Save money if I replace my water heater?

[IanEric]

Hello all - great to find this resource!

My home (purchased 2 years ago) has a Ruud "Solar Servant" water heater. It is just over 10 years old, and in Arizona with our hard water, it's at least getting close to needing replacement.

This water heater has a single UPPER element, and "solar" section at the bottom which is NOT hooked up to anything. So basically, I have an 80 GALLON water heater with a single 4500 watt upper element. This seems very inefficient to me, though my electric bills are still pretty low...

For the first time a few days ago, I actually ran out of hot water, which tells me it might be time to replace.

I live alone, so an 80 gallon tank is TOTAL overkill. Especially if it is inefficient....

I'm considering buying a new, dual-element, more "standard" water heater in the 40 gallon range. This should cost me under $300, and I'm wondering if I'll see some savings on my electric bill to make it all worthwhile to do now, rather than wait for the monster 80 gallon tank to truly fail which could be another few years....

Without expecting real dollar figures, any idea what my savings might be - if any?

FYI - I contacted Ruud's customer support both by phone and email. After 40 minutes on hold on the phone, I got disconnected. And by email, they won't give me any efficiency info since it's not running the solar portion. They didn't even provide the EnergyGuide ratings for a unit that was hooked up completely....finding this company pretty useless at this point....

Thanks for any info!

 

[Zanne]

Hello all - great to find this resource!

My home (purchased 2 years ago) has a Ruud "Solar Servant" water heater. It is just over 10 years old, and in Arizona with our hard water, it's at least getting close to needing replacement.

This water heater has a single UPPER element, and "solar" section at the bottom which is NOT hooked up to anything. So basically, I have an 80 GALLON water heater with a single 4500 watt upper element. This seems very inefficient to me, though my electric bills are still pretty low...

For the first time a few days ago, I actually ran out of hot water, which tells me it might be time to replace.

I live alone, so an 80 gallon tank is TOTAL overkill. Especially if it is inefficient....

I'm considering buying a new, dual-element, more "standard" water heater in the 40 gallon range. This should cost me under $300, and I'm wondering if I'll see some savings on my electric bill to make it all worthwhile to do now, rather than wait for the monster 80 gallon tank to truly fail which could be another few years....

Without expecting real dollar figures, any idea what my savings might be - if any?

FYI - I contacted Ruud's customer support both by phone and email. After 40 minutes on hold on the phone, I got disconnected. And by email, they won't give me any efficiency info since it's not running the solar portion. They didn't even provide the EnergyGuide ratings for a unit that was hooked up completely....finding this company pretty useless at this point....

Thanks for any info!

I'm no expert, but have you considered a tankless water heater? It only heats water when you need to have it heated. I've heard it heats very quickly. I have a tank type and it takes a long time for hot water to come out, but the only benefit is when I lose power (which shuts off the water pump-- since I have a well system) and the tank still has some water in it so I can get a few bursts of water out before the taps are dry.

You might also want to look in to tax breaks for getting a more efficient heater. I heard that there are some special deals if you go tankless, but I haven't really looked into it. If you are looking to reduce your electric bill and be more energy efficient, it might be something to consider.

They are more expensive to start out with, but I've heard the energy savings make up for it. Hopefully someone who knows more about the water heaters can weigh in here.

More about the tax credits: http://energy.gov/savings

 

[phishfood]

Retrofitting to an electric tankless pretty much never makes sense. The cost of the electrical work that has to be done to accommodate it never makes financial sense.

I would go with a 30 or 40 gallon electric tank. You can get some increased efficiency units that have thicker insulation, saving you a little bit of energy there. To be honest, you won't notice a huge decrease in your electric bill.

 

[Matt30]

I would never go electric tankless. Waste of money.

As phish said, 30 or 40 gallon tank would suffice. If I could expand on that, you will probably find a 40 gallon tank to be cheaper in price to buy.

 

[Mr_David]

40 Gal might be a little more efficient.
Heating and maintaining half as much water.

 

[Zanne]

Ok, so I stand corrected, a smaller tank would be better. heh. I wonder how hard it would be to get the solar power option working. I knew a guy who had a house built and had solar panels to power his water heater-- but that was on a sunny tropical island.

 

[phishfood]

From the time I was in my early teens up until a couple of years ago, my Mom had solar hot water at her house. Even with all of us kids taking showers, her doing laundry all of the time, etc, we only ran out of hot water when we had multiple cloudy days in a row.

 

[IanEric]

Thanks for the input, everyone.

Connecting the solar portion is not really an option I'm interested in. The water heater is over 10 years old, and I'm certain it hasn't been drained/maintained over that time. I live in the Phoenix area of Arizona, and our water is quite hard. In fact, the expected useable efficient lifespan of a water heater is only 10-12 years. Even if I figured out how to use the solar section of the heater (no clue, really), that would be money wasted on equipment when the whole tank will likely need replacement soon.

I'm simply trying to figure out how (in)efficient this water heater may be having an 80 gallon capacity and only a single upper element. My electric bills are already pretty low during non-summer months, but every bit counts.

Trying to decide whether to replace now or roll the dice for a little while longer....

I must say, Ruud/Rheem customer service has been of little to no help. They can't provide ANY information on efficiency or EnergyGuide numbers without the solar hooked up, and my request for the ratings for a completely-connected system have been simply ignored. No response via email, and calling them results in a hold time of 45 minutes or more....with terrible music, too.

 

[Matt30]

You aren't heating the full 80 gallons on one element, it would actually be less than half that. Luckily for you it's the top element, and not the bottom. Each element is controlled by a thermostat.

 

[Matt30]

I missed the solar part, but you still wouldn't be hearing that entire tank

 

[Zanne]

Have you considered getting a water filter/softener? It might be worth it in the long run. I actually need to get mine hooked up. I have hard water as well and my hot water comes out ranging from yellow to orange to brown.

 

[IanEric]

A water heater can last a lot longer than 10-12 years in hard water with proper routine maintenance; simply draining it and refilling a couple times a year can really extend its life.

Unfortunately, most people never do it, and that includes me. But I've only owned re-sale homes where the history of the water heater maintenance was unknown, and have luckily not yet had to replace one. When the time comes to replace my current water heater - which may be very soon - I plan on draining twice a year to keep the sludge and sediment from building up.

A whole-house water softener or RO system really isn't a good option for me; my home does not have an RO "loop" and installing one would be prohibitively expensive. My fridge has a decent filtration system on the water dispenser/icemaker, so that's not bad.

 

[rafjr64]

I know this is an old post but maybe it helps someone in the future searching on this topic. I purchased a GE hybrid water heater. it can be in heat pump only mode or heat-pump/elec mode, or all elec mode. Power co. was giving a $500 rebate on this $1k unit. We run it on heat pump only mode and it uses approx $200 per year. A noticeable difference over previous water heater. We are 100% electric at this location - no gas.