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Questions and Answers for SuperStor 60-Gal. Indirect Water Heater

Internet #203193306

Model #SSU-60

  • 2 in. thick foam insulation to increase efficiency
  • Simple design allows easy and cost-effective maintenance
  • Silver plastic jacket resists rust for durability

Questions & Answers

9Questions
caret
Q:Is this the unit with the 10 year warranty? Or is that another line of the SuperStor product?
by|Jul 24, 2020
1 Answer
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A:  The SSU-60 has a life time warranty. It is being discontinued and replaced with the SSU-60N. You are correct in that the new model comes with a 10 year warranty. However to make it life time you simply need to register it soon after it is installed. The purpose of this change is not to reduce the warranty, It is to motivate people to register the units so that the warranty process is easier later. As the life time warranty is to the original owner and the average person stays in the same home for an average of 7 years; handling warranty claims on 20 year old units have been difficult. People don;t often keep receipts that long. By registering the units HTP will have the installation on file.

by|Jul 24, 2020
    caret
    Q:Is this available for an electric installation?
    by|Apr 26, 2020
    1 Answer
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    A:  Super Stor is a line of indirect hot water heaters made by HTP. Indirect fired hot water heaters are heat exchangers plumbed to boilers to create potable hot water. HTP does make electric hot water heaters and I would refer you to there web site to see there offering. However they do not make electric hot water heaters under the SuperStor name. Thus it would be inaccurate to say they offer this same product but electric.

    by|Apr 27, 2020
      caret
      Q:If there is a power outage, would this still provide domestic hot water to the house?
      by|Oct 17, 2019
      1 Answer
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      A:  Your timing is ironic. I live in eastern Massachusetts where we had a bad storm last night. My power is out and I have this unit. Thus I can offer you first hand testimony. This units lose ½ of 1 degree Fahrenheit an hour. My unit is set at a little hotter than most 140F. So last night the power went out at 3AM. When I got up at six I had 60 gallons of water that was 138.5 degrees. This amount of water allowed me and the two other people I live with to take our normal showers. Now because the power is still out the boiler cannot operate nor can the pumps needed to transfer the heat. Thus the tank cannot recover. But in answer to your question I was able to access the stored hot water that was in the tank. But again once it’s gone, it is gone until the power can come on and I can make some more. The same would be true for most tank type hot water heaters. However the nature of this product makes it able to store hot water for longer periods of time. Decades ago there were boilers that did not need electricity. And plumbers were able to pipe things to create convection or flow without needing pumps. In fact this is still done in Amish communities who do not use electricity. However modern department of energy rules have regulated this equipment out of existence. In fact the Amish only have access to it because of a religious accommodation offered by the Federal government. Hope this answers your question.

      by|Jan 2, 2020
        1 found this answer helpful
        caret
        Q:Looking to replace my water heater that has anode rods due to reaction that causes sulfur smell. ...
        by|Jul 22, 2018
        1 Answer
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        A:  First I want to apologize for the delay. It appears you asked this question months ago whoever it just arrived in my portal today, along with a number of questions that appear to have sat in internet purgatory for a while. Even though I you have most likely already taken care of this I want to answer your question for the benefit of others that might read this. I am located in Massachusetts. I have been a plumber and worked in a plumbing supply house for decades. I have run into the problem you describe many times over the years. In certain towns and in some cases certain homes you get this perfect confluence of contaminant in the water, bacteria that eat that contaminant and a certain material being used as a sacrificial anode which results in stinky water. At least its stinky to the anode is used up but then without an anode the tank starts to get destroyed. The quickest solution has been to change the anode rod. When the factory anode rod is aluminum the plumber will change it to a magnesium one. Often this disrupts the perfect storm and the hydrogen sulfide smell goes always. I have been on jobs where this has not worked. One time we put in an aeration devise. This devise removed the gas from the hot water as it left the heater. Another time the customer had us install a chorine injection system to kill the bacteria that was feeding and producing the smell. I know of jobs were a stainless steel heater change out made the problem go away. But the bottom line is all there situations are slightly different so there is no silver bullet that works all the time. I would call your water department or well rearguarded local plumber. Most likely there are others in your area with this problem and a best practice fix has been established.

