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GAZETTE Newspapers
By: Arthur S. Lazerow
A
Elderly Water Heater
Question: Melissa from Mt. Airy wrote: “My 21 year old
gas water heater looks really badly rusted and our family runs
out of hot water when we all shower on Sunday morning getting
ready for Church. Do you recommend that we replace it soon?
How large a new one should we buy?”
Answer: Yes and bigger. Melissa, a water heater has a
statistical useful life span of ten to fifteen years, but
obviously some last longer. Twenty-one years is the outer limit
for any household water heater. A significant amount of rust on
the outer surface of your water heater is a warning, together
with the fact that the gas burner recovery rate is declining,
your water heater is telling you “Replace me before I leak.”
Count your blessings that this one lasted so long. A neighbor
of mine waited one day too long to replace their heater and had
a lake in the basement when their water heater failed and leaked
all night.
Sizing a water heater is an interesting exercise. The technical
service department of Rheem Manufacturing Company helped with
the following information. Over a twenty-one year period, as
your water heater aged, the requirements for the quantity of hot
water in your household clearly increased, with more people
perhaps, more laundry, babies, dishwashing and bathing.
To buy the properly sized water heater, think about your usage
patters and consumption. Is Sunday morning the time you use the
most hot water? For instance, if four people take their showers
within an hour period to get ready to go to church, you start a
load of laundry and turn on the dishwasher immediately after
Sunday breakfast, this may be your max usage.
Engineers call this the Peak Hour Demand. Peak hour
demand for water heating is the one-hour period during a typical
week in which the largest quantity of hot water is needed. It
may be for you Sunday morning. Another family may use the
maximum amount of hot water in mornings as adults shower for
work and the kids for school, all within one hour, with that
quick load of laundry and dishwashing to increase demand.
Use these consumption numbers, expressed as Average Gallons per
Activity and compute your family’s Peak Hour Demand: Shower or
bathing: 20 gallons; Shaving: 2 gallons; Hand/Face washing: 4
gallons; Hair shampoo: 4 gallons; Dishwashing by hand: 4
gallons; Automatic Dishwasher: 14 gallons; Automatic Clothes
Washer: 32 gallons.
By way of example, a family of three that showers within one
hour uses 60 gallons of hot water. Add one shave, one shampoo
and some dishwashing by hand, and 70 gallons are needed for that
one-hour period and defines the Peak Hour Demand for the
family. Every water heater manufactured today has a “first hour
rating” which indicates the initial storage capacity plus the
volume of water that will be heated within an hour of heavy use.
During home inspections, I routinely see 40-gallon gas water
heaters, 50-gallon electric water heaters, and then sizes jump
to 65, 75 and 100 gallons. A large family buying a new
construction house with five bedrooms, three and a half baths
and a whirlpool tub in the master bath will generally have a
75-gallon water heater. Use the above analysis in conjunction
with advice from your plumber and you will purchase the
correctly sized water heater.
Have a question relating to a housing or environmental issue?
To contact Mr. Lazerow, click on “Contact Us” at
Albaninspect.com. Mention “Gazette Newspapers” in your
question. Every question will be answered and some will be
included in this column.
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