Best and Most Efficient Water Heater

[eaglesclaw121]

We need a new electric water heater, 50 gallon. We call a bunch of different plumbers, and they all "recommend" the ones they carry. A bunch of them recommend the A.O. Smith (but the reviews I've read hate this brand). Others say the GE is not a good brand because it's a "thin tank". Any recommendations? And what warranty should be standard?

[Thatguy]

The one that I had was on 5 minutes out of 7 hours to make up for heat loss. This comes out to a 54 W loss through the insulation so it was 100x(4500 W-54 W)/(4500 W) = 98.8% efficient.

They're all like that.

I'd ask how much parts cost, those parts that are most likely to fail.

You could also search for class action lawsuits against the manufacturers to weed out some candidates.

There are probably no reasons external to the WH that would cause a WH failure, but do you know why the old one failed?

[eaglesclaw121]

The one that I had was on 5 minutes out of 7 hours to make up for heat loss. This comes out to a 54 W loss through the insulation so it was 100x(4500 W-54 W)/(4500 W) = 98.8% efficient.

They're all like that.

I'd ask how much parts cost, those parts that are most likely to fail.

You could also search for class action lawsuits against the manufacturers to weed out some candidates.

There are probably no reasons external to the WH that would cause a WH failure, but do you know why the old one failed?

Our current WH has rusted and the water is starting to leak - it's old and it's overdue anyway

[Gsalet]

There are several questions you need to ask about electric heaters.
what is more important to you, Fast Hot water, energy conservation, warranty?
a regular tank type with two elements will give the best recovery of a tank type hot water heater at about 83% efficiency (Cheapest)
a hybrid tank type will give much better efficiency 230% but takes much longer to recover, unless it uses the backup element (expensive)
electric tankless 99% efficient need a lot of power most homes don't have enough unless built with tankless in mind
as far as water heater tanks, they are pretty much the same 6 and 12 year warranties. If you want them to last forever change the anode every two or three years depending on the water conditions and install a expansion tank to help reduce metal fatigue.
Good Luck
George