Our Rating
Summary:
4.3
If you’re looking for a compact water heater solution, then your options are rather limited. You could try a tankless water heater system, but that may not work with your location setup. When you need a water heater with a tank and the space is limited, then the Reliance 6 gallon compact water heater could be your point of use solution. Priced around $200 on Amazon, it only needs a single 120v 1650 watt copper heating element to provide the hot water that is needed.
Who Benefits the Most From This Water Heater?
This isn’t typically going to be a water heater that will be used in a home, though installed under a faucet, it can be a direct use solution. What this Reliance 6 gallon water heater does best is provide mobile hot water solutions for those with boats, RVs, or small mobile homes.
Installing this water heater is pretty simple. The hot and cold water supplies are side-mounted on the tank. All you’ve got to do is hook up the lines, plug in the water heater, and purge the air from the system. It is vitally important to make sure all of the air is purged. The heating element will rapidly burn out if there is still air within the tank of this water heater.
The temperature and pressure relief valve comes factory installed as well. The average DIY’er will easily have this hot water heater up and running within an hour. A 6 year warranty is included with it as well, though a professional may need to inspect a DIY installation for the warranty to be valid.
What Are the Uses of a 6 Gallon Water Heater?
Many might find a 6 gallon water heater to be under-powered, but it can provide even a small home with enough hot water to meet the full-time needs of 1 or 2 people. It can provide up to a 10 minute shower for its size. At 13.75 amps, you will need to have 14 gauge wire and 15 amp breaker to make sure this appliance will work. Any wire over 25 feet is going to require a dedicated circuit to prevent the system from being interrupted.
An added advantage is that this water heater does have a sacrificial anode installed with it. This helps to protect the unit from corrosion so that its life can be extended. Because of its size, however, the uses of this Reliance water heater are going to be limited. You won’t be able to use it for a dishwasher and a shower at the same time.
Some users may also be put off by some minor temperature inconsistencies. It only maintains the temperature for a couple of minutes of consistent use before having changes in the set temperature. To get 6 gallons of water heated to the wanted temperature, it will take about an hour of work from this hot water heater to make this happen.
As a small, compact hot water heater, this model from Reliance is remarkably reliable. It may not meet all the needs some may have, but as a portable system, it does the job you’d expect it to do. That’s why it receives our recommendation today.
