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hilgerone
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Posted: Sun Jan 2nd, 2005 05:26 am |
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I'm in a pickle. I bought a whirlpool tub and remember seeing on the "features" tag at the store that it held 55 gallons. So, I bought a 40 gallon water heater to serve the new addition leaving the old one for the old part. Anyway, the addition is complete and when my wife went to fill the tub and, not enough hot water! So I get online and discover that in fact the tub holds 90 gallons. Stupid oversight on my part I know, but now I'm not sure what to do. Can I add a second water heater and run them in "parrallel"? Or am I going to have to go with a larger gallonage model or a tankle$$?
Thanks
Matt
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eleent
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Posted: Sun Jan 2nd, 2005 05:46 pm |
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Hello: Try running the tanks in series. That is, cold goes into one... gets heated, say to 110 and then runs into the other tank to be heated the rest of the way. Or both tanks can be set to the same temp for when you want a lot of hot water. If flow is not a problem, series will give you more hot water than parallel, because you'll get roughly 70% of the hot water from one tank and all of the hot from the other before it's mixed with cold. Also there is no trying to balance flows into two tanks. A little rust at one fitting will unbalance a nicely tuned setup and there is no easy way to see that.
Now if you install bypass valves on the heaters, when one fails, you can isolate it and still have hot water.
Yours, Larry
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Posted: Sun Jan 2nd, 2005 07:43 pm |
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That makes sense. I think I'll give it a try! Thanks Larry.
Matt
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union plumber
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Posted: Thu Mar 15th, 2007 01:03 am |
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| Never valve a water heater on both sides. For starters, it is against all plumbing codes. If a heater was to over heat with both valves closed and the relief valve failed, your house and everyone in it would be blown up. Just that simple. And yes, it has happen too many times.
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eleent
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Posted: Fri Mar 16th, 2007 11:38 pm |
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Hello: Codes get interpreted differently and ultimately it is the inspector's interpretation that counts. I'm familiar with the UPC and haven't seen anything prohibiting the valving I described. It's commonly used in multi-story buildings to prevent needing to drain the hot piping when servicing a water heater. But, I'm certainly not against learning. Do you know the code section?
Yours, Larry
ps. For whoever reads this... Always turn off the energy source before closing valves or the next exploding tank might be yours!
Last edited on Fri Mar 16th, 2007 11:41 pm by eleent
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Joe Kap
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Posted: Tue Dec 11th, 2007 05:04 pm |
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Eleent,
I have two 40 gal. gas fired tanks in series in my home. The tanks are about 10 years old and due for replacement soon. There is a cold water shut off gate valve in front of the first tank. Do you have any tips on quality brand names for gas water heaters, and will a plumber install the bypass valves you mention?
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eleent
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Posted: Tue Dec 11th, 2007 08:00 pm |
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Hello: Name brands are less important than warranty, service and how well the equipment meets your needs. If you're having a plumber install the heaters, use something he/she knows he can get service on. Warranty doesn't need to be long as you can add an anode to most tanks to increase life. If you check anodes, you can keep a tank going 50 years. I've done it  Do get tanks that have a good EF number (hopefully .62 or better) and has at least R-16 insulation.
As for valving, replace the gate valve with a ball valve. Envision a straight pipe across the top of two heaters, side by side. Hot and cold lines from both heaters go straight up and join this horizontal pipe. Now, install four ball valves, one in each vertical pipe from the heaters. Next install two valves in the horizontal pipe, going between the "Ts" that lead down the the heaters. What you wind up with is a manifold that allows you to use either tank or both tanks together. Do make sure you have good relief valves on the tanks.
A plumber should have no trouble doing what you ask as there is nothing unsafe about it. Backflow preventers create a closed systen as well, yet plumbers install them regularly  one more thought; check the condition of the anodes in your present tanks. If there is much left, your tanks are OK and just need new anodes and probably relief valves.
Yours, Larry
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