Lowboy gas waterheaters.

**hammerslammer** · 04-22-2007, 07:29 PM

I built a 4-plex in 1985 and had 4 lowboy's in the crawler. The 4 went bad within a few months of each other in 1997 and were replaced. I need to anticipate replacement again and I understand the lowboy's are no longer produced. Space is tight so I'm considering maybe an electric low profile or maybe a tankless?? I think what I have now are 30 gallon and I have not had any complaints about enough hot water. Any advice or thoughts would be appreciated.

**kordts** · 04-22-2007, 07:40 PM

Do a websearch for lowboys. This might be a good space for tankless, though. Maybe even just one for all 4 units.

**master plumber mark** · 04-23-2007, 04:18 AM

all I put in is Brad ford white low boys

they are still available, in 30 and 40 and 50

why in the world would you want to risk trying a tankless

water heater when you have such good luck with the normal

trouble free tank type?? especially in a rental unit??

a good tankless will cost you at least 3 times what a low boy

will cost, and you WILL have to retrofit the whole place to make them

work right....

why tamper with perfection
if you get 10 trouble free years and no
complaints from renters???

hj · 04-23-2007, 05:52 AM

What is your idea/definition of a low boy? What is the maximum height you can use. Many years ago there were crawl space lowboy gas heaters, but the new ones are about 48" tall.

**hammerslammer** · 04-23-2007, 06:00 AM

Originally Posted by hj

What is your idea/definition of a low boy? What is the maximum height you can use. Many years ago there were crawl space lowboy gas heaters, but the new ones are about 48" tall.

Yeah, 48 inches would be too tall for me. I think mine are about 34 to 36 inches. I did a websearch and havn't found anything that might fit. Thanks for the replies.

**hammerslammer** · 04-30-2007, 01:08 PM

Ok I searched and searched and can't find the shorter one. I think i'll be prepared with a lowboy electric for the emergency swapout and maybe in another two years or so I'll have some options that are more clear.

Is there a chance that the current 4 heaters might last longer than the four installed in 1985??

Thanks for the help. HS