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| US Water Heater MIIRTW40S5CN10 Flexivent | Rate Topic |
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| Posted: Mon Mar 8th, 2010 08:57 pm |
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1st Post |
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Retired EE Member
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Firstly, thank you for this wonderful website and forum! I have read most of the material on the website. I am writing to solicit opinions as to whether I should replace or refurbish my water heater. I have a US Water Heater model MIIRTW40S5CN10. (After a bit of Googling, I learned that "US Water Heater" changed its name, and now operates a website at AmericanWaterHeater.com) Anyway, my water heater is 38 gallons, 50k Btu, natural gas, and has a power vent. The unit was installed when the house was built in 1993. Wife and I have owned the house for 10 years, but prior to that another retired couple owned the home, so the water heater has not seen as much use as it might have with a large family. It seems fairly well built, having a brass drain valve and reasonable insulation, for example. But I have not yet discovered where the anode rod is! Am wondering if it might have a powered anode since it has a power vent? (Although no powered anode is shown on the wiring diagram.) Our household water comes from a private well. It has a fairly high iron concentration, and we have a softener. I have only drained this water heater twice in 10 years. Both times only a minuscule amount of solids came out (ran clear into a bucket after expelling a few gallons.) Several times a year, the pilot light goes out -- an annoyance for sure, but I was not certain how to fix the problem. Lately, it has been going out every few days. The installation manual documents a test procedure (attached below). According to the test results, I have condition (3) which seems to indicate the magnet or the ECO switch in the gas thermostat may be defective. A new thermostat would cost around $80. If I can invest a couple hundred bucks (thermostat and anode kit) and get another 5 - 10 years out of this water heater, I might be inclined to do so. HOWEVER... The fact that this water heater uses a power vent is somewhat of a strike against it, in my opinion. The theory of operation says this water heater "draws approximately 400% more room air through the collector hood" in order to cool the exhaust gases enough to permit a "through-the-wall" vent. So, I am expelling a lot of conditioned air. I live in Minnesota, and this seems very inefficient. As an alternative, I am considering some sort of sealed-combustion boiler that could provide both domestic hot water and also hot water for a water-to-air heat exchanger which I would install inside my forced-air furnace. The furnace (also has a low-temperature vent, but not sealed combustion) is 17 years old. Obviously its heat exchanger will not last forever. I replaced the furnace's burner this winter. TIA. Attachment: water heater manual (Medium).jpg (Downloaded 14 times) Last edited on Tue Mar 9th, 2010 12:26 pm by Retired EE |
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| Posted: Tue Mar 9th, 2010 06:18 am |
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2nd Post |
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eleent Member 
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Hello: I think combining both water and space heat makes sense. The usual way to go is with a condensing boiler that has an "indirect" which is simply a well insulated tank, heated by the boiler. A radiator like goodie would then go into ductwork to distribute heat. Another way to go is with a condensing water heater like the A O Smith Vertex or similar. You might want to have a look on "The Wall" at: http://www.heatinghelp.com You'll find MANY more ideas. Yours, Larry
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| Posted: Wed Mar 10th, 2010 11:49 pm |
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3rd Post |
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Retired EE Member
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After reading the installation instructions for my water heater, I discovered that the problem may be due to faulty installation. One of the causes of the pilot going out periodical can be attributed to the vent terminal flapper door. A quote from the troubleshooting section of the installation instructions:
Wish I had read that 10 years ago! My installation had no vent terminal -- just an open piece of 3" PVC exiting the building. The safety switch is wired in series with thermocouple circuit. If the safety switch opens due to high temperature, the pilot is latched off. I'll post again if this does *not* fix the problem. Keywords: power vent pilot goes out periodically
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