Hot water heater help

[Chaoster]

I have a quote of $965 to replace a hot water heater. It will be a 50 gallon AO Smith. It's in the basement and looks pretty straight forward. It's out in the open with nothing blocking it. Is that about the going rate? I am using a local guy. Trying to keep my business in the local area. Thanks.

 

[SoonerSarah]

Oddly enough, our hot water heater was just replaced, today. We have been without hot water since Wednesday, which has been interesting.

First of all, we have a home warranty. It is less than $500 a year and our AC could go out at any time and we have some various plumbing issues. With the plumbing issues alone, we have already saved money on what we paid.

So anyway, if it was a smooth transition, it costs us $60. New water heater and labor. However, there were other issues with pipes and Co2 stuff (gas heater) and vent thing (sorry, I don't speak water heater..). Including our $60 warranty payment, our total was $400. I know that the heater is in around the $300 range, and I have no clue what labor costs for the heater instilation would have been. They were here for almost 4 hours with all of the issues.

Oh, ours is 40 gallons (we have a seperate tankless heater for our laundry) and it is in a closet (we live in a ranch style), but our home is pier and beam and the access is also in this closet so the heater is on a shelf that is about 2 feet off of the ground. I felt very sorry for the plumbers.

 

[The Moonk's Mom]

WH are so different from place to place depending on what the local building codes require when you replace. Depends also on what you have now and what has to be brought to code. I would check with people in your area, but, yes, it was going to cost us that much to have ours replaced until we realized the pilot had just gone out!

 

[Hygiene99]

http://www.gasproductscompany.com/gas-products/promax-50-gallon-waterheater.html
Sounds pretty good to me...

 

[malibuconlee]

Get a bid from another local contractor. In commercial construction 3 bids is considered doing due diligence, no reason not to do the same in residential.

 

[Charitycase20]

Just my 2cents, but is there anyway that you or a family member could do it yourself? We had to replace the water heater in our "new to us" home last spring. My stepdad and I did it, I bought a energy efficient water heater at Lowes for about $500, spent about $30 more on supplies. But it was great to be able to say that I helped put in the new one!!

 

[SoonerSarah]

Just my 2cents, but is there anyway that you or a family member could do it yourself? We had to replace the water heater in our "new to us" home last spring. My stepdad and I did it, I bought a energy efficient water heater at Lowes for about $500, spent about $30 more on supplies. But it was great to be able to say that I helped put in the new one!!

If my Dad were closer (he is 12 hours away) we would have done this. He used to flip houses though (back before it became popular).

 

[Ashlander]

My Dad did this for us last weekend. We spent about $30 on supplies. Love my Dad!!!

I hope my husband is learning a lot from my Dad so he can save us money in the future!

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Incidentally - we looked at replacing our furnace/water heater/AC this summer....

I might be off the mark - but I know if you replace many home appliances this year with stuff of a certain energy rating then you will qualify for a tax incentive - so long as you buy by the end of the year.

With the federal goverment getting ready to cut back, now may be the time to take advantage of such offerings.

 

[merekc]

Had to replace mine several years ago, unfortunately on the Friday a couple days before Christmas. Local company quote was $1500 probably inflated due to the holidays. Your quote sounds much better than mine. I ended up hiring an acquantaince to do it. I spent about $500 for a new tank and supplies at Lowes and gave him money for doing it.

I think your quote sounds fair for supplies and labor. You can call around and get some quotes but you are also approaching the weekend and should act quickly if you don't want to wait extra days for hot water.

 

[andycat]

$900+ seems high, but it will certainly depend on the type of water heater and location (if you're 20 miles out in the country, probably more than in the suburbs).

Many places allow homeowners to do their own repairs without license / permit, but check with your local building code division to make certain. Anyone who's reasonably handy should be able to replace an electric water heater, and there are a lot of internet sites with instructions. Gas isn't really any more difficult, but you'll want to be very careful to make certain there are no gas leaks that and the flue is vented properly - you have a carbon monoxide detector, right? In many places the gas company will come out at no charge to light the pilot on a new appliance just to check the connections.

Whoever does the installation, make certain you put some insulation under the water heater. I've seen high-density styrofoam disks specifically for this purpose at Home Depot, or I built a platform with 4x4s and plywood that I insulated with fiberglass. You can loose a lot of heat out of the bottom of the water heater into the cold basement concrete.

Lastly, check and see if there are any tax rebates available. I know there are rebates that expire at the end of 2010 for home energy efficiency improvements.

 

[Charitycase20]

Incidentally - we looked at replacing our furnace/water heater/AC this summer....

I might be off the mark - but I know if you replace many home appliances this year with stuff of a certain energy rating then you will qualify for a tax incentive - so long as you buy by the end of the year.

With the federal goverment getting ready to cut back, now may be the time to take advantage of such offerings.

I second this Although when we replaced our water heater there wasn't any rebates available for it, we will be able to deduct almost $800 from our taxes this year for our new furnace we had put in last week!!

 

[cvjw]

We had ours replaced in the summer, and it was around $900 installed. We put in a 50 gallon water heater with a shut off valve. I know the shut off valve made the cost higher - but if our water heater were to go while we were out of town, the extra money would be very worth it.