Replacement home water heater

[AZjeff]

Originally Posted By: Leo99
Maybe buy a new replacement tank and the required piping accessories and a torch and solder and be ready to change it out should yours go in the middle of a cold night.


I'd rather proactively change out a 14 year old tank I'm suspicious about than deal with a flood. Depends on what would get wet. If you lose a year or two of service it might be worth the non-emergency.

Actually I did this since the electric water heater is in the laundry room in the house and a failure would be a disaster.

 

[cjcride]

I think Insurance Companies prefer tank water heaters replaced around 12 years to prevent claims.

 

[maverickfhs]

Maybe replacing an anode rode could help you get out few more years out of it?

Have a look at these threads : https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/4332255/2

https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/4332207#Post4332207

BTW, as Wolf359 has also suggested, maybe it won't hurt to give it a try?

Mine is from 2004/14 years and so far no complains either.

 

[Trav]

Originally Posted By: bcossa2001
Are those low voltage wire going to the unit? What are they for?


The one on the right is 120V in and the other is for the water temp remote. It has since been hardwired in, this was the first time it ran.

 

[Linctex]

Originally Posted By: Wolf359
If the 14 year tank isn't gone yet, just replace the anode rod, you may get lucky and get a few more years out of it.


Yep!!

 

[JLawrence08648]

I've been told to buy the water heater with the least number of years as the hot water heater is the same, essentially you are paying for a tour of extended warranty.

My father was a plumber and he never replaced the anode rod. My local plumbing supply store told me most plumbers do not replace the anode rod.

Careful removing the rod, it's right, that's why you want to put a graphite paste on the threads such as Never-Seize.

I'm 66 yrs old, I've always gotten 20-30 yrs from a hot water heater without replacing the anode rod and occasionally draining and flushing the hot water heater.

The plumber on This Old House says expect a life of only 7 yrs from a tankless hot water heater.

Insulating the pipes with 3' foam wrap works keeping the pipes warm.

When replacing the hot water heater, have a 2" + drip pipe for the gas line, and the pressure relief tube should be 5" off the floor. I also like to put 2 shut off ball valves in, and below that 2 couplers. If I need to change the hot water heater again, it's easier. Just shut off the 2 valves and unscrew the couplers. You can't solder the copper tubing directly to the threaded fitting that goes into the hot water heater. There's a plastic insert that will melt. You need to solder a short piece to the teased fitting then screw that piece in, then continue with your soldering. Clean your connections really really well, use flux liberally. Heat the connection, not the tubing.

 

[Oldtom]

There is an inexpensive way to " maybe " get a few more years out of your existing heater. The standard water heater anode takes a 500 pound gorilla using a 1 inch drive impact gun to remove. As a result, people do not change the anode and the heater rusts out when the anode fails. Fortunately, you can buy a segmented anode attached to a heat trap nipple that installs easily with just basic hand tools. The site Water Heater Rescue has a lot of info. The segmented heat trap anodes are available on Amazon as well. Mine was an easy install, I had a tiny bit of weld metal inside the water heater inlet that prevented the anode from going in. A few strokes with a round file and I was done.

Cost, about 50 dollars for another 6 years of life. No guarantee, but maybe worth a shot?

 

[Wolf359]

The life of the water heater seems to depend on how much water goes through it and the type of water in the area. In this area I notice that most water heaters last just 6-10 years, anything older and they've all been replaced. I'm a real estate broker so I see lots of houses and most people want to know how old it is so they know whether it's time to change it out. I've only seen a couple places where they had a 20 year old water heater and it's rare, but sometimes you still see a copper water heater.

Most plumbers don't bother changing the rod because they can get anywhere from $200-$600 to change out a water heater. I think Home Depot is around $1000, that's basically around $400-$500 for the water heater and the rest is for the plumber. I did my rods using a 1/2 inch breaker bar, I think the bar was only 18 inch so my first attempt, I was only able to get 4 out of 8. I finally got the other 4 after getting a 3' iron pipe from Home Depot and using that as an extension and also spraying some Kroil on it.

I don't bother with the segmented rod because that's about $50 plus they're not as thick. Easier using a sawsall to cut a $15 rod to size. I did have one or two where it didn't fit, but in those cases, I just disconnected the hot and cold, drained some water out and then just tipped it to put the rod in.

 

[spasm3]

I replaced my water heater 2 years ago, The previous one was 20 yrs old. When should i check the anode rod? I have hard water. Should i check it next year at year 3? My closet is only 8ft tall, so the most i'm going to get in is a 3 ft rod.

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted By: spasm3
I replaced my water heater 2 years ago, The previous one was 20 yrs old. When should i check the anode rod? I have hard water. Should i check it next year at year 3? My closet is only 8ft tall, so the most i'm going to get in is a 3 ft rod.


On a six year water heater, probably around 4 years. One of the differences between the 6-9-12 year water heaters is that they have either thicker or dual anode rods so the tank doesn't rust out as quickly. The 6 year ones just have one anode rod.

