Water Heater Replacement

Now let's look at what what makes residential water heaters the same. The short answer to that is the National Appliance Energy Conservation Act (NAECA) which was created in 1975 to standardize the rules by which appliances were made because states were making their own rules and standards. The NAECA was enacted in 1987 and had various stages or deadlines for certain aspects. Starting in 1990 and ending in 2015 these stages have had major effects on how water heaters sold in the US are made and perform. These stages have made water heaters both more energy efficient and safer to use in our homes. This also means the water heaters available for purchase today are completely different than the water heater you are removing quite possibly.

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Important Differences Between Older And New Hot Water Tanks

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• The largest difference is lifespan. If you are replacing a tank that you feel is pretty much new, then you see this first hand. Water heaters that are not self cleaning are to have a service life of less than 8 years. Brands that offer 9 and 12 year tank warranties make those units self cleaning and therefore this standard does not apply to 9 and 12 year units. Bradford White makes 6 year warranty tanks self cleaning so they can offer a warranty upgrade. If your old tank lasted 20 years you may not feel a warranty is important to you, but without doing proper research you may be purchasing another tank in just a few years.

• Water heaters are more complicated to install. With new safety requirements hot water tanks are built with sensors and devices that can shut down the water heater until changes are made that let the water heater operate in it's ideal circumstances. This can be very frustrating for the do it yourselfer or handyman that doesn't understand why the water heater keeps shutting off or worse yet, won't come back on.

• New water heaters are larger. The same capacity water heater will have a larger footprint now. Often homeowners will need to down size in capacity to physically fit a new tank into the same location as the previous one. We have methods on hand to increase the performance of smaller units to supply even more hot water than the older larger capacity models. If you find yourself in this situation, don't worry we can help.

• Hot water tanks are more expensive. The research and development that went into making these new water heaters is astounding. Consumers often look at this the wrong way. These manufactures completely changed the way hot water tanks work and operate but kept so much of it the same. By being able to use the same location and same type of exhaust vent/gas line/electric wire/water pipes a tank replacement is much less expensive overall then if the manufactures just changed to a design that was the easiest to build. Don't look at these new tanks and just think they are just so expensive. Tank manufacturers spent an unknown amount of money, effort and time to make it possible to have a less expensive option for replacement while still meeting NECA's strict standards. Without the effort put forth by these tank manufactures everyone would have no choice but to replace with a tankless or a tank that costs more than a tankless unit. Manufactures even banded together to push back NECA standards for the final stage. Stating the price point would be unfair to the consumer if the original efficiency levels stated in 1987 were kept in place.