Water Heater

Aintlifegrand · #1 05/24/07, 03:37 PM

Ok..here I go again. What size water heater do ya'll recommend for a house that has three full bathrooms ( 1 up and 2 down), 2 kitchen sinks, DW, Washing machine. Electric Water Heater...3 people living in the house.

Rocky Fields · #2 05/24/07, 04:45 PM

Hey.

50 gallon.

RF

morrowsmowers · #3 05/24/07, 05:01 PM

The 50 gal. is rated for a family of 6-9 people. However, if you are planning on all of you showering at the same time as well as running the washer or the dishwasher it may make sense for you. I would go with a 40 gal. but get one that is energy efficient and not just a base model.

You could also divide the hot water feeds into two parts and install two seperate hot water systems but that would get more complicated than you probably need to be.

If you are going to have any spa tubs or that sort of thing, you will need more hot water than normal usage. I once worked in a home that have 3 - 80 gal. hot water tanks and they were considering installing additional hot water heaters due to the high usage in spa tubs.

Ken in Glassboro, NJ

TxGypsy · #4 05/24/07, 05:11 PM

How many of the 3 people are teenage girls? That makes a LOT of difference. With that much water demand I'd put in 2 - 50 gal water heaters. You might consider putting at least one on a timer. If you have propane or natural gas you might be better off with an on-demand water heater.

WayneR · #5 05/24/07, 06:13 PM

Wrap the heater with additional insulation. Add extra to the top if it's electric. Insulate all of the hot water lines with foam insulation.

Locales with earthquake risk should anchor the heater to a wall to limit the possibility of a tip over. Get and install a screw on cap on the bottom drain.
They usually leak after flushing

rwinsouthla · #6 05/24/07, 06:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TxGypsy

How many of the 3 people are teenage girls? That makes a LOT of difference. With that much water demand I'd put in 2 - 50 gal water heaters. You might consider putting at least one on a timer. If you have propane or natural gas you might be better off with an on-demand water heater.

Ditto this. I have four girls, 9,6,3 and 1 and a clean freak wife. We have a 40 gallon for the front of the house (kitchen w/dw and w/d) and a 50 gallon for the back. I have 2 reg. sized tubs and one jacuzzi tub and one separate shower on it. I wish I had one bigger for the back with all of the ladies. If an when this one goes out, I'll search for a larger one, maybe 80 gallon if such a monster exists.

BTW, make sure you get some blankets for them and timers for the gas valves. After three years without them, I installed them and saw about a 30% reduction in the gas consumption. You would simply turn them off between the hours of 12 midnight and 5-6 am when you KNOW nobody would use the hot water. We also turn them off during the day as we aren't here.

cfabe · #7 05/25/07, 07:23 AM

I would go on board and suggest a 50 gallon if you are going to go with a storage type heater.

But the best solution really depends on how you are going to use the hot water. If you're going to use a high volume of hot water over a short time ( 3 showers at same time), a large storage tank is necessary. If you're going to use the water over a longer time (3 showers one after another) you might consider looking at a tankless heater. Storage units are good at supplying large demands for short times but then they run out of hot water, tankless are not good at supplying large # of uses, but they can perform indefinately.

Aintlifegrand · #8 05/25/07, 08:03 AM

Ok.. 50 gallon is it. No jacuzzi tubs and no two people use the showers at one time so I think that will be okay.

BTW: For the person asking Lowe's does have 80 gallon electric water heaters.

Thanks for your help,
Stephanie

BlueHeronFarm · #9 05/25/07, 08:15 AM

Three bathrooms? A dishwasher? No wonder you think life is grand.

We just put in a 40 with a trimer for our 1 bath, no DW (but we wash a lot of dairy equipment) -- We were really wanting an on demand heater, but we do not have gas. Take a look at the on demand heaters - very cool from an energy efficiency perspective.

Aintlifegrand · #10 05/25/07, 08:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlueHeronFarm

Three bathrooms? A dishwasher? No wonder you think life is grand.

We just put in a 40 with a trimer for our 1 bath, no DW (but we wash a lot of dairy equipment) -- We were really wanting an on demand heater, but we do not have gas. Take a look at the on demand heaters - very cool from an energy efficiency perspective.

LOL...you would just have to know how this happened..when the house plan was bought and planned out..I had four kids ( two of which were teen age daughters) so 5 bedrooms and three baths made sense..well from the time we bought the plan, began building the house ouselves nearly five years ago...3 of the 4 kids all got married and left home( life is indeed grand :baby04: ) So now it is just DH,DS and me..DS is 20 so you have to know he won't be there forever either...yes it is too big but there it is all built and I love it.