We've had a rental 40 gallon natural gas Rheem water heater for 16 years. It ran beautifully and unless you were in the laundry room with it, you would never know it was heating. Even standing in the same room you would only hear a very subtle burner noise. We thought we'd be proactive and not wait for a leak (or worse)... especially over the holidays. So we contacted Reliance who replaced it with a 40 gallon Giant GreenFoam unit last weekend.
When the installer was finished he informed me that the default temp for these heaters is set to 120 degrees, but he set it to 130 because that is a safer temp ("kills bacteria that causes Legionnaires disease") and helps with heating costs because you use less hot water. While I was listening to him explain that, I noticed a loud roar coming from the heater. I don't know anything about these units, so I asked "is that something burning off the new unit". He thought I was referring to a smell and said it would go away. I said I didn't smell anything, I was asking about the noise. He said that was normal for a new unit.
Over the next couple of days we were surprised at how loud the heater burner was, as we could now easily hear it roaring on the floor above. Not only that but we were having a hard time adjusting to the higher water temp, especially with two young children in the house. I decided to take a temp reading (meat thermometer) at the kitchen faucet - it read 150 degrees! That seemed excessive, so I did a little reading and then looked in the manual, and what he had told me was the default 120 mark was actually the 130 mark, and he had set it to between 140-150. I adjusted the temp dial down until the reading at the faucet was between 125-130.
The flame is a few inches high, blue with yellow flames licking around and it roars.
I booked a follow up service call because I am worried there is an issue causing what seems like an excessive flame and noise.
My questions are:
Thanks for any advise you can offer.
When the installer was finished he informed me that the default temp for these heaters is set to 120 degrees, but he set it to 130 because that is a safer temp ("kills bacteria that causes Legionnaires disease") and helps with heating costs because you use less hot water. While I was listening to him explain that, I noticed a loud roar coming from the heater. I don't know anything about these units, so I asked "is that something burning off the new unit". He thought I was referring to a smell and said it would go away. I said I didn't smell anything, I was asking about the noise. He said that was normal for a new unit.
Over the next couple of days we were surprised at how loud the heater burner was, as we could now easily hear it roaring on the floor above. Not only that but we were having a hard time adjusting to the higher water temp, especially with two young children in the house. I decided to take a temp reading (meat thermometer) at the kitchen faucet - it read 150 degrees! That seemed excessive, so I did a little reading and then looked in the manual, and what he had told me was the default 120 mark was actually the 130 mark, and he had set it to between 140-150. I adjusted the temp dial down until the reading at the faucet was between 125-130.
The flame is a few inches high, blue with yellow flames licking around and it roars.
I booked a follow up service call because I am worried there is an issue causing what seems like an excessive flame and noise.
My questions are:
- What temp do you suggest a water heater be set to (keep in mind we have young kids in the house, and no one is immune compromised)?
- What should the flame on the burner look and sound like?
Thanks for any advise you can offer.