You could always disconnect it, tip it and get in the full size rod. With shark bite quick connects, you don't even need to do any soldering.

 

[Dufus2]

I just moved into an old house and the electric water heater is 25+ years old (came here on the Mayflower) and the realtor argued the tank did not need to be replaced because it works (LOL). After about two weeks, the lower element burned out. The bottom of the tank was completely full of calcium deposits and the element was packed in cement like crud, no wonder it burned up. I worked on this water heater for several hours to drain the water, work the element out (it was stuck),scrape the oatmeal like crud out of the tank and rinse the bottom through the drain. Also replaced both thermostats to update the electric controls... On your gas water heater, you can replace the anode rod to prevent tank corrosion, update the controls; or just replace the whole water heater for peace of mind.. My 2-Cents.

 

[Audios]

I would not push 10 years on any tank heater, you seriously do not want to learn the hard way like we did. Heater was around 11-12 years old. Tank burst in the middle of the night, and the tank kept trying fill. So we had about a foots worth of water in the basement byt the time i ran down there to shut off the feed, sump pump could not keep up at all. Luckily insurance took care of everything, but it was still a roughly 30k bill, they had to tear the bottom of the walls out to dry, and do tons of mold tests for a few months after.

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted By: Audios
I would not push 10 years on any tank heater, you seriously do not want to learn the hard way like we did. Heater was around 11-12 years old. Tank burst in the middle of the night, and the tank kept trying fill. So we had about a foots worth of water in the basement byt the time i ran down there to shut off the feed, sump pump could not keep up at all. Luckily insurance took care of everything, but it was still a roughly 30k bill, they had to tear the bottom of the walls out to dry, and do tons of mold tests for a few months after.


You were unlucky. Mine are in the basement and every time they go, they just start out as a small leak and of course that puts out the pilot and you know pretty quickly that you don't have hot water. They're unfinished so leaking water on the cement floor does no damage. If you have finished basements you can either get a water alarm or hook up a WAGS which is a water and gas shut off. You put a pan under the water heater and once it detects water, it shuts off the cold water and the gas.

 

[bcossa2001]

Just drained a few gallons. A bit of black, brown, rusty water (about a half pint or so) and then several gallons of crystal clear. Put some penetrating oil on the anode. I’ll spray it another week or two and then see how much trouble I can get into replacing the anode rod.

I think we have neither hard nor soft water here so fortunate in that respect.

 

[djb]

Water heater life strongly depends on the local water chemistry, materials, and the presence of any defects in the lining.

You water heater life will probably be much closer to the small sample of your neighbors with similar pipes and water heaters than to statistically 'better' wide-area samples.

A water heater that has lasted for 15 years could well have a better expected longevity than o new model of a different type.

 

[Donald]

Even a tank gas water heater can recover quickly. Its only an electric tank water heater that is slow.

My water heater is a tank with some copper coils and its plumbed as a zone off my oil boiler. Never run out of how water. I think they last forever.

 

[Shannow]

My old house was a tank (in the laundry) that failed...no disaster, it put out the pilot light before flooding.

Put in an "instant"...luckily, the previous owner plumbed 1.5" gal pipe around the house for gas reticulation, so supply wasn't an issue. Plumber reckoned that saved us a few hundre bucks, and he could do the install same day the old one failed.

"Instant" is a word that didn't apply to the Bosch water heater...it responded quickly to flow (in firing up), but took a long long time to deliver hot water. About 2/3 a bucket of water (1.5-2 gal) down the drain before you stepped into the shower, or put the plug in the sink...small thing, but one tiny frustration every workday annoyed me.

Baths, although infrequent, were added to, in that topping up with hot meant adding all that cold water initially.

New place has a tank...as others have said, they recover very fast...when it goes, it's another tank.

 

[JMJNet]

Most of the old tank water heater's drain valve needs replacing with a good size valve.
The plastic valve is very restrictive.

I drained my 24 years water heater this past summer.
I had to drain from the plastic valve for about half a day to drain before I can change it with a nice size brass valve.
After the brass valve was installed, I can flush and drain all the cruds in there.
I changed the anode rod a couple of years ago.

This summer I will drain it again to clean all the cruds.

Check youtube, there are a lot of instruction to change the valve and drain/flush the water heater so it will last longer.

 

[andyd]

My utility dungeon has a dirt floor. I get about 10 yrs out of a 40 gallon Rheem propane heater. IIRC, I'm on #4. I have ball valve shut offs with union threads sweated to them. Undo the unions, unscrew the rest from the the old htr and move it out. An afternoon's easy job with no problems.

 

[supton]

Originally Posted By: Donald
Even a tank gas water heater can recover quickly. Its only an electric tank water heater that is slow.

My water heater is a tank with some copper coils and its plumbed as a zone off my oil boiler. Never run out of how water. I think they last forever.


That is what I have too. Although all I have for temp regulation is a Watt's valve on it, and sometimes it can decide to get scalding. A tank of some sort might have some value. One nice feature is that the furnace runs year-round. When we turn the heat on in Oct it's not the first time it's run in months.