Your water heater is probably the most ignored of your major appliances. As long as it works, you aren’t going to give it a lot of thought. But it only takes one cold shower when old faithful finally conks out for you to be on the phone asking for repair or a replacement so tomorrow’s shower will be hot!
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Over time sediment builds at the bottom of the heater, which can hamper performance. A good professional will check this on an annual basis. He or she will check the drain valve for signs of leakage and the anode rods for corrosion.
Also important is a water heater burner inspection. A good way of telling is to check the flame under the water heater. It should appear blue with yellow tips. If it’s mostly yellow or you see a layer of soot and carbon, the flue ways may be clogged. Don’t try anything yourself at this point. Call a professional to investigate the situation.
Once a water heater has sprung a leak in it’s housing, it is beyond repair and must be replaced. If you have an ancient water heater, it may pay off for you to get it replaced even before it breaks down. Units made in the last 10-15 years have much higher operating efficiencies than older models. Saving in fuel costs often will pay for the new installation in just a few years.
There are a number of factors to consider when choosing the right size water heater. Just because you previously had a 40 gallon tank doesn’t necessarily mean this is properly sized for your home or family. The best place to start is to consider the peak demand that is typically required from your water heater. For many people, this is morning or before bedtime when most of the occupants of the house take showers and baths. Below shows about how much water is consumed for each activity:
Activity                                           Gallons per use
Shower/Bath                                      10-20
Shave                                             1-2
Face/Hand Wash                              1-4
Hand Dishwashing                     2-4
Automatic Dishwasher Cycle                12-14
Food Preparation                            3-5
Clothes Washing                            10-32
Next determine what activities occur simultaneously, or within close proximity and choose a heater that can handle the load. For example, for a family of four, one adult may shower at 7:30am using 15 gallons, then shave, using 3 gallons. Another adult might then shower at 7:45am using another 15 gallons. At 8am, breakfast preparation might consume another 3-5 gallons, and at 8:15am, two children wash their hands, using another 3-4 gallons. That adds up to around 40 gallons used in less than an hour.
Keep in mind that hot water supplied by a storage heater becomes cooler before the total capacity is used up because of the mixing of the incoming cold water needing to be heated.
Another important factor is how hot is the temperature setting on your unit? Choose a reasonable temperature that won’t scald family members, especially infants and the elderly. An infant’s skin in thinner and is more subject to burns than an adult’s. In fact, a setting of 125 degrees F can scald skin in about 90 seconds. At 130 degrees F, scalding can occur in about 30 seconds. We recommend a safe setting of 120 degrees F.