Bradford White or Richmond Water Heater?

[Twinpeaksr]

I am building a new house, 2.5Bath with whirlpool tub in master. I have expansion for a full bath in the basement, and will be adding Radiant Floor Heating as well (Basement, Shop, Garage, total of about 3200sqft for floor heating).

I have read on different brands of heaters, and am down to 2 - Bradford White 75Gal 76kbtu, first hr 82gal, natural vent, or Richmond (I believe it is actually a Rheem if my research is right) 98Gal 75kbtu, first hr 135gal natural vent.

I am sure there will be a heavy vote for Bradford, but I am concerned that it may not be enough for both the house requirements and the heat application. Thoughts?

Thanks!

[hj]

The ONLY difference between the two heaters is the 23 gallons of storage, regardless of how they compute their first hour's capacity. In your situation, recovery will be the critical factor and that is a function of btu input, which is essentially the same for both units. Therefore, price and available space, (since the Richmond/Rheem/Ruud/Vanguard/GE/Hotpoint/etc. will be larger, may be your major consideration.

[Twinpeaksr]

Thanks for the info, I noticed that as well, the BTU was the same. I have space for either so that is not an issue, the Bradford is actually cheaper, but I need to order it (however shipping is free).

Does this seem to be enough capacity for both the radiant floor heating and the plumbing needs or is more info needed.

Thanks!

[hj]

It should be adequate for EITHER appliacation, but whether it will handle both depends on the temperature you run the floor at. You need a heating engineer to determine the btu load of your panel, and that will depend on more than the floor area. Windows, doors, the building's volume, and the underfloor insulation will probably be more important than how large the floor is. The size of the floor will determine whether you can get an adequate grid into it.

[Twinpeaksr]

Thanks for the info, I did a heat calculation (took me a bit as I am not a Mechanical Engineer) and found that I need over 120kbtu to heat the house effectivly which means neither will work. So I think I will use the BW 75gal for the water needs, I think it may be a little overkill though, might be able to use a 65gal version, but that might be tight. I need to check some of the online calculators and see what should be the right size (unless someone wants to show up the calculators and provide a good size). The whirlpool in the master bath is not too big (45gal max) so I think the 75gal with the recovery shown is good. Let me know if I am wrong, still learning...

Thanks.