MWil23 Posted May 7, 2019 Share Posted May 7, 2019 @theJ you beat me by like 30 seconds! LOL 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forge Posted May 7, 2019 Share Posted May 7, 2019 1 minute ago, MWil23 said: I think it depends on a few things: 1. How long are you anticipating living in your current home? If you're thinking of selling in the next 5 years, DO NOT go tankless. 2. As long as you have a water softener system/don't have "hard water" issues, you don't need all of the water treatment/filtration stuff, assuming that you don't live in Flint, Michigan. You only need filters on what you're drinking. The other treatments you can get with a basic water softener. 3. Tankless will save you in energy and water usage by about $22 a month for the average American household. Something to consider. 1. This is always very difficult to guess. We are never opposed to moving, but has to make sense for us. We have only had the property for a year, and we do love the set up of it, the house itself, etc. That being said, Vegas can be crazy in property values. If we get a boom type scenario in the next two years, we'd probably look to sell and clear the equity; at that point we may move closer to family to help with our son. The housing market could also get crushed in vegas, in which case we couldn't move even if we wanted to LOL. But there are no plans on currently moving. 2. Hard to say - but the master show glass can be pretty gnarly with regards to the water staining on the glass, so I think that is an indication of hard water? But other than that, I don't really know if that's a big deal. I'm not sure if that kind of water has some nasty build up over time or anything like that. 3. Yeah, that's one of the things that we are considering. Plus, it's nice to update things like this to keep your property updated compared to the rest of the market if you decide to sell the home, that kind of thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theJ Posted May 7, 2019 Share Posted May 7, 2019 5 minutes ago, MWil23 said: 3. Tankless will save you in energy and water usage by about $22 a month for the average American household. Something to consider. *Average* household. But he's getting a new water heater, which will be more efficient than average. I'd venture to guess he'll save less, especially if he doesn't have a bunch of people in his house taking 25 min showers. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forge Posted May 7, 2019 Share Posted May 7, 2019 6 minutes ago, theJ said: There's a lot to break down here. So i'll take my best shot. Water purification and filtration - how is the current quality of your water? Well or City Water? Do you like the way it tastes? Is it too hard or soft for your liking? Is it so hard it turns your white clothes yellow and causes buildup on your fixtures? Pressure valve - he could have been talking about a few different things there. I'm thinking he's referring to the safety relief valve that your water heater should have. I'm fairly certain those are standard and required for standard water heaters, but i've never looked at them in great detail. The reason you need a relief valve is because of simple thermodynamics and heat transfer - think of a can of pop or some other sealed can. You throw it in a fire. You'll watch it expand and expand until it suddenly POPS. You water heater can also be sealed like a can of pop. If you water inlet/outlets somehow get sealed, and your heat source malfunctions and continues to pump in heat, it can explode. (look up exploding water heater and watch some fun videos) The relief valve is a safety device that opens up at a particular pressure to relieve that pressure and prevent the heater from exploding. Tankless - There are some benefits to this, but even without doing the math i can say pretty confidently you'll never save that 7k back in energy savings. Honestly, never drink from the tap LOL. Won't even give it to the pets. We specifically only use the filtration system from the fridge. So there is a part that would be nice to be able to drink from the tap or something if we so choose. City water. Yeah, he said the pressure valve thing was important, and if it wasn't for the fact that the water heater was leaking/overflowing, it'd easily be priority number one, so I'm guessing that is kind of important LOL Agreed that I'll never get it back, though obviously recouping some of it back doesn't hurt. I think that's just about keeping things updated, it is nice to get that space back as well, and they'll last much longer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MWil23 Posted May 7, 2019 Share Posted May 7, 2019 3 minutes ago, Forge said: 1. This is always very difficult to guess. We are never opposed to moving, but has to make sense for us. We have only had the property for a year, and we do love the set up of it, the house itself, etc. That being said, Vegas can be crazy in property values. If we get a boom type scenario in the next two years, we'd probably look to sell and clear the equity; at that point we may move closer to family to help with our son. The housing market could also get crushed in vegas, in which case we couldn't move even if we wanted to LOL. But there are no plans on currently moving. Roger that. For a baseline to help you out, I literally JUST replaced my water heater (see a few pages ago). I bought a couple of sharkbite valves (Thanks @vike daddy!) and a brand new middle of the line 40 gallon gas tank, installed it myself, and spent about $500 total. I was also going to move/sell my house, which I did, so that's what made sense. To go with a good tankless, it was anywhere from $1,800-$3,200 to get that, whether or not I did it myself/had someone do it. Quote 2. Hard to say - but the master show glass can be pretty gnarly with regards to the water staining on the glass, so I think that is an indication of hard water? But other than that, I don't really know if that's a big deal. I'm not sure if that kind of water has some nasty build up over time or anything like that. Yes, that would be an indication of hard water. I'd look into a water softener personally. That would help. Quote 3. Yeah, that's one of the things that we are considering. Plus, it's nice to update things like this to keep your property updated compared to the rest of the market if you decide to sell the home, that kind of thing. I'm more of a "middle road" person. Going "top of the line" on things like that won't boost your home equity/value THAT much. It may help to sell it, but you won't see that money back to upgrade to all of