Hot water options?

I am on the verge of an oil to gas conversion. Any recommendations or cautions to factor into decision between natural gas atmospheric (chimney vent) 40-gallon water heater vs. SSU 45-gallon indirect water heater vs. 50-gallon hybrid heat pump water heater? Recommended manufacturers? Thanks.

ventilated

in Plumbers and Plumbing 10 years and 11 months ago

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Master Plvmber | 10 years and 10 months ago

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That’s a good point. Yes. The indirect tank, not having a chimney connection that is open to the atmosphere, is able to hold its temperature far longer than a traditional tank-type heater.

ventilated | 10 years and 11 months ago

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Thank you, MP. This is tremendously helpful. Despite higher cost, we have been leaning toward indirect for reasons of efficiency and energy conservation. Not sure that we’d recover cost of indirect installation over 10 years, but certainly over a lifetime. However, given the property’s location, your comment about power failures gives me pause and a bit of confusion. Do I understand correctly that with standard water heater, one will basically start heating water from scratch if primary demand occurs every 10-12 hours (mornings before work, and late afternoons and evenings, post-school, post-work and around dinnertime)? But with indirect, the temperature inside a full tank would have dropped only 5° or less during normal 12-hour stretch (with or without power outage)? so with frugal use during power outage, there’d still be hot water 24-48 hours later?

Master Plvmber | 10 years and 11 months ago

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Standard or “atmospheric” gas or oil fired water heaters run about 68% efficiency and lose more than 12° per hour when not being used. Indirect water heaters run at the boiler’s efficiency of 80%-96% on a new unit and lose less than 5° per 24-hour period. Hybrid heat pump water heaters are very large pieces of equipment and are relatively new technology. They are billed as a good alternative to electric water heaters but there’s not a lot of incentive to install a hybrid over a gas unit. Gas and oil fired water heaters last about 10 years. Most indirect water heaters have a lifetime warranty. The indirect costs about twice as much or more to install than a traditional tank type. Also, in the event of a power failure, only the standard gas-fired water heater would continue to give you hot water without a generator or something.