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I have read a couple of reports that say the life expectancy of a water heater is about 10-12 years. After I checked and found out that mine was 17 years old, I had it replaced before it was a mess. That is a lot of water if they spring a leak.
Gas water heaters have several safety interlocks which, if malfunctioning, might prevent them from working properly. It may be if you call your plumber and he can check it out that you might just need to replace a part. But either way, as long as it still gets hot enough to satisfy your needs it will probably last a while. Especially if the water temperature was a step-change and has deteriorated no further that you can tell.
I have read a couple of reports that say the life expectancy of a water heater is about 10-12 years. After I checked and found out that mine was 17 years old, I had it replaced before it was a mess. That is a lot of water if they spring a leak.
More likely the heating element quits, you'd be likely able to visually see signs of deterioration on the tank itself.
I suspect one of my two natural gas fired w/h stopped working so the load was too much for one? I am familiar with the heating element in an electric unit but not sure what the heat exchanger is like in a natural gas one?
Is it just that one shower or hot water to all the faucets? We had the same issue recently in one of our showers, and it turned out to be the diverter in the actual shower handle. Replaced that, and the problem was solved.
If it is a whole-house issue, are they gas water heaters? If so, check the pilot lights. We had one go out before on one of our water heaters, and it did the same thing.
Hope it's an easy fix for now until you are ready to replace them.
It is all faucets not just the shower. I increased the temperature setting on both units and the water temperature is very hot but only at a higher temperature setting on the shower. Yes these are gas hot water heaters. I will go check the pilots on them as it does seem like only one of the two 50 gal units is working now, if that explains the sudden temperature drop across my entire h/w system. The two units are installed in parallel, that is the water inlet and hot water outlet are connected right at the inflow and outflow of both units.
I will report back on the pilots status. I know both units are needing to be replaced but would like to delay until we have more clarity on how the virus operates and when it is safe to have repairment come into my house. My wife is high risk with an impaired immune system and takes powerful immune suppressants to keep her going. She took the generic med that is being touted at a possible help in recovery from CV19, she took it 25 years ago and is on much stronger meds now to control her RA
Ok got my plumber replacing the two h/w heaters. One of the heaters just started leaking, pain was wet but no where near overflowing. Ended up costing more than I had hoped and then the quote from Lowe;s but that was without Lowe's coming to review and bid so the ball park given from afar is probably low. Job will be done Monday, in meantime plumber shut off the failed/leaking unit from my system we should have h/w over the weekend. Im a Chemical Engineer so know fluid flow and understand metal differences. My Plumber has been doing all my plumbing work and I trust and like the guy a lot. He knows more than I do about this in terms of basic engineering as well as how to install it ideally. Got an estimate from him on tankless as well but decided it was not worth the extra cost to me.
Should be done in a little under a full day on Monday with a helper and my Plumber
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