Thread: Need some pro advice/suggestions; changing my water heater

Hi all.

I have a question that I'd like your help on. This is a really pressing issue, and the quicker I can get some suggestions, the better off I'd be.

I have a 3 story house that is being served with a Kenmore Power Miser 8 40 gallon water heater, that is located in a non-temp controlled basement. We have 4 bathrooms in the house (3 with showers), a laundry machine, one kitchen with a dishwasher. The water heater has been in place since we moved in (10 years ago), and I am just now getting to replace it. In addition, there are about 8-14 people living in the house at a given time.

The water heater itself is pretty old, and is damaged (water corrosion and rust). In addition, water runs out fairly quickly, as you'd imagine, with it begin so small and so many people in the house. Our water/gas bill in the winter time is absolutely absurd. I'm thinking I can help to cut it down by replacing the water heater, which needs to be changed anyway.

Here's the dilemma. I called out my plumber, who is a master plumber, and through my research and his tips, this what I'm faced with.

1. I know that I will NOT move to an electric heater, as it costs more to run per year than a gas model. Correct me if I'm wrong.
2. What size should I get? For my size house, should it be 50, 60, 75 gallon, or higher?
3. Due to height issues at the location where the water heater is located, my plumber said that I should get a 50 gallon, and this should suffice.
4. My current water heater is what my plumber called a "high recovery" water heater. Do I need to get something that is equivalent?
5. Due to the location of the water heater, my plumber said that there is little chance that I'd be able to alleviate the issue of "running the hot water tap until the water actually gets warm, during the winter" due to the size of my house. He indicated that this COULD be alleviated by the use of a hot water pump that continuously circulates hot water through the pipes. However, I'm leery about this, as it may actually raise the cost of utilities (gas/electric) in order to run such a setup.
6. I indicated that I might be open to running 2 water heaters in parallel. My plumber indicated that this is definitely doable, although costs to run it is going to double.
7. I was thinking that for each bathroom, I could rig a small individual heater, let's say a 10/20 gallon, and then connect that to the main water source for each bathroom, so that the bathrooms themselves would never run out of hot water. The idea here is that while the water in the pipes from the main water heater will be cold, at least an immediate source of hot water would be available. If this happens to run out, the water from the main water heater would have already made the water in the lines warm, and there would be warm water readily available. The only problem I'm finding is that these little water heaters cost WAY TOO MUCH to run.

So basically, that's where I'm at right now. There's too many options available to me, and I'm lost because it's overwhelming. Basically, I'd like to get the cheapest water heater available, that will give me the lowest cost-per-year to run, and will give me readily give me hot water available when we need it.

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this. I know it's a lot, but I'd like your input/suggestions.