A. O. SMITH GCR-30 2**
0.63 UEF DOE CCD · 2026-09-19Grade E: where this UEF sits among the 288 models in its class, lowest (G) to highest (A). A position, not an official label. How the grade is set
A gas tank, medium draw pattern (a typical three- or four-person household, about 55 gallons on a busy morning).
If you are verifying this A. O. SMITH GCR-30 2**, it uses 176 therms of natural gas a year at the medium draw pattern, the standard daily hot-water usage DOE tests against. That is 9 therms below the 185 therms median of the 288 gas tank models registered at that pattern.
Energy use per year
176 therms a year
Computed by this site from the registry's UEF and the federal test's daily hot-water draw for this draw pattern. What it costs depends on the natural gas rate where you live.
That is below the median of 185 therms for the 288 models registered in the same heater type and draw pattern; it ranks 62 of 288, lowest energy first.
Solid line: this model (176 therms). Dashed line: the class median.
Min 148 therms Median 185 therms Max 194 therms
What it costs to run where you live
What the registry files
- UEF (Uniform Energy Factor) how much hot water you get for each unit of energy the heater uses
- 0.63 DOE CCD · 2026-09-19 Compared only with other models registered as a gas tank at the medium draw pattern.
- Draw Pattern the standard daily usage profile DOE tests the unit against
- Medium DOE CCD · 2026-09-19
- First Hour Rating how many gallons of hot water the unit can deliver in one hour, starting from a full tank
- 63 gal DOE CCD · 2026-09-19
- Rated Storage Volume the tank size in gallons
- 29 gal DOE CCD · 2026-09-19
What it costs to install
Not published: Installed cost range
This model's rated tank size lies outside the range NLR REMDB's cost model was fitted on, and the range is not stretched past it.
The annual energy figure on this page does not depend on this range and is unaffected.
Safety record
No CPSC recall names this model.
Checked against the CPSC recall database. CPSC does not publish a model-level match for this product category, so this list is curated by hand from the manufacturer's recall filings.
CPSC · 2026-09-24What these figures mean
How this compares
The closest models in the same class — same fuel, type and draw pattern.
Keep going
How every figure on this page is calculated
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Find what replaces your water heater
Enter the model number off your old unit and see what is on file today, with the yearly cost difference.
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Find a water heater that fits
Three questions — fuel, hot water need, install space — narrow every model on file to the ones that fit.
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What a water heater costs to run
Prices a unit's efficiency against your own utility's filed tariff for your ZIP code.
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Is a 30-gallon water heater enough?
Answered from what models in this size actually file.
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Water heaters
Every model on file with the Department of Energy, by heater type.
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All gas tank water heaters
Gas-fired storage tanks, every size and draw pattern on file.
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Every A. O. SMITH model on file
What this brand files, by heater type.
UEF 0.63 · Grade E Price it on your ZIP
This A. O. SMITH GCR-30 2** is registered as a gas tank water heater. Its annual figure of 176 therms of natural gas was computed by this site, not by the registry. The inputs are the registry's UEF, the ratio of hot water delivered to energy used, which is 0.63, and the daily hot-water draw that the DOE test applies to the medium draw pattern. The data source is the DOE CCD, retrieved 2026-09-19. Against the 288 models in the same class, the figure is 9 therms below the class median of 185 therms. That is 62nd lowest energy use of 288, which puts it in the lowest quarter of its class.
The figure applies to a household whose hot-water use resembles the medium draw pattern, a typical household on a busy morning. For that use, the registry lists a first hour rating, the gallons of hot water available in the first hour from a full tank, of 63 gallons. The rated volume is 29 gallons. The data does not say whether those ratings meet a particular household's peak demand. A household with much heavier or lighter use should not read 176 therms as its own yearly use, because the figure was not computed for that draw. The water heater selector by fuel, space and size narrows models on those terms. No installed price range is published for this model, because its ratings lie outside the range the cost database was fitted on.
Running cost depends on the state average residential gas price, so it is not stated in this text and is not estimated here. It follows from multiplying 176 therms by that price for the reader's state. The cost calculator on your own ZIP applies the price, and the page on how the annual cost is calculated sets out the method. The 9 therms gap to the class median of 185 therms is a difference in energy, and how it converts to cost depends on that same price. To compare this model with others of its class, you can find a same-class replacement by model number. The figure is a test-condition value at the medium draw pattern, so metered gas use at a given address can differ. The data here does not show by how much.
DOE CCD · 2026-09-19