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Paging OT plumbers: water heater for home addition
Posted on 5/31/17 at 7:02 pm
Posted on 5/31/17 at 7:02 pm
Here's my dilemma:
My current 3br/2ba house is supplied off a relatively new 40 gallon water heater and provides enough for the kitchen, two bathrooms, and washer. I am building an addition that will include a deep 75 gallon soaker tub in a new, third bathroom.
eta: this is all gas stuff, no electric
What are my options and what gives me the most bang for my buck? Here's what I have so far:
- tie into the existing 40 gallon tank. Is this really an option? Can I crank the tank's heat up full blast and supply the whole house?
- upgrade to 50 gallon tank. Same question as above?
- supply new addition off tankless water heater
- supply whole house off tankless water heater. Contractor threw out $4k to do this
- add a second tank for the house
- water heater booster on the existing 40 gallon?
My current 3br/2ba house is supplied off a relatively new 40 gallon water heater and provides enough for the kitchen, two bathrooms, and washer. I am building an addition that will include a deep 75 gallon soaker tub in a new, third bathroom.
eta: this is all gas stuff, no electric
What are my options and what gives me the most bang for my buck? Here's what I have so far:
- tie into the existing 40 gallon tank. Is this really an option? Can I crank the tank's heat up full blast and supply the whole house?
- upgrade to 50 gallon tank. Same question as above?
- supply new addition off tankless water heater
- supply whole house off tankless water heater. Contractor threw out $4k to do this
- add a second tank for the house
- water heater booster on the existing 40 gallon?
This post was edited on 5/31/17 at 7:23 pm
10
Posted on 5/31/17 at 7:04 pm to sneakytiger
50 gal tank would work. Not a plumber.
Posted on 5/31/17 at 7:09 pm to sneakytiger
How is the hot water supply on the current 40 gallon heater? Do you have enough water? You could add a second and run them in parallel or series. Parallel would be just 2 different units. Here is the series
Posted on 5/31/17 at 7:11 pm to sneakytiger
Water heater set too high can cause severe burns/scalding. Not a viable or safe option.
Seperate water heater would be the cheapest up front cost option. On demand system requires a lot of power and dual circuits. May not be an issue to run wires while doing addition.
If you have gas service you could maybe go that route instead of electric. The original 40 gallon might work but not if there would be others using hot water while the 75 gallon tub is being used. Assuming there are two adults and kids, that will not suffice.
Seperate water heater would be the cheapest up front cost option. On demand system requires a lot of power and dual circuits. May not be an issue to run wires while doing addition.
If you have gas service you could maybe go that route instead of electric. The original 40 gallon might work but not if there would be others using hot water while the 75 gallon tub is being used. Assuming there are two adults and kids, that will not suffice.
Posted on 5/31/17 at 7:24 pm to wickowick
quote:
How is the hot water supply on the current 40 gallon heater? Do you have enough water? You could add a second and run them in parallel or series. Parallel would be just 2 different units. Here is the series
Existing supply is okay... doesn't do great when running shower and tub, but I guess that's to be expected.
quote:
If you have gas service you could maybe go that route instead of electric. The original 40 gallon might work but not if there would be others using hot water while the 75 gallon tub is being used. Assuming there are two adults and kids, that will not suffice.
to clarify, the existing heater and everything we are considering would be gas.
Posted on 5/31/17 at 7:38 pm to sneakytiger
You left out the most important variable: how many people live in your house? Most likely your best option is adding another water heater if you have space to put it.
Posted on 5/31/17 at 7:42 pm to sneakytiger
Install a tankless on the new portion or run tandem heaters like Wick posted.
I have the tandem 50's at my home which is 5br/4.5 baths with a large jacuzzi tub in the master.
I have the tandem 50's at my home which is 5br/4.5 baths with a large jacuzzi tub in the master.
Posted on 5/31/17 at 9:18 pm to airfernando
Two now, soon to be three and probably four some day in the not so distant future. I don't want to deal with the headache of upgrading later or get nailed for it if we go to sell the house. Thanks for your advice though.
Does anyone have experience with "boosters" in this situation?
Does anyone have experience with "boosters" in this situation?
This post was edited on 5/31/17 at 9:20 pm
Posted on 5/31/17 at 9:25 pm to sneakytiger
My parents added one to run downstairs bath and dishwasher in an old house we used to live in. The house was built in the 40s and added on to several times. Built on a crawl space so it wasn't easy to get under there but way better than on a slab. Upstairs there were 3 bedrooms and one was the master. Two at the other end shared a bath.
