John and I decided to get our family a new water heater for Christmas.
We started this project months ago, researching options in terms of
energy use, price, and longevity. Our old water heater was still going
after 12 years of service but it mostly produced either scalding or cold
water and the last one to take a morning shower had a choice between tepid
or cold water (or sometimes just cold or colder). The main problem is that
the water in our San Jose area is very hard (full of minerals), so the
calcium builds up in the water tank, lines, and in crusty deposits on the
shower and faucet heads.
Our first plan was to get a tankless water heater. We researched this
and particularly liked the energy savings. However, it took us months
to find a plumbing company in our area which could supply and install
a tankless water heater system. When we finally did and the plumber
eventually came out to look at the old water heater in our basement, it
turned out that the equipment and labor
would cost about $4,000. Worse, even though tankless systems have
been in use elsewhere for a long time, they are just recently approved
for use in our area so there is less than 2 years of history of how they
work with our kind of water and home plumbing. We regretfully decided not to
install a very expensive “1.0” system.
Our next choice was an energy efficient tank water heater. John
again researched the options and called the plumber back to talk. Again,
it turned out that the hard water made our choice. We looked into
getting a water softening system but even though this would double the
efficency, it also doubled the cost. At the end of all of our research
and discussion, it seemed that any new tank replacement would provide improved
energy efficiency if we drained it once a year to get rid of the calcium
build up. So, we might as well get the biggest model that would fit in the
space. The equipment and labor ended up costing $1,575.
Yesterday, our new 75 gallon hot water heater arrived and after much noise,
and carrying of bits and pieces up and down the basement stairs, was
installed. The old 40 gallon tank from 1994 went away on the same truck.
The water flow in
our house has increased dramatically and we are still getting bits of rust
and grit every time we turn a spigot. Apparently, because the new water heater
isn’t full of calcium, it is pushing more water through the pipes and
cleaning them out. We had a choice of temperature settings A, B, or C. (Reading
the manual would probably help but we are not desperate yet.) We
started off at setting B but that produced scalding tap water, so we
lowered the temperature setting.
I must admit as a native Californian I feel more secure having 75 gallons of
water in our house in case of earthquake or other emergency. John is from
the Midwest and feels more comfortable with the tankless option.
It is frustrating to do all sorts of research only to find that our energy
conservation choices are limited by the hard water in our very local
environment. However, we figure by the time we are ready to replace the
tank we just installed, tankless water heaters will have some history and
we can look at that option again.
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