Water heaters

Chuck(G) · Post by **Chuck(G)** » Thu Jun 22, 2006 8:55 pm

Well, my home's water heater is going on 26 and I figure I'm living on borrowed time. So, the July project will be a new electric water heater.

I've been told that the new models aren't constructed as sturdily as the old ones and that I shouldn't expect the same life from a new one.

My local electric co-op is offering about $100 rebate on a new Marathon heater, which is supposedly guaranteed for life. It's not cheap (about 2x the cost of a regular model) but I'm tempted.

Does anyone have experience with these?

tubatooter1940 · Post by **tubatooter1940** » Thu Jun 22, 2006 9:38 pm

Around here, plumbers say Rheem is the best made water heater. However, due to thousands of refill tubes being made of plastic that melted in water, the Rheem heaters dilluted the hot water from the top of the tank causing hot water to run out in 10 minutes or so. I had two heaters that did this and was later told by my plumber that Rheem replaced the crappy refill tube with better plastic and that all lawsuit money had been paid out leaving yours truly out of luck.
The plumber then told me to buy a new Rheem because now that the problem was fixed they are now the best made.
A pox on those guys!

Chuck(G) · Post by **Chuck(G)** » Thu Jun 22, 2006 11:59 pm

tubatooter1940 wrote:Around here, plumbers say Rheem is the best made water heater.

Marathon's owned by Rheem:

http://www.marathonheaters.com/

$1300+installation for a water heater on a 10/5 year warranty will buy a lot of hot water.

The Marathon evidently has oversized inlet ports than can be unscrewed so that the tank can be manually cleaned out with a wet/dry vac. I like that.

It's that nonmetallic tank that has me bothered.

CJ Krause · Post by **CJ Krause** » Sun Jun 25, 2006 11:49 pm

Chuck(G) · Post by **Chuck(G)** » Tue Jun 27, 2006 7:52 pm

CJ Krause wrote:We bought a Bosch Tankless water heater and we could not be more happy with it.
it works better than any water heater we have ever had and the key to making it work is a 5 inch vent pipe. they are kind of like tuba players, the more air you can let them use, the better it works.

Ain't no gas here--just 'lectricity.

Chuck(G) · Post by **Chuck(G)** » Tue Jun 27, 2006 7:53 pm

MaryAnn · Post by **MaryAnn** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 4:16 pm

CJ,

Do you have a side or vertical vent? How did you find out you needed a larger vent pipe?
I've been wanting to go tankless for a long time, but I get astronomical installation prices locally, upwards of $2k, to have it meet code.
MA