So I have a 100gal 200k btu AO Smith water heater paired to a 350gal storage tank. All this services an 80 resident college dormitory(most of time there are actually only about 50 residents). The storage tank rusted out and must have been installed during construction of building as it must be cut up to remove. I’m looking for a smaller cheaper option for water storage. It needs to fit in space occupied by the rusty tank but has to fit thru a 36in door. I’m thinking I might not have to have a full 450 gal of hot water on demand. Right now the water heater keeps up with 50 unless it’s like shower in evening when a lot of showers and laundry are going. Someone told me to go buy 2 residential 50 or 80 gal heaters and use them as storage tanks because their even cheaper than ao Smith or BF White insulated storage tanks.
Hot water storage.
- Thread starter Jeeper
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do you have steam in the bld???? if so look up Patterson Kelly its a steam heated hwh… no storage needed no master mixing valve.....we have them in dorms with laundries and large commercial kitchen.....there is never a lack of hot water we have them all over the campus we have our own power plant that provides steam to almost all of the campus...so that would be a factor....if you install a residential hwh in a commercial setting you would effect the warranty
you can also look up burkay hot water heaters one heater and a storage tank can do a large dorm with a laundry they are gas fired
Diehard
In Remembrance
The following link will take you to an A.O. Smith Design Guide for water heaters . It's a PDF which you can download or read on your PC. That will give you a good idea as to what the requirements are(BTU and Storage Capacity) for quantities of hot water and/or numbers of showers, etc.
https://www.hotwater.com/lit/training/31795-000.pdf
AO Smith have various size storage tanks, which you are likely aware of.
You can of course compare prices of a few residential electric water heaters, which can serve as storage vs the larger storage tanks. Looks like those larger AO Smith only have a 5 year warranty.
If not already set-up for it, consideration should be given to generating and storing the water at higher temperatures and then temper the water when it leaves the storage tank. That would allow meeting you final HW requirements with less storage requirements.
BTW...Your existing water heater, being a 200K BTU is likely a commercial unit.
https://www.hotwater.com/lit/training/31795-000.pdf
AO Smith have various size storage tanks, which you are likely aware of.
You can of course compare prices of a few residential electric water heaters, which can serve as storage vs the larger storage tanks. Looks like those larger AO Smith only have a 5 year warranty.
If not already set-up for it, consideration should be given to generating and storing the water at higher temperatures and then temper the water when it leaves the storage tank. That would allow meeting you final HW requirements with less storage requirements.
BTW...Your existing water heater, being a 200K BTU is likely a commercial unit.
