Found a 40gal tank in stock at HD. $258
GE40M06AAG | GEŽ Electric Water Heater | GE Appliances
For another 80 bucks you can get 10 more gallons..
Since we are a low demand family, I'm voting for the 40 gal.. Comments?
Dang, this thing weights over 100 pounds! My back is already killing me..
Edit:
I noticed this unit has two 4500 watt elements (at 240vac), I wonder if you put these two elements in series,
4500/240=18.75 amps. 240/18.75=12.8 ohms x2=25.6 ohms. 240/25.6 =9.375A x 240=2.25 KW... (or 1.124 KW at 120vac)..?.
I'm thinking that burning 1KW might be useful to keep the tank luke warm,
during those extra cold January days when the A7 is dropping the basement to 40F !!
~~~Edit~~~
I was just thinking about what Vlad said "This elements have 2 thermostats. They never work together"..
I misunderstood. Now I look closer at the diagram, I can see that one element will work at a time..
Which means that:
Unmodified, the total load is always going to be 12.8 ohms. 120/12.8 = 9.4 amps. 120v x 9.4a = 1128watts..
In series, that power would drop to half. 564w..
But, if I wired them to run simultaneously, 2.256 kw!
(@120vac).
I'm thinking that 1128w (3849 BTUh) would be less work.
It's around half the heating of the A7 and might not be too hard to pay for.
If it was on 10 hours a day, that's $1.78, a little bit less than oil..