Hot, Hot, Hot

Our new hot water heater. A 40-gallon, high efficiency gas heater storage tank. The old one was likely heating 35 gallons of sediment and five gallons of water. The last leg of its gas line was a copper pipe! As you may know, copper and natural gas a natural enemies. Copper should never be used for gas. Water connections were made with 1/2" (not 3/4") pipe. But such is the quality of infrastructure we inherited and seek to remedy.

The new heater is a 12-year warranty Maytag-badged product manufactured by A.O. Smith. It's been installed to best practices with a flexible gas line, yellow Teflon tape for the gas fittings, a new 3/4" ball shut-off valve and an expansion tank. No leaks. Lots of hot water.

We looked into the prospects of an on-demand system. They hold tremendous appeal for efficiency. Alas, the combination of high entry costs, complexity of installation and notorious hardness of our municipal water kept us from taking the leap.