I am looking for your advice in picking the right water storage tank.

I am replacing my current 30 year old Burnham Oil Boiler with Energy Kinetics System 2000 boiler. Part of the System 2000 complete setup is a stainless steel water tank. My contractor is recommending that instead of going with stainless slteel (lifetime warranty tank), to go with a Energy Kinetics regular steel tank. The reasoning behind is that steel tank provides better protection due to anode rode. He is stating that stainless steel will last forever but anything that attached it, won't (will last only 3-5 years) because of no adequate protection provided iside the tank. Again, he says if I change the rode every 2-3 years, the tank will last more than 10 years.

What do you think? What is your advice?

There is no price difference,so the cost is the same.

Thank you for your help!

 

I'm not sure I understand the man's logic... what does he mean? What parts attached to it aren't going to last? and WHY?

Something doesn't sound right about this.

If the price is the same, I'm sure I would insist on the stainless tank.

 

Sounds fairly bogus to me. I would go with the stainless steel. The anode rod is to protect regular steel from corroding. What other plumbing fixture do you have in your house that is made from steel?

 

Sacrificial anode - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This wikipedia article mentions that a zinc anode could protect against limescale. It cites a company selling a product to install on your plumbing for this type of protection. I don't know enough about chemistry to weigh in on its effectiveness.

If you don't have limescale, I wouldn't be concerned about the anode rod. If you do, I would investigate the legitimacy of this claim.

 

I suspect that the contractor is concerned about dissimilar metals, i.e. steel or copper into the stainless steel tank. The easy answer is to use stainless steel nipples and ball valves at every connection (no more than five) and then use a union near the ss ball valve to facilitate future replacement of any corroded part.

Personally I doubt that there would be any issue but the use of the ss nipples and valves would absolutely preclude any problem. I would probably just use the ss nipples and then go with brass valves and copper piping.

As for the possibility of a zinc anode rod preventing calcium (lime) scaling...it won't.

 

the sacrificial rod will help prevent the erosion from dissimilar metals though, if used even on a stainless steel tank., can't believe the tanks are the same price though SS is considerably higher in cost to manufacture than carbon steel. although the price has dropped in recent years due to the cheaper Chinese steel coming into the states
one other thing to think about if the carbon is indeed cheaper than the SS tank, that when it does wear out replacing it will almost guarantee a more efficient unit as heaters are today much more efficient than 10 yrs ago.

I was married by a Judge, should have asked for a Jury(Groucho Marx)

 

Thanks for your advice guys!

He was talking about a drain valve (on the bottom of the tank), the water he states can just eat that valve and around the valve. He is saying that he is not seeing the same problem on the steel tanks protected by the rod.

The price is the same, as he state even though steel tank is cheaper there is more piping/labor involved comparing to the stainless steel, so the cost to me would be the same.

So I guess, the verdict is to go with stainless steel.

 

There is? Let's see... domestic water in, domestic water out... boiler water in, boiler water out... am I missing something here?

Which would you rather replace ... the whole tank every 5-7 years, or a single valve every 3-5 years... (and I personally, in my opinion, think it's a load of bull doo-doo... I think he's trying to pocket a few extra hundred on the job... just my opinion again.

Yes, stainless.

Dobriy dien!

 

Stainless tanks will hold up well as long as you don't have high chloride levels in the water, generally less than 100 ppm. Higher levels can turn SS into Swiss cheese.

The warranty is Limited Lifetime, which means it's covered in full for the first 15 then pro-rated afterward. The glass lined tank is 12 years full, then done.

 

I know that stainless is susceptible to stress-corrosion cracking when exposed to even a relatively low concentration of chlorides. Some SS alloys are more resistant than others, but I've forgotten which ones.

USEPA drinking water standards specify a maximum chloride concentration of 250 mg/l (= 250 ppm). You could call your city water utility and find out the annual range of chloride concentration in your water. Then Google the specific stainless alloy used in the water heater to learn its maximum allowable chloride concentration (it is temperature dependent).

 

So maybe his guy knows something about the local water conditions that we don't?

 

If we are talking about an indirect, then a Triangletube tank would be the best.
The design has proven to self clean any calcifacation, lifetime warranty, blah blah.

A storage tank only, I think I would just get an inexpensive (but well insulated) water heater and not connect the element.

Galvanic corrosion can be prevented with the use of dielectric unions.

Plastic drain valves prevent the drain from rotting out, which I have yet to see.

Not sure where your salesman was taking you, but doesn't sound like he has your best interests in mind.

 

I guess that's why my Burnham Alliance has a plastic drain valve. Makes me a bit nervouse it could be snapped off real easily if hit by something though.

 

The Burnham Alliance is a steel tank if you have the SL series. The SL stands for stone lined and it is not affected by water temp or water chemistry and does not use an anode rod.
As far as stainless steel tanks I do not know what area you are in but i do know some areas in NJ and NY among others around the nation have high chloride levels. Some areas a SS tank will last less than 1 year. Other areas less than 5 years and others a lifetime. That is one reason why Burnham switched to the stone lined tank. Impervious to water conditions. It does have a slightly higher resistance through the coil but much less than others. The recovery is nice due to the stone lining will assist in recovery. The tank makes more hot water with smaller boilers than many others due to this.

 

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