Hot Water Heater

Ken Anderson

Ken Anderson

Greeter
Staff member
Anything having to do with hot water heaters can be discussed here, or if there is a specific issue that you'd like to have as its own thread, that's fine too.

We need a new hot water heater. Our's is connected to our home oil heating system and is probably not as old as the house, which was built in 1910, but it's quite old, as is the boiler itself. However, we have the boiler cleaned and checked out every year and it's working fine, so we're not going to mess with that. The hot water heater is another matter. It has visible holes in the outside shell and is no longer working right.

We get hot water, but it goes away quickly. Then, if we shut the hot water tap off for a couple of minutes, we get all the hot water we need. I can deal with that; in the shower, I would get myself wet, then shut the water off, while I soap down, and then turn it back on for the rinse, but my wife objects to that. Nevertheless, it indicated a problem, which led to actually looking at it and seeing that the outer shell has holes, and then calling a repairman over.

Our house was a three-unit apartment building when we bought it, with three kitchens and three sets of bathrooms and bathtubs, so our hot water tank is much larger than we need. During the summer, when the thermostats are down, the boiler would still have to keep coming on in order to keep the water hot in this large tank.

So, we're going to go with a smaller electric hot water heater, which should be fine for dishes and showers. In that way, we can shut the heating system down in the summer and perhaps offset the higher electric bills with lower oil costs, and perhaps even save money on the deal. Plus, replacing the current hot water system will cost upwards of $4,000 versus less than half that for an electric hot water heater, counting the installation costs.
 
We had a problem with our hot water heater, too, several years ago. It was probably installed many years ago, and then for some stupid reason, they enclosed the closet with a tiny door that the water tank could not be taken out of when it quit.
We needed hot water, so @Bobby Cole decided to put in one of those small instant heat tankless heaters. It works great, and we always have hot water for showers and in the kitchen. Bobby can tell you more about the whole procedure, but we have been really happy with how well it works, and now have a whole closet space that we can use.
Bobby had to take everything apart and remove the tiny door to get the old tank out, and rebuild the frame, but now it makes a nice little storage area.
 
We use heating oil in the summer and kerosene in the winter (because our oil tank is outdoors and heating oil can freeze in extremely cold weather). Most people here use oil heat, although some are on propane or wood, although I don't think they are allowing new houses with wood heating. At least the house remains warm when the power goes out.

When we moved here, we were going through about six tanks of oil a year, and spending a whole lot of money on oil. However, once we had the walls, attic, and crawlspace insulated, along with a heat pump upstairs, we're down to only a couple of tanks a year. That should go down further when it no longer has to heat the water in the hot water tank.
 
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As @Yvonne Smith wrote, we now use an electric tankless system which also means that we never run out of hot water.
We were lucky in a way because the electric panel sits in a closet on the other side of the wall of where the hot water tank was so hooking it up was just a matter of connecting the two hoses and running the 30 gauge wire through the wall and throwing two new breakers in the box.

A couple of months ago I finally took the entire doorway out of the “water” closet and got the old heater out of there so now the entire space save a 12”x 16” panel on the wall is now good for storage.
 
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I just had a water heater replaced. It is the same old storage-type gas fired one that was in before. I asked about a tankless, and the plumber, although he sold and installed them, said they didn't always work in Alaska since our groundwater is so cold. Of course, city water that sits in tanks and pipes underground is fine most of the time, our well water runs about 30 F. coming out of the ground and has to be heated a lot before being suitable. One son has a tankless one here and he seems to be okay with it though.

New Englanders don't like pipelines, so they are happy to pay more for energy so they can enjoy the benefits of wind and solar.
 
I just had my electric hot water tank replaced after 12 years.. It was giving rusty water, so we emptied it and drained it a few times but it was still rusty so we had it replaced with a new 40 gallon one.. The whole thing cost me.... $500 for the tank and $150 for the labour to change it and take away the old one.. Total $650 for a new hot water tank that should last me till I move from here....
 
Marie Miller said:
We replaced the water heater in January. Natural gas installed and old one hauled off was 6k. Flow through was quoted around 8k.
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OUCH !!
A few months ago I replaced an old (gas) heater at our local convenience store. The 50 gallon unit itself cost $600 at HDepot and I only charged them 300 beans for labor. Not bad for an hour and a half’s work.
Note: I get 10% off for my vets discount which only means that whatever I buy at HDepot and Lowe’s is tax free since the taxes here are 9%.

Anyway, the hookups were all good to go so it was just a matter of emptying the old one and putting it along side the road for trash pickup, , throwing the new one in, checking for gas leaks and voila, hot water again.
 
Bobby Cole said:
OUCH !!
A few months ago I replaced an old (gas) heater at our local convenience store. The 50 gallon unit itself cost $600 at HDepot and I only charged them 300 beans for labor. Not bad for an hour and a half’s work.
Note: I get 10% off for my vets discount which only means that whatever I buy at HDepot and Lowe’s is tax free since the taxes here are 9%.

Anyway, the hookups were all good to go so it was just a matter of emptying the old one and putting it along side the road for trash pickup, , throwing the new one in, checking for gas leaks and voila, hot water again.
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Good for you and thank you for your service. From the bottom of my heart!
SO is always on the road when things happen. Several surgeries later he is not as handy as he used to be. Trash will not pick up appliances.
 
Our hot water heater cost $2800 installed with the old one hauled away. It was not a standard installation, as the location is difficult and the vent had to be changed. Last time it was changed, I think it was only $500 or $600, but that was years ago and this was done by a certified plumber; the last was a handyman (Alaska has certification for them too), but the last guy didn't bring everything up to code, while the plumber had to do so.
 
