second that it needs to operate, but it ...
5
Fifteen years is a pretty good lifespan for a water heater, so it could easily fail at any time -- especially if it hasn't been serviced regularly during its life. Personally, I would prefer to be there working on it when it fails so that you can take care of it immediately (as opposed to, say, being away for the weekend while it's filling up your ...
5
The user manual for your unit can be found here. According to the document the following are possible when no codes are displayed:
Clean inlet water supply filter.
On new installations ensure hot and
cold water lines are not reversed.
Check for bleed over. Isolate unit from building by turning off cold water line to building. Isolate the ...
5
The numbers you need are flow rates and desired temperatures. For example, Home Depot's guide gives the following flow rates:
Bathroom Faucet: 0.5 – 1.5 gpm
Low Flow Kitchen Faucet: 3.0 – 7.0 gpm
Shower: 1.0 – 2.0 gpm
Dishwasher: 1.0 – 2.5 gpm
Clothes Washer: 1.5 – 3.0 gpm
Tankless heaters are rated for how much heat they provide at a given flow. If ...
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