Electric water heater Q

[Tala]

Quote:
Thanks, yeah, looks like it should be under one of them there mystery caps.

No worries, I ain't doin anything to it tonight. Home Depot is closed anyway.
I KNOW it's hot, I set it to about 140 on purpose!

Perhaps I'll just skip on the shower tonight.....

 

[DuckLady]

Wow! Thanks!

We have been trying to figure out how to drain ours since the water co back-flushed the water lines.

 

[Tala]

Quote:
Yeah, connect a garden hose to the bottom drain outlet and direct all that outside. Preferably do this in good weather when you can crack a door or window......I'd rather not be doing it every winter when it's 20 degrees outside!

Unless you just happen to have a floor drain like my parents do.....

 

[Tala]

Well I haven't drained or done anything yet, but I swung by HD after work.
Home Depot no longer carries replacement anodes. I can check the plumbing supply place, but I haven't found them to be particularly helpful in the past, or I can scour the junkyard for a match....but it's likely to be wore out if the tank is.

The guy at HD thought perhaps the thermostat is wearing the element out. Not sure if you can test that somehow??? Part is cheap enough. Likely if I replace all the component parts the whole tank will leak next year

You know how these things go.

 

[Boyd]

Quote:
honestly, when part of one starts to go, I generally toss in another one whole without messing around. Easier anyhoodles.

 

[FireTigeris]

I love my whole house instant hot water heater (tankless) if I had the money I would have gone gas- but this one is electric- only heats the water when I'm using it and never runs out... it DOES draw a lot of current when it runs tho-

because I have well water the insides need cleaning once a year and the circuits do trip if there is a bad surge... but resetting the circuits is no biggy.

the water temp unadjusted is 130*F which is plenty hot.

The tank water heater is trying to keep water at 140*F all the time, you might want to put a timer on it so it only heats the water before you are going to use it (2 hours for 40 gal ... I think) - this would cause the burned out componets if nothing else is wrong.

You might also want to insulate the dickens out of that thing - the tall ones are really bad about heat loss due to surface area to volume.

My dad's sits in a huge insulated porisline (<-spelling) box, it has never needed service (*knock on wood*) in 35 years. Its also 90 gal a short fat thing.

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Maybe you can connect a single appliance instant water heater on the hot water side hot->hot of your shower to 'help out' if your tank is being obnoxious.

 

[rnoyster]

I have never in 21 years seen an anode rod completely used clear up. The tank is usually gone long before the anode rod. As far as a water heater heating water constantly wether water is being pulled from it or not is just not true. The only time that the power comes on to the heating elements is when there is water drawn out ot the heater for use. Whenever the cold water coming into the heater is enough that the water is too cool, the thermostats call for power to fire up the elements. When the water in the tank reaches the set temperature of the thermostats, they automatically shut off until said time that the water cools to the point that the thermostats request power again to reheat. Most heaters in use today will probably keep water hot enough to use for 18-24 hours without power. But, that temperature will drop as soon as water is drawn out and new (cold) water is brought into the heater. If your heater element keeps burning out, it is probably due to silt and sludge buildup in the bottom of the tank. You can drain and flush the heater once a year and it should work fine!

 

[FireTigeris]

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Ok, I mis-worded it, but the uninsulated tanks DO come on w/o water use we had a whole thing in physics that we had one of those thermometers and the kwh counters and timers and all the one at grandma's house (electric/uninsulated) came on 4-5 times a day- she was at rehab for OHS so there was no Hot Water use.

Dad's on the other hand (electric/insulated) at the same time (well a week later when he moved there to help out) only came on 1.5 times a day.

The issue was that they would come on for 30 min approx - the newer ones are likely much better now.

 

[Tala]

Quote:
honestly, when part of one starts to go, I generally toss in another one whole without messing around. Easier anyhoodles.

Actually I think it's a LOT easier to shell out $15 for an element or thermostat than $300 for a new tank, plus weighing in at only 100lbs myself, the smaller components are CONSIDERABLY easier to install

If $15 will squeeze another year or so out of this thang, then that's what we gonna do for now.

FireTigeris ~ electric kw hours are the cheapest part of my electric bill. I swear my $80 worth of electric usage somehow turns into a $150 bill by the time they get done adding taxes for the new sewer system that didn't even benefit ME personally anyway...... I turn off my lights and use CFL bulbs, but until I can afford a better system for water heating (maybe tankless in the future??? we'll see!) heating my water to my desired temperature is not high on my electric use worries. It says right on the tank that temps above 125*F are unnecessary and waste energy, but water less than 130* just doesn't cut it for ME so I crank it on up there. My parents have one of those timers for the water heater. It sounds like a great idea in theory, but my dad wasn't really all that impressed with it. In actual use for us, I don't know how it would work because we work opposite shifts, so it would have to be on practically all the time anyway.
Besides, they say that your energy bill will depend a LOT on your refrigerator - and I have a 2 year old energy star model so I hope it's good!!!!

 

[Tala]

So today I installed a new lower thermosta and lower element. Total cost: $17 plus 5 minutes of work (not counting the time it took to drain the tank)

Turns out, my lower heating element is supposed to be 3500watts. It comes with a 1-year warranty (and lasts exactly 1 year, apparently) and costs ~$9 at HomeDepot.
IF I could use the 4500watt one, for only $20 I could get one with a Lime resistant coating and a LIFETIME warranty.

I really REALLY wished I could have the better one *pouts*

There was a teeny bit of gunk floating in the water that was left lower than the drain valve, but it's not like there was a ton of sludge in there. When I filled the tank back up some reddish/brownish water came out the T/P valve so we let that run clear before closing the valve back up. Otherwise just some lime on the element and annode rod, no other excitement. I'm thinking this is just a problem with CHEAP PARTS