Mystery pipe?

$237, plus $33.98 for the flex hose connector kit, in December 2011 at Lowes. The relief valve is on the side of the tank near the top. The tank that leaked was installed in 1987. The thermostat is at 120F which may extend the life of the elements and the tank. When I need hotter water to scrub pots I heat a teakettle.

Just in case there is some confusion, this apparent pressure relief thingy is on the cw LINE, not on the tank. My tank has a built-in one, as well, as I'm pretty sure was mandated by law at least 20 years ago.

So I'm going to scrap the one on the line.

That's a great price -- 40-50 gal, I presume. I got my 50 gal kenmore a bunch of years ago on sale for $160, now I see them for close to and over $1000!!! At both Sears, HD.... wtf???? I'll check out Lowes. I really should start preparing for when mine goes.... it's way overdue....

new tanks are more efficent and safer too.....

although electric tanks are 100% efficent less standby losses newer foam insulation cuts operating expenses dramatically

new tanks are more efficent and safer too.....

although electric tanks are 100% efficent less standby losses newer foam insulation cuts operating expenses dramatically =================================================

I wonder what the bottom line is, cost-wise? Or better yet, cost-to-own-over-10-years- wise, what with electricity being more expensive, but then more efficient. There should be boucou tests on this. Sounds like a good thread..... :) I'd consider an electric. But I think the regenerative time of gas is faster?

Funny, gas seems to predominate in water heaters, electric in clothes dryers..... Poss. cuz the H20 combustion product dudn't help the drying process??

An overpressure in the tank should pressurize the inflow and outflow too.

it is some sort of weird attempt at a drain line going outside?

I see very little difference between the new foam and the old fiberglass ones. With add-on blankets both use a bit over 1 KWH per day, the bill was for 33 KWH last month. Without the blanket the foam one used 1.5 KWH/day. I didn't record the old one before installing the blanket. Both pipes are insulated up to the ceiling. I set up a spreadsheet to extrapolate the daily use from shorter meter reading intervals so showers and laundry wouldn't interfere.

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Depends on where you are, gas is popular where gas is cheap, the folks had gas water heating and a gas clothes dryer for 40 years, most of the neighbors had the same. Newer parts of town had houses that were all-electric, there was that scare back in the '70s where we were running out of NG and they stopped permits for it.

Electricity is going to go nowhere but up, what with power plants being shut down per Big O's war on coal. Unless he puts the skids on natural gas exploration, gas will continue to be the cheaper option along the pipelines.

Stan

How about a photo?

In NYS, there is a public ed campaign going on, about the "dangers of fracking". From what I can figure, in PA, they do a LOT of hydro fracturing to get the natural gas out of the ground, and no one seems to think it's dangerous. In NYS, I used to see a lot of signs with the circle slash "/FRACK/". I suspect that's part of the admin's war on business and war on cheap, effective products.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

Depends on where you are, gas is popular where gas is cheap, the folks had gas water heating and a gas clothes dryer for 40 years, most of the neighbors had the same. Newer parts of town had houses that were all-electric, there was that scare back in the '70s where we were running out of NG and they stopped permits for it.

Electricity is going to go nowhere but up, what with power plants being shut down per Big O's war on coal. Unless he puts the skids on natural gas exploration, gas will continue to be the cheaper option along the pipelines.

Stan

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natural gas prices are dropping thanks to domestic drilling, and even before that electric was far more expensive to heat water or dry clothes... plus recovery time of electric water heaters is slower.

Especially if the water supply has a working pressure regulator on it - I'm still putting off adding an expansion-tank to the cold wqater supply at the HWH.

no tank needed if supply pressure isnt too high, and you dont have a check valve on your main

It requires less energy than heating cold water.

Yea, you can always use a solar heating system to preheat water. ^_^

TDD

Except it cools way down on the way back from the sun. ;-)

Correction: If water supply has a *check-valve*, Not sure if pressure regulator would figure in or not to the way the HWH over-pressurizes it's supply line.

Sorry for the misinfo, thanks to the earlier poster who caught the mistake, would have replied to you but I inadvertently deleted the msg.

The outlet should go to a _safe drain_ as once it opens it is likely to remain that way and continue to run water at the system pressure.

Harry K

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Gas in any heating appliance will be cheaper to run than electric.

Harry K