ok last oct. our house burned. the roof burned and the ceiling fell onto the upper level. we had a raised ranch house. the furnace was in the utility room as it should be in the lower level. also next to it was a water heater. the upper level got tons of smoke and water damage. the lower level did not see any water and not much smoke during and after the fire. but with the roof gone the lower level did finally get some water. the house has a self drain sump so water never got to high.
anyway we are getting it rebuilt into a ranch and omitting the lower level as we never did use it much and we just do not care for all the steps anymore. so i had a 1 year old tempstar n95esn and a 2 year old A. O. smith 40 gal water heater. they do not have any soot on them nor after setting in the back garage have any smoke smell. but we are getting new units so i want a spot in the attached garage but the builder says furnaces can't go in the garage. so i asked for adding a room to the back of the house behind the bath and they're baulking. they want to put the furnace down in what will become the crawl space. that will be 38" to maybe 48" high. keep in mind that was once a living space so it should never get wet and if vented some not get musty. it will get insulated
my issue is changing out the filter on the furnace and i want to put a electric 36 gallon electric water heater down there as a standby/backup water heater with no water put to it or power as i will be putting in upstairs a tankless also. the tank water heater should be fine forever with no water put to it. and if the tankless fails i can put the tank into service fast.
so my question is using a manometer for the furnace filter so i can at a glance see if the filter really needs to be changed out, so i do not have to actually crawl on my hands and knees to check the filter and if the manometer show it is getting bad then it is time to hobble into the unit.
for the lower tank water heater i will put the drain against a block over the floor drain in the old laundry room and then i can see if it is wet something on the electric drain valve is failing but like i said i may never even use that unit.
2nd part
so i want to put in the new laundry room a tankless water heater but do not have a good handle on the size or mfg. being it will become a 2 BR house and now we have 2 people i'm looking at the rinnai 7.5 gpm 180,000 gas heater so do you think that will be overkill? plus one that i can drain now and then for sediment if needed. being most people i have talked to have never did that or paid to have it done.
in my research it seems most require annually draining and some type of treatments, but on our local town forums the guys that have them tell me they have never drained theres or did any monthly short draining for sediment. and some told me they have had theres for years so what is the real story? also friend i know also has had one for years and loves it and i know he is not into annual maintenance so that one may not have ever seen draining.
on one hvac forum a guy came back and told me they are not really worth the price for the amount of gas they save. so maybe some on this site has had both tank water heaters and now tankless and can talk about if they would do it again. keep in mind i'm doing the electric tank in the new crawl space and not putting it into service because in a few years if i do the tankless then both prices will be way more than todays prices and now i can get it done during the rebuild in a few years if i need to replace i have to hire. so having a backup just setting there may be good insurance. i had a backup wall heater down in the lower level for the occasional power outages and used that now and then so backups are good. i will install that wall heater in the new house after they finish as well, it is made for in home use with air sensors to shut down if air goes bad.
thanks
anyway we are getting it rebuilt into a ranch and omitting the lower level as we never did use it much and we just do not care for all the steps anymore. so i had a 1 year old tempstar n95esn and a 2 year old A. O. smith 40 gal water heater. they do not have any soot on them nor after setting in the back garage have any smoke smell. but we are getting new units so i want a spot in the attached garage but the builder says furnaces can't go in the garage. so i asked for adding a room to the back of the house behind the bath and they're baulking. they want to put the furnace down in what will become the crawl space. that will be 38" to maybe 48" high. keep in mind that was once a living space so it should never get wet and if vented some not get musty. it will get insulated
my issue is changing out the filter on the furnace and i want to put a electric 36 gallon electric water heater down there as a standby/backup water heater with no water put to it or power as i will be putting in upstairs a tankless also. the tank water heater should be fine forever with no water put to it. and if the tankless fails i can put the tank into service fast.
so my question is using a manometer for the furnace filter so i can at a glance see if the filter really needs to be changed out, so i do not have to actually crawl on my hands and knees to check the filter and if the manometer show it is getting bad then it is time to hobble into the unit.
for the lower tank water heater i will put the drain against a block over the floor drain in the old laundry room and then i can see if it is wet something on the electric drain valve is failing but like i said i may never even use that unit.
2nd part
so i want to put in the new laundry room a tankless water heater but do not have a good handle on the size or mfg. being it will become a 2 BR house and now we have 2 people i'm looking at the rinnai 7.5 gpm 180,000 gas heater so do you think that will be overkill? plus one that i can drain now and then for sediment if needed. being most people i have talked to have never did that or paid to have it done.
in my research it seems most require annually draining and some type of treatments, but on our local town forums the guys that have them tell me they have never drained theres or did any monthly short draining for sediment. and some told me they have had theres for years so what is the real story? also friend i know also has had one for years and loves it and i know he is not into annual maintenance so that one may not have ever seen draining.
on one hvac forum a guy came back and told me they are not really worth the price for the amount of gas they save. so maybe some on this site has had both tank water heaters and now tankless and can talk about if they would do it again. keep in mind i'm doing the electric tank in the new crawl space and not putting it into service because in a few years if i do the tankless then both prices will be way more than todays prices and now i can get it done during the rebuild in a few years if i need to replace i have to hire. so having a backup just setting there may be good insurance. i had a backup wall heater down in the lower level for the occasional power outages and used that now and then so backups are good. i will install that wall heater in the new house after they finish as well, it is made for in home use with air sensors to shut down if air goes bad.
thanks