Tuesday, January 23, 2007
After a lot of research and shopping, we settled on a Kenmore 50 gal. Power Vent Water Heater and a Kenmore 350 Series Water Softener from Sears. Both are very well regarded units at a great price.
The water heater was the best value we could find in a 50 gal. power vented natural gas water heater. It's basically an A.O. Smith (considered by many to be the best in household hot water heaters) with the Kenmore brand applied, so we get A.O. Smith quality and a Sears warranty for about 25% less than the A.O. Smith equivalent model. We wanted a 50 gal. water heater because we have spent too many years running out of hot water with a 30 gal. hot water heater at our previous house. And a power vented natural gas water heater is probably the least expensive to operate. We looked at tankless on-demand water heaters, but there a lot of reasons why they are not a good choice for a family of four.
The water softener is also a large capacity unit (37,900 grains) sized for up to an 8-person household. It features automatic demand-based regeneration, so softened water is always available, but with minimal regeneration. And it's Kenmore quality with a Sears warranty.
Our HVAC and plumbing subcontractors were kind enough to install all these units on a time and materials basis. The unit on the far right is the pressure tank that pressurizes the incoming water that is pumped to our house from our well.
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