        by|May 23, 2019
          caret
          Q:I currently have an 80 gal heat flow that is corroded and leaking from outer shell on bottom. Can...
          by|Jun 13, 2018
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          A:  I am sorry for the delay as you asked this question months ago but it just got to me today. Thus I will assume you already got the answer. However if you have not and for the benefit of others let me answer your question. Superstore would be a fine replacement for a Heat Flow unit. But before I did anything I would call Heat Flow to confirm that your unit is not under warranty. Chris 978 651 3301

          by|May 17, 2019
            caret
            Q:If my walk-in tub will fill in 8 minutes - likely 60 gallons - how long will it take to regenerat...
            by|May 14, 2018
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            A:  I am sorry for the delay as you asked this question months ago but it just got to me today. Thus I will assume you already got the answer. However if you have not and for the benefit of others that may read this let me answer your question. When sizing a water heater you want to understand a plumbing term called “dump”. Dump is when you empty the tank. Hot water leaves the tank by being forced out by the incoming cold water. So as you take hot water out of the tank you are diluting the remaining hot water with cold water. Because of this it should be remembered that you can typically only extract 80% of the tanks stored capacity. So if your tank is 100 gallons in size you can dump 80 gallons before the water begins to run cold. Once that happens you now need to rely on what the recovery time on the heater will be. Now this calculation is impacted by the temperature of the cold water and the BTU capacity of the heat source. For example if you live in Florida and your water comes in at 90F you are only adding 30 degrees of rise to get it to 120 F which is the base temperature for hot water in this country. Conversely I live in Massachusetts and my water can come in as cold as 34F in February. Thus I need to add almost 90 degrees of rise. This means I need a lot more heating capacity because my water source is so much colder. Knowing the coldest temperature your cold water reaches and how much water you will need, over a certain amount of time allows you to do the calculation of how much capacity and storage you will need. My point is that there is no magic. It’s all math and all knowable. Now for those with questions you can give me a call about your specific situation. But let me finish off by saying what works for me here in Boston as a general rule, even though it will be different in other areas for the reasons indicated. I assume I will need 25000 BTU’s per gallon per minute of recovery. Thus I know my 200,000 BTU boiler will be able to recharge my indirect fired hot water heater at 8 GPM or 480 gallons per hour. Plus in my home where I have this same unit I know can also count on 80% of the 45 gallons stored in the tank. So my first hour I have 561 gallons of capacity and 480 every hour after that in perpetuity. Again this is going to change by location. Chris 978 651 3301

            by|May 17, 2019
              caret
              Q:Can I use this in exchange for reliance 501 water heater?
              by|Mar 1, 2018
              1 Answer
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              A:  First I want to apologize for the delay in responding to your question. It appears you asked a year ago but it only arrived at my inbox today. In answer to the question when I googled Reliance 501 I came up with info on an electric hot water heater. This is not an electric heater. It is a heat exchanger that works in conjunction with a boiler. If you do not have a hydronic heating system this would not be correct for you.

              by|May 21, 2019
                caret
                Q:What is the EF rating of this product
                by|Sep 24, 2016
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                A:  This product is a heat exchanger. It is connected to an appliance, usually a boiler, that burns the fuel and sends the energy to the devise in the form of hot water. The heat is then transferred to the portable water by way of an internal coil. Because this product does not burn fuel it does not have an EF style efficiency rating. The efficiency rating would be that of the boiler it is connected to. For example in my home I have a 96% AFUE (annual fuel utilization efficiency) boiler, thus my super store that it is connected to it has basically a 96% efficiency. As a hot water storage devise these tanks are also very efficient. Because they do not have a flue running through them and are not hooked to a chimney there is no draft pulling heat out of them. So the tanks only lose about 1/2 a degree an hour. So my tank an boiler ran this morning when I took a shower. After I was done the system was running to regenerate and then shut off. Because the tank loses very little heat it will most likely not run all day until I get home and start consuming hot water again. If you have further questions give me a call. Chris 978 651 3301

                by|Nov 6, 2018
                  5 found this answer helpful