Downstairs there was also a master and my oldest sister slept in there. They got like a 30 gallon gas and it only ran the dishwasher and her bathroom. They left the sinks and washer on the old 40 gallon.
Downstairs there was also a master and my oldest sister slept in there. They got like a 30 gallon gas and it only ran the dishwasher and her bathroom. They left the sinks and washer on the old 40 gallon.
Posted on 5/31/17 at 9:33 pm to sneakytiger
quote:
I am building an addition that will include a deep 75 gallon soaker tub in a new, third bathroom.
My advice is to run 3/4 lines to supply that tub. You can fill it in 5-7 minutes. When we built our house that's what I did and it is great.
Lots of ways to handle the whole house but with that tub and the rest of the house you should eliminate the 40 gallon tank option.
I would consider tankless if you can get good flow/volume. $4K ought to be a pretty decent tankless heater. What kind of flow rate is it. If 7.5 to 9 gpms that doesn't sound too bad. A 9gpm tankless runs almost $2K at Lowes/HD.
Posted on 5/31/17 at 9:43 pm to sneakytiger
Adding another heater is adding an additional BTU load. You could run the risk of existing gas pipes not large enough to handle additional load. Especially if new heater is and the fartherest point from the meter.
Raising temp will increase capacity as you will mix less to make desired water mixture. However you run risk of scalding if you go too high.
Insteaneous heater only saves verses energy loss over time. A tank type give an initial capacitance that requires less BTU imput at the start. A 100,000 BTU instantaneous heater will supply less hot water per hour then a 100,000 BTU heater with 50 gallon.
Diversity is uou friend. If you run dishwasher, washing machine and try to fill a 75 gallon tub. You will have issues. But 50 gallon tank set at 140, mixing with 60 degree water will not supply 105 to a 74 gallon run on storage alone. Will need recovery or BTU input to achieve this.
Raising temp will increase capacity as you will mix less to make desired water mixture. However you run risk of scalding if you go too high.
Insteaneous heater only saves verses energy loss over time. A tank type give an initial capacitance that requires less BTU imput at the start. A 100,000 BTU instantaneous heater will supply less hot water per hour then a 100,000 BTU heater with 50 gallon.
Diversity is uou friend. If you run dishwasher, washing machine and try to fill a 75 gallon tub. You will have issues. But 50 gallon tank set at 140, mixing with 60 degree water will not supply 105 to a 74 gallon run on storage alone. Will need recovery or BTU input to achieve this.
Posted on 5/31/17 at 10:11 pm to sneakytiger
Personally, I would add a second 40 gallon tank to supply the new addition...put it close to that bathroom if you can, to reduce heat loss in the piping and also reduce the wait for hot water once you turn on the faucet.
Posted on 5/31/17 at 10:26 pm to sneakytiger
You're going to be sorry if you don't have a 50 gal in the addition with that big tub. I had a 40 gal and had to up grade to a 50.
Posted on 5/31/17 at 10:41 pm to sneakytiger
quote:
I am building an addition that will include a deep 75 gallon soaker tub
Get a hot tub. At least when you quit using it you can sell it or haul it to the dump. You will have to look at that 75 gallon money pit every time you take a shite for as long as you own the house
Posted on 6/1/17 at 8:46 am to weadjust
quote:
You will have to look at that 75 gallon money pit every time you take a shite for as long as you own the house
A LOT of truth in this.
Posted on 6/1/17 at 8:55 am to weadjust
quote:
You will have to look at that 75 gallon money pit every time you take a shite for as long as you own the house
I thought my wife was crazy for wanting a soaking tub, but we're almost 4 years from when we did the renovations and she still uses it every night. It isn't a 75 gallon, because she's short and wanted a shorter tub, but it fills up fast and she soaks for a good half hour or more every single night. I don't care because I have a big walk-in shower and don't have to shower in a thin tub/shower combo anymore. Best of both worlds. Oh, and the shitter is in another room from the tub, so I can close the door.
Posted on 6/1/17 at 8:57 am to TU Rob
if the tub is jetted, some have an option to keep the water hot as is circulates
Posted on 6/1/17 at 10:02 am to TU Rob
Yeah the wife bathes a lot and we are using the tub as a shower too. We likely won't use the full 75 gallon capacity often, but the tub will get plenty of use.
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