Who Makes the Best Propane Hot Water Heater?

1975gt750 · Post by **1975gt750** » Tue. Mar. 25, 2008 8:29 pm

who makes the best lp hotwater heater. I was looking at state and bradford white. does anybody know of a better one

chris

Dallas · Post by **Dallas** » Tue. Mar. 25, 2008 8:33 pm

My experience says, they are all about the same... they'll fail two months after warranty runs out.

Sting · Post by **Sting** » Tue. Mar. 25, 2008 9:27 pm

buy the cheapest - largest natural vent tank appliance you can find and heat it like I do with your boiler in season

Thermo-Siphon Question

Its not that expensive to heat it in the summer if you only make 115 degree water- Add solar for summer time DHW when you can and use the same vessel like the boiler does!

Yanche · Post by **Yanche** » Tue. Mar. 25, 2008 10:01 pm

Take a look at the indirect hot water heaters. They are heated by boiler or solar panel water. I've got the Weil-McLain Gold Plus 60, 60 gal. stainless steel tank. Well made and well insulated. See:
**Broken Link(s) Removed**You can heat domestic hot water economically all year round with coal with one of these units. There are other brands, that have different designs of the internal heat exchanger. All are more expensive than conventional hot water heaters. Similar in price to integral oil fired units. None are as cheap as a LP fueled hot water heater. What makes sense for you depends on whether it's a long term investment in quality or short term cheap.

CapeCoaler · Post by **CapeCoaler** » Tue. Mar. 25, 2008 11:25 pm

Depends how you want to go. Best can be defined many ways, best quality, best price or best for right now. I have 2 Bradford White NG water heaters $300, both natural vent one 10 the other 8 years installed. I expect to replace them soon. If I get 12-15 years out of a water heater I am very happy.

My parents did a SS indirect tank off the oil boiler that was about $1500 but I expect 20-25 years out of it.The Polaris is interesting. High hourly flow capacity and low heat loss. Was going to replace a floor furnace with a water to air exchanger fired with the Polaris.

If you have power failures/issues you want natural vent, if not go for condensing.

traderfjp · Post by **traderfjp** » Tue. Mar. 25, 2008 11:35 pm

I'll wisper this. I've had a Bock oil fired water heater for 15 years with no problems. They are considered top of the line. Like most of the HW heaters on the market they are glass lined and will last a long time if drained regularly and if the anode rods are replaced as needed. You can buy just the tank without the head. I think they run around 600.00 - 750.00 for the tank. If you 're only using the tank for storage then I would buy a less expensive unit. I wanted the best because the unit was being heated with high temps from oil.

gambler · Post by **gambler** » Wed. Mar. 26, 2008 7:23 am

Bradford White makes a good unit and so does Rheem. But stay away from the ones that are sold in the big box stores as they are all made by American water heater company (whirlpool,reliance ).

edit: American water heater is involved in a class action law suit because of the junk heaters that they sold.

e.alleg · Post by **e.alleg** » Fri. Mar. 28, 2008 11:10 pm

I bought my house with a Bradford White PVC power vent hw heater already in it. It is at least 10 years old. My neighbor has the same one and its a few years older. I've never seen a price leader brand outlast the warranty by more than a few months. Mine sits doing nothing now due to the EFM.

CoalHeat · Post by **CoalHeat** » Sat. Mar. 29, 2008 4:39 pm

I agree with Trader.
I installed an Aero oil fired hot water heater in 2002. Fantastic. Fast recovery, easy on the oil use. It's a 30 gallon lo-boy. It actually recovers so fast during average use that the water temperature goes above the set point of 120, due to the cold water entering the bottom of the tank where the aquastat is.

When I bought it there were only 2 brands I looked at: Aero and Bradford White. I forgot about Bock. Aero has since been bought by Bradford White.

My oil usage will be lowered once I connect the loop in the coal stoker to the water heater (soon????).
What ever you do don't install an electric water heater, you'll run out of hot water constantly and your electric bill will go through the roof.

I agree about sticking to the name brands as well.

I replaced the NG water heater at my mother's a few years ago. It was 18 years old and I'm sure it was ready to pop. I installed a Rheem.

Charlie Z · Post by **Charlie Z** » Sat. Mar. 29, 2008 9:31 pm

I'm going with a SS indirect next chance. The Bock we have (oil) just won't die... I need the room it takes up for a coal bin.