Need to replace water tank, looking for recommendations

[cantbreak80]

Mike Walsh, and others...
You should read this from Watts:
http://www.watts.com/pages/learnAbout/thermalExpansion.asp?catId=64

 

[2Biz]

Exactly! And since we have back flow preventors, without the expansion tank, it could put unnecessary stress on plumbing and valves.

 

[mjwalsh]

Mike Walsh, and others...
You should read this from Watts:
http://www.watts.com/pages/learnAbout/thermalExpansion.asp?catId=64

Cantbreak80 & others,

Thanks for the heads up on other considerations for some domestic hot water systems with various tanks. We have over 120 gallons of hot water storage on the domestic hot water side of our boiler system with pressure gauges on the output side of the tanks & have never had a pressure increase related to temperature for about 30 years of looking at both the water input & output pressure gauges. What they wrote most certainly makes some engineering sense .... but for my situation & many others ... I think one would have to weigh the additional point of potential component failure with added expansion tank(s). I am referring to the expansion tank itself eventually going out. I am not convinced that there is enough added stress on other parts of the system ... such as car wash float valves etc & other components ... is enough to be concerned about.

I still say observing on a pressure gauge fluctuations just as observing how much pressure fluctuations occur from the city's water main is helpful in understanding gains in pressure from an ice cold tank to an extremely hot tank with added condition of no water being drawn out. We have our system sound an alarm immediately if temperature creeps up higher or lower than we prefer which could help some ... to make it less worrisome about that extra stress that the Watts people are referring to.

Slash007,

To avoid an excuse for the HTC to not honor a potential warranty need ... I would follow their instructions. I also would ask as a pre-sales question to their technical people in writing what the minimum expansion tank they require based on your pertinent information such as temperature & pressure fluctuations coming into their unit & the temperature that the controls of their hot water maker is set at for output.

mike walsh www.kingkoin.com

 

[2Biz]

If you go to supplyhouse.com they have a calculator to determine the size expansion tank you need. For a 50 gallon heater heating water to 140 degree's, you need the st-5 which is the one I have.

 

[Twodose]

Are you running this to a holding tank? Also it looks like it can be sidewall vented.

 

[2Biz]

If you go to supplyhouse.com they have a calculator to determine the size expansion tank you need. For a 50 gallon heater heating water to 140 degree's, you need the st-5 which is the one I have.

Correction...I installed the st-12 so I could use the Hydroclaw mounting clamp. There's not much difference in the price between the two tanks sizes. There is also an ST-8 for the same price as the st-12.

 

[soonermajic]

I bought a boiler, 265000btu, w\a holding tank, in a shut down wash. Guy is wanting to gimme $1400 for boiler & 75gal holding tank. Should I sell it & pocket the cash, keep it & take out my current small residential hot water heater (which can't keep up) & install this boiler/holding tank, or sell boiler/holding tank & my 9 month old hot water heater & buy 1 of those High Efficient hot water heater? My 3 SS/1 IBA is a very low useage Car Wash.

 

[MEP001]

If your auto doesn't use hot water, an on-demand heater will supply a 3-bay SS if you set it up right.

 

[Kevin James]

I bought a boiler, 265000btu, w\a holding tank, in a shut down wash. Guy is wanting to gimme $1400 for boiler & 75gal holding tank. Should I sell it & pocket the cash, keep it & take out my current small residential hot water heater (which can't keep up) & install this boiler/holding tank, or sell boiler/holding tank & my 9 month old hot water heater & buy 1 of those High Efficient hot water heater? My 3 SS/1 IBA is a very low useage Car Wash.

We'd sell it. 265,000 BTU is a lot for a 3 bay S/S. We've got 3 washes that the hot water has been turned off for years, no one seems to notice or has complained.

 

[2Biz]

On the flip side....Nobody ever complained when we didn't have hot water too. But...Since adding hot water, I get comments all the time how they love it! I even leave it on during the summer months. It doesn't cost much at all to operate.

 

[soonermajic]

What do you mean by "on-demand" hot water heater? I know of a tankless, which is what we have in the house. I know of your regular hot water heater, like we also have in grandparents home, & am getting somewhat familiar w/ the high efficiency Phoenix, luke a couple guys on here talked about...

 

[MEP001]

Tankless is on-demand.