Question: What is the best way to make it easier for a family of four to take back to back showers?  1. Install a larger water heater.  2. Make your teenage daughter live elsewhere.  3. Install a thermostatic mixing valve. 4. Any or all of the above.  No, the answer does not necessarily HAVE to be #2!  The answer probably is #4, although we don’t recommend relocating family members.  The answer is both 1 and 3, and there are a few variables which will determine which one would be best for you.  The most costly solution would be to simply replace your water heater.  Of course, this would only make sense if it were fairly old (over 8-10 years in most cases).   There is however a less costly alternative to replacing the entire tank, and that would be to install a thermostatic mixing valve and turning up the temperature on the water heater.  By doing this, you are increasing the BTU’s, or stored energy,  inside of the tank and you are actually “stretching” the capacity of the heater.  Yes, it is still the same volume, but it now requires less hot water from the tank to get to the temperature you desire at the taps.  While it is possible to simply turn the water heater up without a mixing valve, this is a very dangerous practice, and is never advised.  The risk can present itself very severely, especially if you have an older home without pressure balanced shower valves.  Second and third degree burns are a very real possibility.  A thermostatic mixing valve (TMV) has an inlet for the hot water, an inlet for the cold water and a mixed outlet.  Installing this device is a MUST if you are ever to turn your water heater above 120 degrees.  The mixing valve will prevent the higher temperature water stored inside of the tank from ever reaching the taps, and your skin.   

Although this topic is focused on increasing the capacity of your water heater for enjoyment purposes, there is however another, more important reason for doing so.   Legionairres disease is mistakenly thought to be uncommon.  This is mainly because of misdiagnosis’ and unreported cases.  Many times the disease only strikes a few at a time, and rarely get the publicity of other ailments that sicken many at a time.   Legionairres disease is caused by the strain of bacteria known as legionella.  Legionella breeds very aggressively in stagnant water temperatures between 95 and 115.  This means if your water heater is only set to 115-120, it will be well within the breeding range most of the time as the temperature dips 10-20 degrees until the heater “calls” for more heat.  Installing a thermostatic mixing valve and turning up your tanks temp above 140 degrees will help keep your family safe, and in the shower longer!    

This is a relatively simple job for an experienced plumber, and will definitely be money well spent. 

Kohler K-13601 Thermostatic Mixing Valve – To purchase click on the image above.
You can count on this thermostatic mixing valve and all Kohler supplies to keep your fixtures at optimal performance. The valve mixes hot and cold water to allow for a wide range of temperature selections or fixed settings. Solid brass construction ensures years of reliable use. Kohler K-13601 Thermostatic Mixing Valve Features: Solid brass construction ensures years of reliable service Mixes hot and cold water allowing for a wide range of temperature selections or fixed settings Kohler Lifetime Limited Warranty.

Death, taxes, and water heater failures.  Those are certainties we know for sure.  We have sloshed around in a few basements recently replacing water heater tanks that over stayed their welcome.  There really is no telling when your tank will decide to “spill it’s guts” all over your floor.  Two of the water heaters that we recently replaced were only 5 years old and 7 years old.  Unfortunately for the latter, the brand they had, and the brand we also install, Bradford White, offers a 6 year warranty on their tanks.  There was one similarity in both circumstances, well water.  Water heaters holding well water will almost always fail before their city water fed counterparts.

There are a few things you may wish to consider either now, or on your next water heater replacement.  Preventative maintenance is always a nice option if you just take the stance that your going to spend it anyway, might as well do it before it causes a problem and a mess. You can always replace the heater BEFORE it floods your basement.  From my experience, (this is not an official statistic) the average life expectancy of a water heater is about 8-12 years.  If you are over the 12 year mark, you are on borrowed time, ESPECIALLY, if you are on well water. Sure, there are tanks out there that are 20-25 years old.  Those are the exception to the rule, and very impressive. If you would like to gamble, or your heater is in an area where it won’t cause much of a mess or damage, you can simply maintain it.  Two things that will give the tank longer life would be annual, or semi-annual flushing of the tank and changing the anode rod every 3-5 years.  The anode rod is a piece of metal designed to sacrifice itself to the conditions of the water, thus protecting your tank. This may need to be done by a plumber.

Another option you have is to install a water heater pan and run a drain line to a floor drain.  If your water heater fails, or if the T&P valve opens, the pan will catch it and it will drain into your floor drain and not cause a mess. 

One last thing you can do is to install a water alarm.  The water alarm is a valve that is installed on the cold water inlet of your water heater and is designed to close when it detects water on the floor.  Keep in mind, when your water heater blows, it still has incoming water at FULL PRESSURE.  This means that if you are away from home or sleeping, if can potentially give off MUCH more than the 40-50 gallons that it holds!  The water alarm shutoff will prevent this. 

If your heater does decide that it has had enough of this life, turn off the water feed at the top of the tank, turn off the gas valve, attach a hose and let the draining begin! (And give us a call)

Do you hear water running??????

