I used to have a Bradford and White 80 Gallon hot water heater. After only 7 years, it developed a leak. Disappointing and I will never install a Bradford and White again. What I didn’t know, in 2015 new regulation really modified hot water heaters (learn more here). It’s all related to how efficient they must operate and to achieve this, many went to hybrid hot water heaters which in a sense act like your HVAC unit and will actually need a condensation line. I did not want this for many reasons (well water, didn’t want to have a condensation drain, etc.). But, that left a very small field of available 80G water heaters.
After much research, I landed on the Rheem 75 Gallon hot water heater. Below is my view showing the BEFORE with the Bradford and White, and the after with the Rheem. The Rheem Marathon is much wider, so we had to move the well compression tank and well water line just to make it fit.
