Comments on: Help my friends take hot showers

By: Deathmonkey

Deathmonkey — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 06:41:23 +0000

@ioresult While overall Electric Water Heaters are more efficient then gas heaters, because electricity is more expensive then gas per BTU, electric heater cost a much more to run in the long term. Electrics also have a lot lower FHR (first hour rating) so while a family of four could get by with a 40gal gas heater they would need a 80gal electric. So you have to sit there and keep a lot more water hot at all times. So basically electric heaters suck.

Your best bet now a days is a tankless gas water heater. While they are more expensive to buy they cost you a lot less in the long run.

By: ioresult

ioresult — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 02:46:02 +0000

Having an open flame in the house is scary. Tell them to get themselves an electric water heater!

By: HCN

HCN — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 19:29:58 +0000

Thomas Siefert and Elwood Herring… Again ditto. I usually have my speakers off, and dear hubby just had to replace a hard drive in his desktop. I thought my hard drive on my five year old laptop was crashing… So I backed it up. False alarm… this machine is still going strong.

By: Thomas Siefert

Thomas Siefert — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 07:50:12 +0000

@Elwood Herring: Ditto, spent five minutes trying to figure out why my Eee PC were making a funny noise. Didn’t have to do it on my hands and knees though, just lifted it above my head looking underneath it.

By: HCN

HCN — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 05:51:58 +0000

KC said “Water heaters can have a longer life than ten years. The oldest I’ve seen in continuous operation was an electric water heater installed in 1948. Modern glass-lined water heaters have the added advantage of not rusting out.”

Okay… though I read that the glass lining fails at connections and valves. Though we did not replace our water heater until it was 14 year old.

By the way our gas water heater is in the same small (well ventilated) room as the furnace. It is in the basement next to the basement bathroom, and it has a drain in the floor. There is a small piece of scrap garden hose attached to the bottom faucet on the water heater (look at yours, water heaters can serve as emergency water supplies, also it is where the glass lining is not possible so it may get rust there). Every so often I go down and drain some of the water to flush it.

My in-laws have come home to an inch of water in their basement from a failed water heater… they don’t have a utility room drain.

Oh, and Will… several years ago one of the electric heating units in my in-laws water heater decided to stop working. So they also had cold water. I am the one who discovered since we were staying there while we were fixing up a house we bought prior to moving in. So after a long day of scraping paint, pulling off wall paper and tearing out bind weed… I got to shower in cold water.

By: WJM

WJM — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 04:48:29 +0000

I prefer the flamy blueness.

By: Will

Will — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 03:43:27 +0000

Wooaa, I feel like I’m in the twilight zone, a week ago my water heater pilot light went out… and now when I relight it, it only stays lit for about a day before going out… I’ve been washing dishes with cold water . Also, I have 8 macs and 2 pcs littering MY house.

I think I’m just going to buy a new energy star electric water heater though, I’m sick of gas…