Home Hot Water Heater
Home Hot Water Heater
(OP)
My house was built in 1995; we have hard well water, pH~8. My first water heater lasted almost 7 years but since then I've been replacing them every 2 1/2 years. I was wondering if a stainless steel water heater would stand up against hard water. I've seen some ads for tanks manufactured from 316L.
I've thought about softening the water but read that the salt could have negative effects on my groundwater; that's why I'm thinking of a stainless steel tank. Thanks for your replies (I still have 1 1/2 years to go).
I've thought about softening the water but read that the salt could have negative effects on my groundwater; that's why I'm thinking of a stainless steel tank. Thanks for your replies (I still have 1 1/2 years to go).





RE: Home Hot Water Heater
The hardness is not causing the corrosion, unless you are having scale form and getting corrosion under it.
Don't be afraid of water softeners. My current one demand meters so that it only re-gens when needed. I use <200lbs of salt a year which my septic field will easily handle.
Most SS tank units are actually fairly poor quality, there are some very good industrial ones, but they cost a fortune.
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P.E. Metallurgy, Plymouth Tube
RE: Home Hot Water Heater
RE: Home Hot Water Heater
EdStainless - I never thought about the anodes. It might be worth it to invest in a 3' section of pipe so I can get the bolt loose.
metengr - I did some research a while back on tankless heaters; mixed results. A friend of mine says they have them in his shop but he's less then impressed by them. He said the water is never really hot. Of course every installation is different.
RE: Home Hot Water Heater
RE: Home Hot Water Heater
One house that I lived in also destroy water heaters. I would remove the anode on the new one, coat the threads, and replace it every 12 months.
iron and Mn in the water is tough on them.
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P.E. Metallurgy, Plymouth Tube
RE: Home Hot Water Heater
Spray a liberal amount of penetrating oil on the connection and let it soak for at least 12 hours. Mine came right off with little effort after doing that.
RE: Home Hot Water Heater
Good point about penetrating oil.
RE: Home Hot Water Heater
I have a tankless water heater- stainless steel internal construction. No corrosion or scaling problems so far, but we have rather beautiful lake water as a supply.
RE: Home Hot Water Heater
RE: Home Hot Water Heater
blacksmith37 - what brand water heater do you have? My last 4 and the current one have been Bradford-White. Several years ago the plumber swore it was the best after he replaced the big box GE that I previously installed. Some years back I started to drain gallon or two every month but it doesn't seem to make a difference.
RE: Home Hot Water Heater
RE: Home Hot Water Heater
RE: Home Hot Water Heater
I used to drain some water four times a year, and gave it up when I got my new softener.
Old heaters were worse for having 'hot spots', and since most minerals are less soluble in hotter water they would scale.
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P.E. Metallurgy, Plymouth Tube
RE: Home Hot Water Heater
The real reason was efficiency, and a government program that made the upgrade basically free other than my own labour to install it.
I might install a small tank downstream of the tankless one day, to be turned off in summer but turned on in winter- it annoys me how much water you need to waste if you really need to wash your hands in hot water. Some of our hot water lines are pretty long, and it takes quite a while running a sink faucet for the water to get hot.
RE: Home Hot Water Heater
RE: Home Hot Water Heater
RE: Home Hot Water Heater
I have a neighbor that has three tankless units spread around the house, near each point of use.
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P.E. Metallurgy, Plymouth Tube
RE: Home Hot Water Heater
There are recirculating pumps that are used to save water.
http://us.grundfos.com/products/find-product/up-10...
RE: Home Hot Water Heater
RE: Home Hot Water Heater
RE: Home Hot Water Heater
RE: Home Hot Water Heater
RE: Home Hot Water Heater
There's nothing like it available over here, but definitely interesting. We have a fairly hard water in this patch of the country and heat exchangers fur up quickly.
RE: Home Hot Water Heater
Soften the water.
RE: Home Hot Water Heater
TTFN (ta ta for now)
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