Opinions on AO Smith Vertex 100 96% Water Heater

[beenthere]

I believe six years on the whole thing. It's a Sears which sure looks like a AO Smith of the same class.

Might want to check your warranty paper work before you call them and get a surprise.

[Pneuma]

I just watched the video for the vertex on the ao smith site. It was installed in a house for a family of 5. It has the ability to use an additional hot water out for radiant heat, but you don't have to use it. Obviously the video raved about it, and never mentioned short cycling.

So why would this unit be considered oversized? My current 50 gallon ao smith water heater is 4 years old and has never run out of hot water since I installed all new low flow shower heads, but it used to before I switched them all. Plus I have kid #1 now which is starting to take a lot of baths. And kid #2 is on the way which will eventually mean more baths. And baths take up a lot of hot water.

If everyone still thinks it is oversized, then should I just consider a smaller vertex model? I still want the high efficiency and performance.

water heaters are rated both on storage capacity and recovery rate. A higher efficiency unit will have a higher recovery rate, storage tanks are used to store enough capacity to meet peak usage at a given recovery rate. So basically sizing a hot water heater is picking one that meets your peak useage. The two things that get you there, storage and recovery rate, are inversly proportional.

Some of the websites have calculators that you can size water heaters. I know Rheem has one.

[wptski]

Might want to check your warranty paper work before you call them and get a surprise.

Looked again. It has a six years on the liner for leaks and controls parts but after two years there is a labor charge.

It actually acted up and fixed itself last year, right around that two year mark too!!

[beenthere]

Looked again. It has a six years on the liner for leaks and controls parts but after two years there is a labor charge.

It actually acted up and fixed itself last year, right around that two year mark too!!

Trust me. It did not fix itself. Symptoms went away. problem was still there.

[tomwk]

I contacted 2 different reps at AO Smith and both assured me that I would not experience a short cycling problem - especially not one that would drastically affect the life of the unit - even if I am not using it to its full potential.

So I am going to go with it and take my chances.

Thanks for all the opinions.

[hivacer]

If you are switching out your furnace too then you could do the polaris and a hydronic air handler and then the polaris can heat your home and your water and you only need 1 set of pvc sidewall vents, less gas piping etc, add in a little hydronic piping and controls and your all set

[motoguy128]

FWIW, I was looking at the Vertex, and ultimately put in a Navien because it used standard PVC pipe (I think Rannai uses special pipe or adapters), both heat exchangers are stainless steel and it has a 1/2 gallon storage tank and recirculation pump on the "A" models, which combined with and extra 1/2" pipe to any fixture in the home, gives you isntant hot water. It passed the 1 year makr and no issues. Very little debris in the strainers, but you do have to keep up on cleaning the inlet screen. The amount of crap on there makes me wonder if all HE furnaces should have a cleanable screen if the intake is anywhere near the ground outdoors. Mostly river bugs (annoying little moths... I like near a river) grass slippings and bits of leaves and debris that would clog up the burner. The overall cost was slightly less and hot water capaicty in endless wiht constant temp up to about 5GPM where I am in mid winter with 35F incomming water temps.

IF you have any water quality issues, I would only go with a storage tank unit and keep replacing the anode rod regularly. I'd also look at a storage tank like the Polaris that has a Stinless steel liner. With poor water quality, the glass lined tank like the Vertex won't last long.

Also, in terms of effcency, the Vertex is only going to be 96% efficient if you keep the water temps around 115F. Effciency will drop I suspect above that since incomming water temp determines you minimum flue gas temp and how much heat you can extract out of the flame.

[BadgerBoiler MN]

The Polaris is the premium unit with a stainless steel tank and coil, PVC vent, sealed combustion, super-insulated and with burner input to 199mbtuh. Fill the big tub and recover faster than most tankless with the same combustion efficiency. We use them to heat space and not water in new construction and retrofits with radiant floors and fan coils. There are no substitutes.