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Water Heater Too Small...Add Another One?
Posted on 11/29/22 at 10:12 am
Posted on 11/29/22 at 10:12 am
We bought a house, and the water heater is too small. It's a 45'ish gallon capacity. Herein lies the problem....it's installed in a closet and the closet is too small to add a big honking Marathon, which is what I'd prefer. I'm weighing my options on what I can do to add more hot water capacity for my family.
The water heater is in a bonus room to the side of the garage. I'm thinking of adding a 2nd water heater in the attic, but adding one in the attic makes me nervous in case it ever springs a leak or if something catastrophic happens it's gonna destroy everything below it (in a sense).
Regardless of where I potentially install the second water heater, this I how I had envisioned hooking it up....I'd hook the 2nd water heater inlet to the hot water outlet of the 1st water heater. So, technically, I'd be pulling water from the 2nd one while the 1st water heater is replenishing the water to the 2nd one with hot water.
What are y'all's thoughts? If someone has a better plan, I'm all ears.
The water heater is in a bonus room to the side of the garage. I'm thinking of adding a 2nd water heater in the attic, but adding one in the attic makes me nervous in case it ever springs a leak or if something catastrophic happens it's gonna destroy everything below it (in a sense).
Regardless of where I potentially install the second water heater, this I how I had envisioned hooking it up....I'd hook the 2nd water heater inlet to the hot water outlet of the 1st water heater. So, technically, I'd be pulling water from the 2nd one while the 1st water heater is replenishing the water to the 2nd one with hot water.
What are y'all's thoughts? If someone has a better plan, I'm all ears.
5
Posted on 11/29/22 at 10:16 am to Arkapigdiesel
Had a similar issue with my house when I moved in.
Went with an on demand unit, solved the issue, but had to run a larger gas line to feed it. (Would need a larger electrical connection if you are electric).
Went with an on demand unit, solved the issue, but had to run a larger gas line to feed it. (Would need a larger electrical connection if you are electric).
Posted on 11/29/22 at 10:21 am to Geauxkart
quote:
Would need a larger electrical connection if you are electric
On demand should not be an option if you do not have gas available.
Posted on 11/29/22 at 10:43 am to WPBTiger
We only have electricity for our water heaters so on-demand was not an option. We purchased this house 2 years ago and it was built around 2002. We have 2 water heaters - one for the kitchen and one for the master bath.
I changed both units to State brand 50 gallon and the plumber installed a tank booster. It takes hot water out of the tank and mixes with the cold water coming in. This isn't a recirculating pump - we had one of those in Dallas.
It gave us more volume of hot water and we've never run out taking back to back hot showers.
I changed both units to State brand 50 gallon and the plumber installed a tank booster. It takes hot water out of the tank and mixes with the cold water coming in. This isn't a recirculating pump - we had one of those in Dallas.
It gave us more volume of hot water and we've never run out taking back to back hot showers.
Posted on 11/29/22 at 12:04 pm to Arkapigdiesel
I have 3 water heaters in our house. 2 of them are linked and run water to all the bathrooms save for one bath.
They are linked like you're wanting to do. All are 50 gallon.
They are linked like you're wanting to do. All are 50 gallon.
Posted on 11/29/22 at 2:10 pm to Arkapigdiesel
quote:
but adding one in the attic makes me nervous in case it ever springs a leak or if something catastrophic happens it's gonna destroy everything below it (in a sense).
Happened to my folks when they were out of town. Water ran unabated for 7 days straight
Maybe think about an on demand WH
Posted on 11/29/22 at 3:20 pm to Arkapigdiesel
quote:
hook the 2nd water heater inlet to the hot water outlet of the 1st water heater
Nahhh. Put them in parallel.
Posted on 11/29/22 at 4:26 pm to DownshiftAndFloorIt
I have 2 50-gal electric ones plumbed together providing 100 gallons of hot water available to anywhere in the house. 6 people and 4 of them females and everything is just fine.
Posted on 11/29/22 at 5:41 pm to Arkapigdiesel
What is the temperature on the thermostat set at?
Posted on 11/29/22 at 6:11 pm to idlewatcher
quote:
Happened to my folks when they were out of town. Water ran unabated for 7 days straight
In the past couple years, I’ve started taking the pre-caution of turning off the water to the house if no one is going to be in the house overnight or longer - just in case - takes all of 1 minute.
But to the OP I’ve had 2 water heaters in the attic in my current house for nearly 30 years without an issue, but I did a change out of both this past April as a precaution. Be aware, by code, that a drip pan, plumbed to the outside of the house, is placed under the water heater should a slow leak occur.
According to my BIL, a licensed plumber, with decades of experience, a catastrophic blow out of a water heater is rare, and if it occurs it’s most often associated with failure of a plastic drain valve on the water heater. They can get brittle over the year in a hot attic. I’d suggest you purchase a water heater with a brass drain valve or if you purchase a water heater with a plastic drain valve, change out the plastic valve with a brass valve.
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