replace a hot water tank?

18 year old water tank cracked open today... yay!

is the manitoba hydro financing plan a good thing?

is there a particular water tank installation company to go to or to avoid?


Is installing my own Eletricity based hot water tank a good thing?

Its currently a natural gas one, but I know I can install electrical ones myself. Is there a problem converting?

awesome .. apparently I can get

Factory installed Nipples

The advice I received when I was at this juncture, was that with a family, one should get a larger capacity hot water tank if going electrical because it takes longer to heat the water. For example, going from a 40 gal natural gas tank to a 60 gal electrical one.

If you have a high-efficiency furnace, or forsee yourself converting to one (they vent out the side of the house as opposed to a chimney stack), then going electric with the hot water tank will allow you you get the chimney capped off, improving the heat loss situation there...

The same plumbing throughout is fine for natural gas vs electrical, but when I inquired about on-demand water heating, they said the plumbing would have to be upgraded to 1/2 pipes.

Deank wrote:awesome .. apparently I can get

Factory installed Nipples

Much better than those after-market nipples!

Stick with gas man. If Hydro ever raises rates as they maybe ought to you might be in fer an unpleasant surprise.

Would not switching back to gas at some point in the future be an option if the hydro rates rise that much?

And how much of a difference could it make and extra 5 bucks per month?? ( seriously I have no clue)

Deank stick with gas, heats much faster than electric so if there are more than 2 people showering in the morning, there is no issue with running out of hot water. The other thing to consider is possibly getting a bigger tank if you have a large family (5+) and plan on staying in the home for more than 10 years.

the 40 gallon gas we have generally does okayish. 3 people can usually shower before the water gets too cold. unless one of those people is my 17 year old son who manages to drain it straight to cold every morning. Even then its like 15-20 minutes and its back to good to go. Would I need need a 60 gallon gas fired as the kids all get older?

Deank installing an electric hot water tank is really not complicated and if you need help and or just borrow some tools (I have all tools req. and then some) just send me an email and I will see what I can do for you and one way or the other you can get a new electric hot water tank for under $500.00 and the biggest problem that usually happens when trying to convert from gas to electric is the amount of room and or breaker "amps" capacity you have in your electrical panel and then the old gas line that went to your old gas hot water tank has to be properly "Capped Off to Code" which you will have to have a licensed dude with a "B" (Gas) ticket which I do not have and if your hot water tank is already electric I would simply leave it that way and those that say gas heats faster than electric as far as I am concern it is just BS and because we have had both and I prefer electric any day...and I looked into the on demand hot water 2 yrs ago and both for either electric (hard to find) and or gas (easy to find) and it was a $3000.00 to $5000.00+ touch to purchase plus install...GGF

It's not "BS" is is just a difference of opinion. What do the "experts" say vis-a-vis gas versus electric?

Deank you also have to have the space available in the hot water location to accommodate a 60 gal instead of a 40 gal...and or it has to make it down the stairs etc to your basement if you have any etc...The two are considerably different in sizes etc...GGF

We replaced ours about a month ago.

The previous one was on the no-questions asked Centra Gas plan ( call an installer and the cost will automatically be added to your hydro bill)

Now you need to go down to Hydro, fill out the app, etc, etc.

Ours crapped out on a Sunday - while most dealers say they have service on the weekend all that means is that you get a voice at the call center in texas.

We actually went with Home Depot. You have to go down to the store to buy it, pay for the installation and then the installer ( local sub-contractor) calls you and sets a time for either that day or the next.

I think they were about $200 cheaper than the other places we called. And if you put it on your Home Depot card, there is no payments for at least 6 mos.

I actually looked at comparison studies a few years ago GOM and the difference is minimal between the two because they have come a long way with the electric ones...and mainly because of the green thing and Sorry but I don't know where I stashed the study...GGF

Some enlightening reading...
http://www.consumerenergycenter.org/home/appliances/waterheaters.html
http://www.seattlepi.com/athome/269765_smart13.html
http://www.hometips.com/buying-guides/water-heaters-gas-electric.html

The last link say's: Gas is both cheaper and much faster at heating a tankful of water.

Here is what I always love to observe...Where was the study or comparison conducted and what where their Hydro or gas rates used in relation to what MB's are?...GGF

Those comparisons are completely dependant on local gas and electricity rates. Electrical is dirt cheap here and natural gas prices are a lot more volitile. It's possible that gas is minimally cheaper but it's tough to say. Running an electrical tank defininitely isn't expensive.

Heat up rates probably aren't as good, but you can get different models that put out different amounts of electricty. The number of watts is going to be directly proportional to heat release in the tank. If you really want efficiency you should go with a programmable one so it's not sitting there wasting energy all day when you're not using it. If you really have only one peak time (morning) the size of the tank is much more important than the heatup rate, but if you get a larger tank you're wasting more energy on heat loss throughout the day so a programmable one will be more beneficial.

UmcroucO...greeblok...and you can also purchase "hot water tank blankets" to keep the heat in the tank etc...GGF

The drain valve at the water heater’s base is used for draining the tank or flushing sediment out of it. This important maintenance step should be done once or twice a year, according to the manufacturer’s recommendation.

I've never thought to do this... hmmmm

FlyingRat...Yeah that removes the crap and corrosion that forms on the bottom of your tank...and if you need to drain it further down somewhere in your basement then just hook up a garden hose to it so it will reach etc...GGF

make sure to turn the heat down and use all the hot water first rat!

then attach a garden hose and let er rip./

word of warning, sometimes those valves dont close properly once opened

Our gas HWT's sticker says it was made in 1996...I figure it owes
nothing. It's been getting real flaky some days. Probably on it's way
out, and so I've been wondering the same things as DeanK.

Ideally I'd like to upgrade to a on-demand system if I could afford it. But I didn't know that doing so would require upgrading my current water infrastructure to 1/2" pipe. So that will have to be taken into consideration. My basement ceiling isn't finished, so I do have access...and I will be putting in a suspended ceiling later on.

Would it be cheaper to rip out the old copper plumbing and replace it with Pex? Or stick with copper in a retrofit like this?

(side question: will anyone give you get a credit for all that copper, or would you have to take it yourself to a scrap yard? lol)

Yeah FlyingRat I forgot to mention that you better shut the water off also because your tank will just continue to refill itself...GGF

JT Estoban pickle me:

Would it be cheaper to rip out the old copper plumbing and replace it with Pex? Or stick with copper in a retrofit like this?

(side question: will anyone give you get a credit for all that copper, or would you have to take it yourself to a scrap yard? lol)

Copper over pex...Pex is more expensive to buy then copper, and pex is quicker/easier to install and when you compare the cost of both and if you have a plumber etc installing your pipes...It's cheaper to go with pex because there is far less labor cost involved..and...

And if you install it yourself...Copper is cheaper because it is just more labor intensive..and...

And yes there are plenty of places you can take the old copper pipes in and get a bit of coin for them if you want to take the time and trouble to do so...Warning however...It's not worth anywhere near what some people say it is...GGF

Darn gremlins out again?...GGF

You want JT Estoban to pickle you? Strange...