the bells and whistles IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forge Posted May 7, 2019 Share Posted May 7, 2019 1 minute ago, MWil23 said: Roger that. For a baseline to help you out, I literally JUST replaced my water heater (see a few pages ago). I bought a couple of sharkbite valves (Thanks @vike daddy!) and a brand new middle of the line 40 gallon gas tank, installed it myself, and spent about $500 total. I was also going to move/sell my house, which I did, so that's what made sense. To go with a good tankless, it was anywhere from $1,800-$3,200 to get that, whether or not I did it myself/had someone do it. Jesus, that total looks appealing LOL. I mean, i'm about as incompetent as it gets with regards to this stuff (seriously, I'm really bad...I can't tell you how bad I am, it would seriously shock you how incompetent I am and doing anything slightly handyman related) but my gf is not bad, so maybe we can just go this route and get it done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forge Posted May 7, 2019 Share Posted May 7, 2019 Oh, I should mention that because of the overflow, the stand or whatever the Heater sits on needs to be restored or replaced. Not sure how much that would cost, but it's another item that is built in to the cost of just replacing the main water heater. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MWil23 Posted May 7, 2019 Share Posted May 7, 2019 Just now, Forge said: Oh, I should mention that because of the overflow, the stand or whatever the Heater sits on needs to be restored or replaced. Not sure how much that would cost, but it's another item that is built in to the cost of just replacing the main water heater. I put mine in a new $20 tray. LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forge Posted May 7, 2019 Share Posted May 7, 2019 1 minute ago, MWil23 said: I put mine in a new $20 tray. LOL I think it varies by state with regards to the laws, not sure. But I think that the Heater / Tray in ours has to sit on something else. Almost like another drum or something. LIS, not really sure how that all works. I know nothing about this stuff LOL 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MWil23 Posted May 7, 2019 Share Posted May 7, 2019 2 minutes ago, Forge said: I think it varies by state with regards to the laws, not sure. But I think that the Heater / Tray in ours has to sit on something else. Almost like another drum or something. LIS, not really sure how that all works. I know nothing about this stuff LOL This is just my opinion, but there's not a chance in the world I'd ever go all out for the filtration system/all the works. I'd sooner install a water softener and go with a middle range tankless (gas). That's my way of going "all out". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forge Posted May 7, 2019 Share Posted May 7, 2019 Also thinking about replacing our two AC units. The house is 20 years old, pretty sure the two that I have are the original ones. They still work fairly well, though aren't very efficient with regards to energy consumption, I would imagine. And given that this is Vegas and we have 120 degree temps in the summer fairly regularly, those things are probably energy hogs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forge Posted May 7, 2019 Share Posted May 7, 2019 1 minute ago, MWil23 said: This is just my opinion, but there's not a chance in the world I'd ever go all out for the filtration system/all the works. I'd sooner install a water softener and go with a middle range tankless (gas). That's my way of going "all out". I think that probably makes more sense, particularly if I want to replace AC units at the same time (see previous post). I'm not really looking at making this a 30K expenditure...plus, I need a contractor to come in and work on my Master Shower (the grout / sealant is terrible - whenever we take a shower in it, the water escapes onto the bathroom floor and into the bedroom...has caused some major issues, obviously) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimsZilla Posted May 8, 2019 Share Posted May 8, 2019 I replaced my water heater last year, never did one before either. Used shark bite flexible hoses, a flexible gas line, and even added a pan under mine and used pvc to go to my drain. Cost me around 525ish or so. Took me roughly 2 hours for everything. Which I was ok with lol. I didn’t get anything special. Standard 40 gal, just making sure i drain it every 1-2 years to get rid of that sediment. I suggest doing it yourself imo. When I bought my house I knew I would need a new one soon and one night my cat kept clawing at the basement and wanted in. So I went downstairs to check what she wanted and she heard the water coming out (11pm on a Saturday) so I want thrilled. Watched a video or two and learned how. Easy! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shanedorf Posted May 8, 2019 Share Posted May 8, 2019 21 hours ago, Forge said: Honestly, never drink from the tap LOL. Won't even give it to the pets. We specifically only use the filtration system from the fridge. So there is a part that would be nice to be able to drink from the tap or something if we so choose. City water. We went with the whole house filtration system, spent about $ 4-5 k on it and it's been great for 12 years. It re-charges itself overnight, so there's no labor or putting in bags of salt etc. Now all of the faucets, shower, laundry etc run off of that system, works for us and you don't need to rely just on the fridge water ( which is typically a carbon filter) https://www.lifesourcewater.com There are certainly others to choose from...and shopping around makes sense. The guys at Culligan wanted 10k for their filtration system We also invested in solar hot water and given the sunshine in Vegas, its a consideration. 2 solar hot water panels sit on the roof and there's a pump that sends water up to get it heated by the sun, then it gets stored in your water heater. Spent about $ 3k on that system and now all of our hot water comes from that set-up. With 4 humans in the house, you spend a fair amount of $$ heating water - and you can do that with solar, gas, electric (ranked in order of $$$) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vike daddy Posted May 8, 2019 Share Posted May 8, 2019 who has experience with owning a residential solar electric array and interfacing it with the local utility provider, so they are buying back the excess power you generate but do not use? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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