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We bought a property and redoing the garage. The previous owner installed a 38 gallon tank (property is about 1350 sq ft) manufactured in 2010. The previous one apparently had a leak which caused the water heater stand to grow black mold. I'm having to replace the stand and repair areas surrounding it, and I'm paying the plumber $300 to take the water heater down and install it again while I do this. We are also finishing out the garage, spending a good amount of money on drywall and electrician with EV charger, etc.
Now I'm thinking... should I spent an extra $600 to get a new, 50 gallon tank to replace a 7 year old, working water heater? I live in So California and have hard water. We haven't moved in yet and have money going out on other things. They say the life expectancy of a water heater is 8-12 years old... and the plumber says just keep the old one and replace it when it dies. It's hard making a decision to replace something that's working fine.
They say the life expectancy of a water heater is 8-12 years old...
That depends on where you are... water conditions, filtering, maintenance etc. LINK
And to a lesser degree on the heater itself (anode rods etc)
In many places WH life is well over 20 years.
btw... who is this "they" that you credit so highly?
Quote:
I live in So California and have hard water.
...plumber says just keep the old one and replace it when it dies.
I tend to agree.
But I would poke around to see what filtering, maintenance, etc your neighbors are doing.
WH life only 8~12 years? Who says that? Of the 4 homes I've owned, only one had something newer than 15 years (current), though I did have to replace the WH in my first house... it was 38 years old and original to the home.
You can do a couple things, use a catch-basin under the heater with a water sensor so you know the moment it starts to leak, drain the heater yearly to flush out sediment and maybe look into filtering/treating the water.
I certainly wouldn't replace what I consider to be a fairly new water heater... heck, even the guy who could make a few more bucks off you if you did, is telling you not to.
We bought a property and redoing the garage. The previous owner installed a 38 gallon tank (property is about 1350 sq ft) manufactured in 2010. The previous one apparently had a leak which caused the water heater stand to grow black mold. I'm having to replace the stand and repair areas surrounding it, and I'm paying the plumber $300 to take the water heater down and install it again while I do this. We are also finishing out the garage, spending a good amount of money on drywall and electrician with EV charger, etc.
Now I'm thinking... should I spent an extra $600 to get a new, 50 gallon tank to replace a 7 year old, working water heater? I live in So California and have hard water. We haven't moved in yet and have money going out on other things. They say the life expectancy of a water heater is 8-12 years old... and the plumber says just keep the old one and replace it when it dies. It's hard making a decision to replace something that's working fine.
Anyone would like to chime in?
As other have said, replacement before failure is generally NOT a good idea from a purely out of pocket "budget" standpoint.
That said, even though a 1350 sg ft home is DARNED SMALL these days the fact is a 38 gallon wh is pathetically SMALL -- one good load of laundry or cycle of the dishwasher and you will be taking a COLD bath!
You won't see a huge difference with 12 more gallons of capacity, but there are other options. If you are already committed spending money to "fancy up" your garage AND are planning on having a EV you almost certainly should consider a HEAT PUMP wh. In SoCal a heat pump type WH will be able to COOL YOUR GARAGE and essentially use the other wise wasted warmth of your garage to heat water ON THE CHEAP.
give it a good flush and check the anode rod. I wouldn't worry about it. Mine's over 10 years old and I have no plans to replace it. I have an AO Smith brand installed by a local company though, not a lowes special. Properly flushed with the anode rod replaced when needed, a water heater, particularly a gas one, can last 20 years.
Mine is 12 years old - installed by builder. It's never been flushed �� I guess some people said not to flush because after this long, I may start a leak by flushing. I don't use much hot water so will just let it ride a few more years.
We bought a property and redoing the garage. The previous owner installed a 38 gallon tank (property is about 1350 sq ft) manufactured in 2010. The previous one apparently had a leak which caused the water heater stand to grow black mold. I'm having to replace the stand and repair areas surrounding it, and I'm paying the plumber $300 to take the water heater down and install it again while I do this. We are also finishing out the garage, spending a good amount of money on drywall and electrician with EV charger, etc.
Now I'm thinking... should I spent an extra $600 to get a new, 50 gallon tank to replace a 7 year old, working water heater? I live in So California and have hard water. We haven't moved in yet and have money going out on other things. They say the life expectancy of a water heater is 8-12 years old... and the plumber says just keep the old one and replace it when it dies. It's hard making a decision to replace something that's working fine.
Anyone would like to chime in?
First of all, water heaters typically last a long more than 8-12 years. So replacing the current WH is probably unnecessary.
That said, since you're already spending a lot of money, and extra $600 is probably a drop in the bucket, and a small price to pay for having everything new.
give it a good flush and check the anode rod. I wouldn't worry about it. Mine's over 10 years old and I have no plans to replace it. I have an AO Smith brand installed by a local company though, not a lowes special. Properly flushed with the anode rod replaced when needed, a water heater, particularly a gas one, can last 20 years.
Is this something a layperson can do? I am in the process of buying a 47 year old house that belonged to my late aunt. She was not a person that did preventive maintenance although the WH is somewhere around 6-10 years old. I figured I would just get a trusted plumber I know from church to service it once or twice a year.
Is this something a layperson can do? I am in the process of buying a 47 year old house that belonged to my late aunt. She was not a person that did preventive maintenance although the WH is somewhere around 6-10 years old. I figured I would just get a trusted plumber I know from church to service it once or twice a year.
If you have a trusted plumber, you're good to go.
That said, whether or not you can do these basic procedures depends on how mechanically inclined you are.
I am not mechanically inclined. I'm surprised I can change a light bulb without help. My problem is I am a visual learner. If I watched somebody check the anode rod or drain the WH, I could probably do it but if I read something about how to do it, I would be lost.
I know how to put windshield washer fluid in my car. :-)
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Depends on what your real motivation is ...
