Need a new water heater. Any advise?

[etepbbb]

Yes, the powered blower lets you duct an exhaust out the side. Some as far as 120' away.

The issues I'm finding:

Water Heaters with these blowers cost MORE.
These water heaters never seem to come with a warranty longer than 6 years.
One more thing to break.
More noise.

I'm starting to wish I had a traditional gas or an electric water heater.

From your pics I see a furnace, so I assume plumbing an exhaust duct from a regular water heater wouldn't be a big deal since there is a vent in that room already. Maybe bite the bullet and have a non high eff. installed and plumbed.

[DonP]

From your pics I see a furnace, so I assume plumbing an exhaust duct from a regular water heater wouldn't be a big deal since there is a vent in that room already. Maybe bite the bullet and have a non high eff. installed and plumbed.

The exhaust is routed out the side of the house. I'm no expert, but I thought in order to have a normal gas heater, you have to have a chimney going straight up through the roof. Too late to do that now unfortunately.

[Trussrod]

Have you checked Grainger for a new blower motor? There's a place called Berry Bearings that stocks practically every bearing. Some of the HVAC places require a business license if you plan on purchasing from them, but often will sell directly to the public if you pay in cash. I would consider replacing the motor or bearings. If you choose the latter you might need a press to remove and install the old bearings.

[Trussrod]

The exhaust is routed out the side of the house. I'm no expert, but I thought in order to have a normal gas heater, you have to have a chimney going straight up through the roof. Too late to do that now unfortunately.

You could ask someone in the plumbing section at Home Depot, etc. The guy I spoke to years ago was a plumbing inspector.

[etepbbb]

The exhaust is routed out the side of the house. I'm no expert, but I thought in order to have a normal gas heater, you have to have a chimney going straight up through the roof. Too late to do that now unfortunately.

Oh, the furnace vents out the side too. Yea, then your stuck with the blower type or spending the dough for the entire chimney. I thought the furnace was just a regular draft type, and you could have exhaust ducting run to an existing chimney.

You should be able to replace just the blower as already mentioned. I'd look into that first. Find the P/N and search the internets, you might get lucky and find one for less then $500.

[DonP]

Update. Found a neighbor who is a contrator. He found me a universal replacement fan for my water heater for $250. Did the work myself, wasn't too hard. Had to do some exhaust re-plumbilng because the vent is on the left instead of the right. Tested the heater every so often to make sure it was working. Everything went well until I made the final exhaust connection then bam! no flame.

So it turns out that the blower motor was killed because it was running all the time because the flame wouldn't stay on because the exhaust system has a back pressure issue. It still flows a lot of air, but I guess not enough (the blower motor kicks out a LOT of air).

It will run with the exhaust vent loosly over the top.

So I have a carbon monoxide detector while I try to figure this out.

[vklobucar]

Glad that you got it up and running!

Not a big fan of Bradford White units personally. Love the Rheems for the durability though.

[etepbbb]

I wonder if you have enough fresh air coming in. Maybe the exhaust is creating a bit of a vacuum, not enough air to pull into the water heater. Try opening a window in your utility room and see if the exhaust works more effortlessly.

[DonP]

I wonder if you have enough fresh air coming in. Maybe the exhaust is creating a bit of a vacuum, not enough air to pull into the water heater. Try opening a window in your utility room and see if the exhaust works more effortlessly.

No, it's in a wide open 1,000 sq ft basement.

There is a safety vacuum switch that turns the flame off if there isn't enough air being pulled through the exhaust. Connecting the pipe to the blower causes the switch to kill the flame almost immediately. I need to snake the vent to try and find an obstruction. I'm guessing mud wasp or similar. It's not a full blockage, but something has changed in the 6 years since the house was made.

[etepbbb]

Good luck with the wasps. Got love bugs and what a pain they can be.

[Gunner]

lol, yes we use it here in Dallas. Seriously I would consider the tank less. Sorry didnt read the rest, good luck with the vent.