Don Alaska said:
Our hot water heater cost $2800 installed with the old one hauled away.
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That's about what we paid last spring for a new natural gas water heater installed. A plumbing company came out after hours to replace the water heater in the attic. They had to carry the old heater down 2 flights of stairs and the new heater up 2 flights of stairs. They also installed a new pan which is a necessity with attic installations.

I thought that was expensive but compared to what other people are paying it's actually quite reasonable.
 
I fear the day that my hot water heater needs replaced. It has been over 10 years since I installed the new one myself. Our water is full of sediment, so the time is nigh. I will have to pay to have it done this time. A friends grandson can do the job for $750 including the new tank, blow off valve, new pan, and hookup hoses. Last time I replaced it, it was so full of sediment, that I couldn't drain it. A full tank was difficult to get out and down a few steps. I did it but never again. Easier to not be a tight fisted old winch and just pony up the dough to get it done.
 
Faye Fox said:
I fear the day that my hot water heater needs replaced. It has been over 10 years since I installed the new one myself. Our water is full of sediment, so the time is nigh. I will have to pay to have it done this time. A friends grandson can do the job for $750 including the new tank, blow off valve, new pan, and hookup hoses. Last time I replaced it, it was so full of sediment, that I couldn't drain it. A full tank was difficult to get out and down a few steps. I did it but never again. Easier to not be a tight fisted old winch and just pony up the dough to get it done.
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Our last water heater was installed about 18 years ago by my husband and son. This time we were happy to pay the plumbers to do the heavy work!! Having that stuff in the attic is a PITA. Luckily, we have a full stand-up attic with a floor, but it's still hard work wrestling stuff up and down stairs.
 
I just had my electric water heater replaced and I think it cost about $800 (it started tripping the breaker.) I was gonna replace the elements & thermostat and decided to not mess with it. I thought the heater had been replaced 15 years ago when the prior owner/investor rehabed the place, but the plumber said it was older than that. I cleaned out a ton of sediment from it 10 years ago, but it was finally time to get rid of it.

I always thought that if I went tankless, I'd keep a regular water heater in the place with the power disconnected just to have a supply "pre heated" to room temp rather than heating the cold ground water.

@Ken Anderson My sister lived in a large old house that had the oil-fired water heater as an adjunct to the oil furnace. They are not efficient. You should save some bucks by the conversion you just did.
 
The workpeople are here installing the hot water heater today, and it's hectic, given that it involves a whole lot of open doors and the only place that I would have to shut Ella up in would be the library, but that's one of the places they have to access since that's where the electrical panels are. So, I have to keep watching to try to ensure she doesn't go out the door or into the crawlspace. It probably won't be a problem because, rather than the one person who was here last, there are two people today, so she will probably stay hidden somewhere upstairs, where they are not accessing. Whenever people are over working on something, I always dread the inevitable, "We've got a problem," that is too often a prelude to wanting more money.
 
Ken Anderson said:
The workpeople are here installing the hot water heater today, and it's hectic, given that it involves a whole lot of open doors and the only place that I would have to shut Ella up in would be the library, but that's one of the places they have to access since that's where the electrical panels are. So, I have to keep watching to try to ensure she doesn't go out the door or into the crawlspace. It probably won't be a problem because, rather than the one person who was here last, there are two people today, so she will probably stay hidden somewhere upstairs, where they are not accessing. Whenever people are over working on something, I always dread the inevitable, "We've got a problem," that is too often a prelude to wanting more money.
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I understand your concerns. Can you sit with her or do the workers need your attention?

We stopped a house move dead in the tracks until ShadowCat was accounted for. How this big cat managed to get into the drawer under the washer has not yet been figured out.
 
She went into hiding when they back the work truck into the driveway, and is still in hiding. I just can't be sure she'll remain there and, if it's like last time, she might remain in hiding for hours after they leave, and I won't know for sure if she's hiding in the closet or if she had slipped out an open door or into the crawlspace. They are going to be here for hours and she would never let me hold her that long, anyhow. If my wife were home, she would probably be okay lying in bed with me while they were here, but my wife has an appointment with an audiologist, I think it is, in Bangor today, so I need to be downstairs to show them where stuff is that they might need to access.
 
Ken Anderson said:
The workpeople are here installing the hot water heater today, and it's hectic, given that it involves a whole lot of open doors and the only place that I would have to shut Ella up in would be the library, but that's one of the places they have to access since that's where the electrical panels are. So, I have to keep watching to try to ensure she doesn't go out the door or into the crawlspace. It probably won't be a problem because, rather than the one person who was here last, there are two people today, so she will probably stay hidden somewhere upstairs, where they are not accessing. Whenever people are over working on something, I always dread the inevitable, "We've got a problem," that is too often a prelude to wanting more money.
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That "problem" thing can rear its ugly head with any plumbing, especially old stuff. When I worked with that non-profit doing home repairs, we never touched plumbing problems. There's just too much that can go wrong when you start wrenching old pipes.
 
Ken Anderson said:
She went into hiding when they back the work truck into the driveway, and is still in hiding. I just can't be sure she'll remain there and, if it's like last time, she might remain in hiding for hours after they leave, and I won't know for sure if she's hiding in the closet or if she had slipped out an open door or into the crawlspace. They are going to be here for hours and she would never let me hold her that long, anyhow. If my wife were home, she would probably be okay lying in bed with me while they were here, but my wife has an appointment with an audiologist, I think it is, in Bangor today, so I need to be downstairs to show them where stuff is that they might need to access.
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Cat carrier?
 
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