Comments on: Choosing a Hot Water Heater

By: Ben Erickson

Ben Erickson — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:08:38 +0000

Ray,
Since a gas hot water heater uses a lot of gas when it’s running, it sounds like to me that either the water heater shares an undersized gas line with your stove or the line running to your stove isn’t large enough to provide enough gas when the water heater is running.

By: Ray

Ray — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:59:42 +0000

I have a 40 gallon water heater that shuts off when it reaches the desired temperature. It runs on propane. When it is heating the water in the tank, for some reason my stove flame is very low. When the water heater shuts off, the stove flame goes back to normal. Is this caused by the water heater? By replacing the water heater, will the stove function normally?

By: Russ

Russ — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 18:49:32 +0000

So many tank-type water heaters do not have drain valves in them today for some reason… and yet, all of the DIY sites tell you at some point to access your drain valve to help drain the tank and do routine service. Arg! How aggravating! AND most water heater sites do not mention that today’s water heaters may not have a drain. Is this a conspiracy to make us have to buy a whole new water heater rather than perform simple routine maintenance?

By: kier mizuik

kier mizuik — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 22:30:42 +0000

i am glad you , at lest started to open the door about heat pump hot water heaters ,
i do distribute a product called the Nyletherm-1 ,here in Canada , but made in Maine U.S.A. by Nyle Special Products .
i would like to add , that my research states that a 40 gallon tank ele.hot water tank uses 12.8 amps of power , and a 60 gallon tank uses 16.0 amps of power ,
now with a nyletherm-1 ,domestic hot water heat pump that uses only 4.7 amps of power when used with the same two tanks discribed above .
thats 2/3 savings per/year on the 40 gallon,and 3/4 savings on the 60 gallon .
15 year warrenty and 3-4 year pay back , and it dehumidifies 1 quart / hour as it runs .
about 4 hrs for a 60 gallon , it also makes A/C about 6000btu’s worth or a temp drop of 1degree in a 15×20 space nominal even in winter , as most systems are installed near or in furnace rooms taking advantage of waste residual heat from that type of equipment. thank you very much and if you send me your questions at my web site , and your return email i will do my best to answer. heatpumpproducts.com

By: Ben Erickson

Ben Erickson — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 13:24:42 +0000

Lee,
Thanks for your input. While the tax credit for solar is mentioned in the article, it wasn’t included in the payback calculations since not everyone will qualify if they don’t owe enough in taxes to take advantage of the credit.

By: Lee

Lee — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 16:31:30 +0000

Solar water heating paybacks are more in the range of 3 to 6 years with the 30% federal income tax credit factored in. Starting in 2008 Louisiana is offering a 50% income tax credit for solar water heater costs on top of the federal tax credit (80% total).