Re: Run your house on a thermoblock?

I suspect this has to do with manufacturing cost. Copper costs a lot more
than steel. HW heaters in the US are traditionally "glass lined" (actually
enameled) steel. Over time the enamel develops cracks which lets the water
get at the steel. So they include sacrificial magnesium anode rods which
corrode in favor of the steel. The tank will last indefinitely as long as
you remember to keep changing out the rod when it is eaten up (the rods are
designed to last as long as the warranty - long warranty tanks have 2 rods)
, which most people don't, so instead the tank rusts and starts to leak and
you replace the whole thing instead of the $20 anode rod. As Doug mentioned,
US plumbing runs at around 50 psi from pressurized mains. So we don't need
booster pumps to take "power showers" - the street pressure is quite
sufficient. But this means that the whole system is pressurized and has to
be built to take 50 psi plus a safety margin.

The US system is a bit of a hodge podge. At one time it was common to use
galvanized steel pipes, but around 50 years ago copper became widely used.
But the HW tanks remained steel, for reasons of cost, most likely.




"Ian Smith" <ian@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:slrndlddl6.50v.ian@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> On Wed, 19 Oct 2005, Jack Denver <nunuvyer@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>> need very little if any flushing. The biggest killer of tanks is
>> failure to
>> replace the anode rod at the end of the warranty period. Once the anode
>> rod
>> is gone, the tank corrodes rapidly.
>
> Really?
>
> Why don't ypu make them out of copper? I don't think I've seen a hot
> water tank that isn't copper in the UK.
>
> regards, Ian SMith
> --
> |\ /| no .sig
> |o o|
> |/ \|


.

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