Water heater recommendation

readysetgo · Sun Jun 17, 2007 10:39 pm

Well people when it rains it pours. First the car repairs(2,000.00), then the dryer went and now we need a new water heater. We currently have a gas one and are considering an electric one. My only problem with electric ones are how long it takes to heat up when I fill my big ole tub. Do any of you know any good electric ones that are energy efficent, maybe even programable for turning it on at certain times, and fast to heat up. We'd be putting it in the existing place(outside access door but still part of the floor plan but it has fireboard around it and sealed off from the mobile home. I have a 30 gallon right now. The compartment it's in is 24 by 24 inches approximately. Thanks again. I sure hope these things stop tearing up around here.

hvac1000 · Mon Jun 18, 2007 3:03 am

A new gas heater will be cheaper to install because the connections (Gas and flue pipe) are already there.

There are some 30 gallon electric models available that are called high recovery. You need to check in your area to see who offers these because as I have found out not all water heaters are offered every where. Shop for price. Most standard water heaters are made by 2 or 3 different company's. Then they label them for many other company's.

If it were me I would go back to gas for the water heater. Electric is nice but you will have to run a line to the water heater,buy a breaker for your panel and you will also need a disconnect in the water heater location for service personnel safety.

Yanita · Mon Jun 18, 2007 5:53 am

Hi RSG,

Good to hear from you! I am going to move this to the Repair forum as it is one of those topics that come up often.

JMO, but for the cost of a gas heater you could probably replace yours with a larger electric one and get the connections and electrical done at the cost of the gas heater.

I do not know if your area Utility Company has this program but you could call and ask. For us it is called Beat the Peak. They install some sort of electrical box and during peak hours it kicks in and reduces the amount of energy used by the water heater and other large appliances. For us, this has never effected, the amount of hot water available..and we get a 10.00 a month credit on the light bill for 7 months of the year. Heck 70.00 in my pocket is better than theirs.

JMO...

~Yanita~

readysetgo · Mon Jun 18, 2007 8:19 am

We use to have an electric water heater so unless codes have changed we may not have a hook up problem. The electrical box is in the inside tho but the 30 amp breaker is still there. I know the new electric water heaters require 10 gauge wire and we're not sure what ours is. The gas company just called and offered us a water heater for 200.00 install and free water heater if we get gas from them for 5 years. Beleive me this is no deal, we did this already with them years ago and they can charge you what they want for gas, each individual customer. He also said the water heaters now are safe cause they have a "kick off" if there's gas sensed underneath the water heater. This totally just don't make sense to me. I"m tired of the homemade showers but don't want to rush into this decision. Thanks everyone. Guess my main question is did code require 10 gauge wire 20 years ago when we had an electric water heater. It came with the mobile home.

readysetgo · Mon Jun 18, 2007 9:39 pm

Been looking all day at water heaters. Everyone says the same thing. If going from electric to electric or gas to gas they will all do it but if going from gas to electric they say we have to have an electrician out first. We still have the same wiring in the same place, same breaker etc as we did when we had an electric water heater sooooooooooo do you think it would be ok to just take out the gas water heater and tell them to come hook up an electric one. I'm sure if there were a problem they would tell us whenever they went to hook it up to the existing wiring. The wiring looks the same. I went today and got a piece of 10 gauge wire to compare it to ours and it's the same size. Does 10 gauge wiring mean only the size of the wiring even tho there's different wiring for different things. Thanks

Yanita · Tue Jun 19, 2007 5:48 am

Hi RSG,

I will admit I know nothing about different types of wiring used for different things...I hire an electrician or Hubby does the small stuff.

Around here it requires a permit to do what you want to do and an inspection. Call your county/city codes office, I am sure they will assist you in the proper steps to get this installed.

Our local gas supplier has the same program yours does, buy/rent the heater from them at a "discounted" price..yeah right, do the math and see what gas will cost.

~Yanita~