New Water Heater

[Jawa]

My hot water heater has been steadily getting worse - I have to keep the temperature pretty low to keep it from tripping the pressure release valve and spewing water all over my crawl space. A drain and a flush gave me about a year and a half free of issues (aside from having to keep the temp down), but now it's acting up again. The heater looks to be a '96 and I'm willing to bet it was never maintained until I moved in 3 years ago... not that I've maintained it very well either. I think I've drained and flushed it twice.

Google searching is telling me that without proper maintenance a water heater is typically good for only 10 years or so. Time to replace mine then. For anyone that is/has been in the plumbing business, what's a fair price for having a new heater installed? I figure it'll cost me more with it in a crawl space... I'm going to start calling around for estimates tomorrow and would appreciate any help that'll keep me from gettin screwed. :laugh3: I welcome any referrals you have too. Thanks!

 

[Skully]

.....for like a second I thought you were talking about your heep, specially with the '96 in there.........:laugh2:

I am in the same boat, no probs yet but it is getting up in age. If you can afford it do one of those tankless heaters. PM'ed you with a guy that did my heater, he does water heaters as well I believe, he had a great price and was fast!

...........hey, where did 2021 go?

 

[Jawa]

Thanks Skully, I appreciate it. I got tired of the numbers at the end - I just used my email prefix when I signed up, not knowing I'd end up becoming a member. I put in a request to have it changed. :thumbup:

 

[XJNOOB93]

I will ask my dad for you in the morning. He is a property manager and jus got one installed.

 

[Frank Z]

FWIW, There are no longer any gas fired low-boy water heaters manufactured in the US. You're going to have to go to an electric or an on-demand system.

 

[Jawa]

Seriously?? Wow! That means big $$$ from what I've seen so far. I thought the on demand systems were for low volume applications like dishwashers, washing machines, maybe a single shower. Would one even be sufficient enough for something like drawing a bath?

There's got to be a HUGE number of homes out there that have water heaters in crawl spaces, I'm floored that they aren't manufactured anymore...

 

[Frank Z]

Yep, it means a lot more time spent explaining one less option to my customers.

 

[Jawa]

I'll bet. Any recommendations on brands as far as tankless models go?

 

[Frank Z]

Bosch or Rennai

 

[jrsxj98]

Man I feel for ya. Mine just took a dump, I ended up changing it myself to save some coin, still was around 700 bucks with everything. Mine was 12 yrs old (got real lucky)

As for life of them, it all depends on your water quality. Bro-in-law is a plumber and said that some areas with high mineral levels only get 6-7 years. most should get you to the 10 yr mark.

 

[philip_g]

What about replacing the T&P? Sounds like that's just going bad to me if the T&P is dumping water at a temp lower than it should, they're only what, like $10 so it's worth a shot.

I'd love a tankless for my home but the payoff is just too damn long.