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Water Heater - More Efficient? 40k BTU vs. 55k BTU

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Water Heater - More Efficient? 40k BTU vs. 55k BTU Dave in Denver 07-05-2007
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Posted by Dave in Denver on July 5, 2007, 10:14 pm
My 15 year old 50 gallon gas water heater needs to be replaced (just
small leak... so far).

Most all the new ones are 40k BTU. My old one was 55k BTU's.

So are the new ones just more efficient and need less gas... or do the
new ones have a lower recovery rate? (can not find stats on old
unit... new units have a recovery rate of aprox 40 gph.

The EF (Energy Factor) on my old unit says .55. The new ones are in
the .58 to .62 range. But can that make up for a 15k BTU difference?

Maybe my old unit was a special "high recovery" model. These are
still around... not to common however.

Thx
Dave-in-Denver


AppliancePartsPros.com, Inc.
Posted by Rick Blaine on July 5, 2007, 11:32 pm

>So are the new ones just more efficient and need less gas... or do the
>new ones have a lower recovery rate? (can not find stats on old
>unit... new units have a recovery rate of aprox 40 gph.
>

Recovery rate and energy efficiency are really unrelated.

>The EF (Energy Factor) on my old unit says .55. The new ones are in
>the .58 to .62 range. But can that make up for a 15k BTU difference?
>

The EF is really the insulation and the damper in the flue for the non-power
vented units.

>Maybe my old unit was a special "high recovery" model. These are
>still around... not to common however.

Means it has a larger burner which is why the btu rating is higher.

--
"Tell me what I should do, Annie."
"Stay. Here. Forever." - Life On Mars

Posted by Dave in Denver on July 5, 2007, 11:52 pm


Thanks Rick,
Sorry I am being thick here.. are you saying if I get a new one with
just 40k BTU that is will perform like my old 55k BTU?

Thx
Dave-in-Denver


Posted by hallerb@aol.com on July 6, 2007, 6:19 am
>
> Thanks Rick,
> Sorry I am being thick here.. are you saying if I get a new one with
> just 40k BTU that is will perform like my old 55k BTU?
>
> Thx
> Dave-in-Denver

absolutely not! the 55K BTU models are still avilable home depot
locally sells them.

a 40K BTU will have a much less recovery.

the higher efficenys of today are mostly from the better foam
insulation.


Posted by Joseph Meehan on July 6, 2007, 7:05 am
Dave in Denver wrote:
>
>
> Thanks Rick,
> Sorry I am being thick here.. are you saying if I get a new one with
> just 40k BTU that is will perform like my old 55k BTU?
>
> Thx
> Dave-in-Denver

No. It will perform different. First it will take longer to recover.
Of course if you don't need that fast recovery (do you ever run out of hot
water?) then that would be a non-issue. It would be hard to say if you have
not tried both. However if you now have a smaller family, like one or more
kids away at college or now on their own, you likely don't need as high a
recovery as before.

It is also possible that the lower recovery may be very slightly more
energy efficient, but that would be hard to say.

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia 's Muire duit




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