[ct18lr]

I live in a 3 bed 3 bath home. I currently have a 19/20 gallon water tank. Is this the correct size I should have or should go up a bigger size tank?

[joypulv]

I knew someone once who deliberately installed a 20 gallon hot water heater for a family of 3, if that's what you mean by water tank, in order to save money.

I think most people would put in a 40 or 50 gallon. Some 80. It depends how many people want a lot of hot water all around the same time.

[massplumber2008]

You must be talking about an ELECTRIC water heater, right (they don't make a 19/20 gallon gas water heater that I know of)? If this is the case, then recovery time (time to make more hot water) is always the issue with electric water heaters.

Without knowing anything else, I would recommend a 50 gallon electric water heater as a MINIMUM size electric water heater for the size home you present.

However, if you tell us the number of people in the home and also let us know if you have a whirlpool tub we can probably make a more precise recommendation, OK?

Mark

[mygirlsdad77]

I agree with Mark here. A min of 50 gal elect. Let us know more about your hot water demands and we will give suggestions.

[ct18lr]

Im actually referring to a pressure tank. I now have a horizontal myers 20 gal pressure tajk. I was told hy someone tuat I should increase the tank to maybe a 35 or 42 gal pressure tank. According to them it will have an allowance for more waterntherefore the pump will be going off less times. If this is the case I'm thinking this should have been done long time ago.

[hkstroud]

According to them it will have an allowance for more waterntherefore the pump will be going off less times. If this is the case I'm thinking this should have been done long time ago.

That is correct. The draw down, the amount of usable water before the pump come on again, is a little less than 1/3 the total volume of the tank. So you have approximately 6 gallons of usable water before the pump comes on.

The life of a pump is determined more by the number of times it starts and stops than by how much it runs.

Get the largest tank you can fit into place. It may be costly, but it is less costly than replacing the pump.

[ct18lr]

Thank you ,hk. Now the question would now be what size tank should I get? Do you think a 35 or a 42 would be good enough for a 3 bath house?

[hkstroud]

The largest one you can physically put in, it's all about extending the life of the pump.

Google "sizing a well tank". You will find a number of calculators. However, it is more about calculating tank size depending on well and pump delivery capability and peak usage demand.

[Milo Dolezal]

I would not go smaller than 50 gal... but if more than 2 adults in the house then I would probably go with 75 gal...

Milo

[speedball1]

19/20 and 42 gallon tanks" Where are you from? The average home hot water tank is 40 gallons, Since you've failed to tell us how many people would be using those three bathrooms a safe answer would be a 55 gallon water heater. Good luck, Tom

[massplumber2008]

That's cause ct18lr is talking about a PRESSURE TANK, Tom... ;)

It wasn't clear to me at the first post either, but at post #5 he made it clear that this was a pressure tank for a well system!

If you want, you can delete your post and this one... :)

Have a good day!