Water heater is a tool isn't it?

[IaLeo]

My 80 gallon elec. wtr htr has worked flawlessly for over ten years with two pair of adults, occasional triplet grandchildren, dishwasher, clothes washer and usual stuff. Question; when it comes time to replace it, what about those geo-type the elec. co. is pushing? Any one have good luck with them? How about occasional heavy demand? I soften all water use in the house (except the hose bibs and the geo furnace) as I have red-rust like stuff that the softner takes out. So far, I am good with the geo furnace but it has needed more attention ($$$) discharge problems,relay problems, maybe (freon?) problems, so much of the savings have been eaten up in service needs. That's what concerns me about a electro-mechanical water heater. The present one has not cost me any repairs, although I do not know what percentage on my electrical bill is used for water heating in this all-electric house.
Anyone have good or bad experience with these new type of water heaters? Thanks for reading and commenting.
Leo

 

[Greg K]

I've seen them in several houses, but I haven't heard anything about them one way or another.

 

[Dick2]

I've heard comments on a couple of home improvement shows that those didn't work out too well. I saw that the local Lowes put a low clearance price on the units that they had in stock and no longer stock them (at least in the stores here). Probably should do your own research and see what others say about them.

 

[DJ930]

When we put in geo in 2009, we put in two elec water heaters. one warms water from geo then goes to other wich heates the water. we haven't had a problem one with them.

 

[Chuck (CA)]

We bought one of the GE hybrid water heaters about 4 or 5 years ago and it's great. I don't have any numbers but it made a noticeable change in our utility bill, plus we got a pretty hefty rebate from our Electric Company. There's just the two of us, and it's 50 gal. Haven't run out of hot water yet.
HTH
Oh yeah! We refinanced shortly afterward and it added value to our home.

 

[Steve@Advance]

Being you already have a geo furnace, it might be feasible to go with the geo water heater, provided you could tie it in to the existing geo well.

Not sold on the heat pump water heater. They work by pulling heat from the air, putting it in the water.
So where do you get the heat? If it's outside, going to be fighting the cold, loosing heat that's been captured, fighting to get heat when it's really cold.
If it's inside, it will help cool the house in the summer, but in the winter it will be robbing heat from the house, no free ride there!

My concern with high tech water heaters is the extra cost, the repair costs, and tank life. Any problems will easily consume all the energy savings. Not sure if any have stainless or fiberglass tanks, but the new steel heater tanks sure aren't what they used to be!

So far, I'm sold on the Rheem Marathon heater. Just a basic resistance heater, uses standard replacement parts. But it's well insulated and uses a fiberglass, lifetime tank. All wetted parts are fiberglass, copper or rubber, nothing to corrode that can't be replaced.

 

[Andy Martin]

By geo furnace, do you mean ground source heat pump? If so, I think all of them come with a connection to heat water with the existing compressor, so it helps the heat pump cool in summer and does not appreciably affect the heat pump's ability to heat the house. If you are having water problems, does your furnace circulate water from a well or circulate fluid in a closed loop into the ground?

 

[IaLeo]

My geo furnace uses water from the well and "dumps" it into a nearby field drain tile. It does have connecting pipes to the electric water heater, entering and exiting the bottom of the heater. Leo