Hot water heater - advice

[scooterman]

Need to replace a gas hot water heater with direct venting. Currently have a 15 year old 75 gallon unit. 4 in family (three baths). Never take more than 2 showers at a time or within an hour (unless we have guests). But have growing kids. My plumber uses AO Smith. He suggested a 75 gallon replacement. I started to look into more efficient units and identified two: XGV-50 and the vertex (highly efficient) models.

The XGV-50 has 88 gallon first hour delivery but recovery of only 41 gallons. It has 40,000BTU input/hour and Energy factor of .62.

The Vertex model (GPHE-50) has 127 gallon first hour delivery, 92 gallon recovery but uses 76,000BTU input.

The 75 gallon unit doesn't have a first hour delivery rating, recovers 81 gallons and uses 75,100BTU (model PCG75 or FCG75).


I have no idea how best to make a decision. I want to be conscientious about energy usage but dont want to be in a situation where I'll regret having to take cold showers. Any thoughts or experience with these (or other) models?

Thanks,

Scott

[beenthere]

What BTU is your current 75 gallon.

[kdean1]

Have you considered the tankless models? It is much more efficient when a tank does not have to be kept hot between uses. We have a 5 year old Noritz in our house. My wife thought our gas bill was in error because one summer month the bill was $7.

[dan sw fl]

Control USE .. Duration * Rate < 16 gallons .:. 5 showers in 75-gallon tank

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_g...age_shower_use

[54regcab]

Have you considered the tankless models? It is much more efficient when a tank does not have to be kept hot between uses. We have a 5 year old Noritz in our house. My wife thought our gas bill was in error because one summer month the bill was $7.

Lucky you, our meter fee alone is $28...

[barriefurnacerepair]

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[motoguy128]

The Noritz are pretty good I've heard. There is also a Hybrid water heater that is good for preventing sandwiching....however, never put one in. Anyone have experience with that?

Navien has a model with a 1/2 gallon buffer tank and circulation pump that eliminates minumum flow requirements, reduced short cycling and "cold water sandwich". You can also set it up for automatic reciculation. So if you have a 2nd floor shower, if you run a 1/2" line to any fixture, you get instant hot water. IMO, it's a comfort/convience item well worth the extra energy use to keep the loop hot. I have this set-up at my house. Oh... and endless hot water at pretty much the maximum flow rate I can get out of the water supply is nice too.

[akelesis]

scooterman do you have a boiler or forced air. I would consider going with an in-direct water heater. they work good. tankless water heaters are over rated.

[akelesis]

scooterman do you have a boiler or forced air. If you have a boiler system i would consider going with a in-direct water heater. I personally think tankless water heaters are over rated.

[jpsmith1cm]

barriefurnacerepair

This is the Ask Our Pro's forum. In order to post a response here, you must have verified qualifications and have been approved by the AOP Committee. You may ask a question by starting a new thread.

You can find the rules for posting and qualifications here.

Additional infractions may result in loss of posting privileges.