Agzonfire said:

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This price doesn't sound crazy when you figure it's in the attic of a two story home. They're no doubt filled with sediment and will be beasts to get out. The price of the new units is only a fraction of the total cost. What's the plan if/when they damage the attic access or stair walls getting the old units out? I'd pay it, there's no way this is a weekend warrior type of job.

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So I had them do it a couple of weeks ago, and yeah, they struggled to get them out. Took them about 1.5 hours to get both of them out of the attic and down the stairs. After that, they had the 2 new ones from the back of the truck to hooked up in about 30 minutes. No doubt, the old ones were heavy as chit.

agracer said:

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how big is your house that you need TWO 50 G hot water heaters? I have 6 people in the house and only had a single 50 G and we never ran out of hot water.

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3300 sq/ft. One is for upstairs (2 baths) and 1 for downstairs (kitchen, dishwasher, washer, 1/2 bath, and master bath. With 3 kids, there's no doubt there will be times where 2 take showers at the same time and the other hops in after his brother is finished (they share the Jack-and-Jill).

Milwaukees Best Light said:

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sellthefarm said:

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Do gas tankless continue working in a power outage?

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Pretty sure they use an electric spark ignitor and not an old school pilot, so no, they wouldn't work without power. Maybe some way to light it once with a long lighter, but that is not cool.

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This is correct. The one company who actually quoted me a tankless made sure I had electrical close (I did) and told me what would happen if the power went out. I told him I had a whole home, so he said I'd be fine as long as that's on.

I am about to build out a loft in a barn and yesterday received a quote for an electric hot water heater. The property will not have gas. I got a quote from the local electrical coop that provides me with electricity and they quoted me $485 (40-gallon) and $558 (50-gallon) for AO Smith hot water heaters with a 6-year warranty. That is not installed.

They also quoted me plastic hot water heaters made by Reem. The tank for those have a lifetime warranty and the other components had a 6-year warranty. The cost for the plastic ones is about double plus a little more than the same size metal ones.

I will just go with a metal one. It will be mounted on the floor of the barn and very easy to access so I am not too concerned about repair and replacement.

Lots of homes in our area with tankless had freeze damage - seems like the pipes are not insulated and exposed to cold conditions through the vented panels. I was lucky and did not have any damages but added insulation on the pipes right after the ice storm.

And yes, tankless water heaters do not work without power. We went six days without power.

aTm2004 said:

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agracer said:

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how big is your house that you need TWO 50 G hot water heaters? I have 6 people in the house and only had a single 50 G and we never ran out of hot water.

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3300 sq/ft. One is for upstairs (2 baths) and 1 for downstairs (kitchen, dishwasher, washer, 1/2 bath, and master bath. With 3 kids, there's no doubt there will be times where 2 take showers at the same time and the other hops in after his brother is finished (they share the Jack-and-Jill).

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That is still overkill.

Maybe, but that's what it was built with in '97 and what I replaced. Probably could have gone with a smaller one for upstairs, but the price difference would have been minimal, so I decided for overkill vs. a potential future of angry teenage daughter, and thus wife.

one MEEN Ag said:

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sellthefarm said:

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Do gas tankless continue working in a power outage?

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No, but you've got 50 gallons of hot water to ration through. Tankless your immediately running into cold water.

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The good news is if you are prepared with even the tiniest of generators, you can run your gas tankless indefinitely.

Mr. AGSPRT04 said:

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one MEEN Ag said:

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sellthefarm said:

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Do gas tankless continue working in a power outage?

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No, but you've got 50 gallons of hot water to ration through. Tankless your immediately running into cold water.

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The good news is if you are prepared with even the tiniest of generators, you can run your gas tankless indefinitely.

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You mean until my tiniest of gas tanks runs dry.

aTm2004 said:

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Agzonfire said:

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This price doesn't sound crazy when you figure it's in the attic of a two story home. They're no doubt filled with sediment and will be beasts to get out. The price of the new units is only a fraction of the total cost. What's the plan if/when they damage the attic access or stair walls getting the old units out? I'd pay it, there's no way this is a weekend warrior type of job.

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So I had them do it a couple of weeks ago, and yeah, they struggled to get them out. Took them about 1.5 hours to get both of them out of the attic and down the stairs. After that, they had the 2 new ones from the back of the truck to hooked up in about 30 minutes. No doubt, the old ones were heavy as chit.

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I would have sawed the thing in half first (or maybe smaller pieces, if I was doing the job alone).

Growing up, my dad and I installed two chain hoists in the attic and then 'walked' the chain hoists down the rafters until we were had the tank over the attic stairs.

My house is 1500 sq ft and when my sister in law stays wits us and she showers, I shower, wife showers, washing machine and dish washer are going, my 50 gallon water heaters runs out.

one MEEN Ag said:

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Growing up, my dad and I installed two chain hoists in the attic and then 'walked' the chain hoists down the rafters until we were had the tank over the attic stairs.

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My Dad and I moved one across our basement to get it out of the way. Leak tested by running a lighter near the joints. Aren't Dads the greatest?

What are so many of y'all wanting to heat hot water?