Do you have a faucet, or faucets in your home that seem to take forever for the water to get hot.  Do you ever flip the hot on, wait, get impatient and wash your hands in the water that isn’t hot yet, and then turn the water back off before the water ever gets hot?  Or are you one of the virtuous ones that actually has patience, and you stand there like a rock, staring blankly at yourself in the mirror, or at the running, wasted water going down the drain until it gets hot?  If this is you, it is time to take a stand, and say enough is enough.  There is no need to wait for 1,2 or even 3 minutes for the water to warm up.  This does not seem like much I suppose, but if you have ever experienced instant hot water, you will never go back.  Remember that old dial up connection you used to have, and then when you switched you wondered how you used to live like that?  This is a comparable situation. 

In this ever-increasing green world we are living in, it is starting to seem more important than ever to conserve such a precious resource.  Most of the time, a hot water recirculating system will cut the time you wait by at least 75%, and at least one faucet will be almost instant.  This is because the recirculating system gets tied into the furthest possible point from your water heater (at a faucet), and returns back to the heater, creating a “loop”.  Most times a pump isn’t even necessary.  Convection is able to push the water through the loop on it’s own.  If your installation does require a pump to work properly, you can even put it on a timer just like your Christmas lights.  This way, you will not have a pump running while you are sleeping and no one is using hot water.

While it is true that a recirculating system will use slightly more energy (keeping the water warm, and keeping a pump running), it will not amount to much.  Remember, you will be saving water.  Also, if you wait for hot water at a particular faucet for a long time, to simply wash your hands, think about what you are doing.  You drained your hot water line of all the cold water, filled it with hot water, to use about 4 cups to wash your hands.  Now your water line is sitting there full of hot water, that is probably just going to cool down before you use it again.  This process continually repeats itself, and each time may trigger your water heater to fire up, thus wasting energy. 

If your water heater is 25 feet away from the faucet you want to use, you could be wasting over a 1/2 gallon of water every time you wait for hot water!

If you are tired of standing there at the shower, disrobed, waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting…….STILL waiting, for the hot water to arrive, there is hope!

https://allareaplumbing.net/

Lately, there seems to be a lot of hype, propoganda, confusion, and misinformation surrounding the ever popular tankless water heater.  Let me begin by saying that I am not going to purposely bash the units, (I actually think they are pretty cool), I am simply going to try and separate the facts from fiction.  This discussion will only pertain to gas fired models, as electric units will struggle to meet the demands of the average size family (mom, dad, 2.4 children).  Not to mention, most homes would require a service upgrade to accomodate a large enough heater. 

Let’s get straight to the top of most peoples minds:  Do you save a lot of money with a tankless water heater.  The answer may surprise you, and it is not really staright forward either.  Well, what is “a lot” of money.  An average family may save about $70-$100 per year versus a standard tank type. Not a lot, but the savings are there.  Now, let’s start factoring everything else into the equation.  The cost of the unit itself (for a good brand and model) will run between $500-$1000 more than a tank type.  Now, factor in all the additional labor that will be involved.  The gas feed line will need to be increased substantially, and the vent will need to be redone.  Labor will be at least $750 more than just having your tank type swapped out.  Also, a tankless will require yearly maintenance to remove the scale and calcium buildup on the inside of the burners to ensure it will be working to capacity.  This will be at least $75.  If you add all of this up, it doesn’t take too much thought to realize it is going to take you A LONG time to recoup that $70-$100 per year that you were saving.  The life expectancy of most units is about 20 years.  You may NEVER recoup the costs. 

Since I am writing from Michigan, I will also point out another achilles heal for these units.  You must first understand how they operate.  To get the water hotter, an internal diaphragm must close slightly to slow the water down so that it stays in the burner longer.  This is what determines the gallons per minute output.  Tankless water heaters are all about the “rise” of the water temp.  The colder the incoming water, the more the diaphragm must constrict to allow it to heat, thereby leading to less gallons per minute output you will recieve.  Back to Michigan, our incoming water is VERY cold (in case you just moved here…… from the MOON).  Tankless heaters do not deliver the same gallons per minute output in the north as they do in the south.  The better brands will still be able to satisfy most families most of the time, but there may be times they cannot.  Two tankless heaters running in tandem is also an option, but remember our little math equation.  If you happen to live in the south, you could always mount in on the outside of the house. 

OK OK OK, so you are still convinced they are the way to go.  They do have some nice benefits.  The main advantage to a tankless is that you will never run out of hot water.  Yes, I am aware this can easily trump all of the disadvantages.  Some models even have an internal recirculating pump built right inside so that you don’t have to wait for hot water either.  Remember, tankless hot water does not mean instant hot water.  You will still have cold water sitting in your lines that will need to be emptied.  A giant soaking bathtub, a carwash shower with multiple body sprays and shower heads, or twice the normal size family with 4.8 children (yes, i’m aware that the family isn’t twice the size, only the amount of children is). would all benefit from endless hot water. 

If you are looking to ride the green wave, and simply want to save natural resources, then a tankless is the way to go.  Keep in mind though, a tank type does not really use that much more gas to keep it at temperature.  Insulation built into the tanks is vastly superior to what it used to be.  They also make models with extra thick insulation.

Tankless models are very nice, don’t get me wrong.  I just felt that too many people have been misinformed by the actual savings they will  produce.  They are efficient, but not necessarily economical.  

Best Wishes!