water heater questions

[svtrichie]

Need a new water heater, wife works for ge so we can get a deal. Looking at this unit. It has to be in a 10x10 room or a room that is vented. It will be located off the garage with a fire rated door into it. Found fire rated louvers that will add more air into the room but wondering on what peoples thoughts are on the whole project. Or should I just go with a standard water heater and call it a day.


http://products.geappliances.com/ApplProducts/Dispatcher?REQUEST=SpecPage&Sku=GEH50DNSRSA

 

[HeelSpur]

Personally I would go with an electric job and be over it.

 

[Falcon67]

It should work in your climate if you have it installed in something like the house garage. One of those would have worked for us, but with no rebates or other help we were not going to pay the freight. It's taller than a standard heater and a lot heavier too. Most of the complaints I have read about them come from people up north that apparently didn't bother to read the environmental requirements before they bought one. Our house garage has already been over 100F, so one like that would be in heat pump mode here well over 80% of the year.

Don't know why you need a fire rated door in front of it. That's not a requirement here, anyway. We just bought an A O Smith 50 gallon because we had to have one RIGHT NOW and it was only $340, so that was that.

 

[Highbeam]

Pass on it. It's a novelty in its current state of development.

Noisy as heck too.

 

[JCoggin]

Rheem Marathon all the way....

JC

 

[toyotadriver]

I have that water heater and it's in my garage. I don't have solid figures yet but I'm estimating that it's saving $30 per month off my electric bill AND I still have the other electric water heater plumbed into the system. My house garage is cooler too. I'm a big fan of them. In the right location, it can save a lot of money. In the coldest weather we get, it's never below 40 degrees in the garage. In a colder climate, it might not work in the garage.

I plan to install one in the next house we build one day.

They are a bit noisy though so you need to mount it somewhere where the sound won't bother you.

There is a thread a few months ago about these very heaters.

 

[lzenglish]

Yes, The Good the Bad and the Pricey! (just kidding)! If I had a leaky HW heater that needed changing, I would just go to the big box store, and throw an electric one in for under 2 bills, with all the added piping, etc. I have owned, and still do (not in operation), the HW heat pump but, it is just one of those energy savers, that has too many moving parts, to save money in the long run. I would (and did), spend my money on a whole house fan, which I will discuss shortly.

Wayne