Hot water heaters

[sweet angel]

I'm on a roll with my questions...

Anyone have any idea how much a 40 gal hot water heater would be? BallparK?

 

[Charade]

About $300 to $400 (not installed)

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productList&N= 1000094

 

[Otto's Doll]

Just wondering that myself. Ours is about pretty old and we were thinking of replacing it with a larger one. How big do they come?

 

[Michie]

Check on Lowes or Home Depot websites, that will give you an idea for the cost in your area.

I hope you have hot water!

 

[Jillpie]

I just went thru this whole process, so I'm very familiar with the prices and installation. We are a family of five, lots of showers. So we got the 80 gal. one from Home Depot for 400.00. But its not the water heater that is the expense, its the installation. Don't be so quick to go with the people from the store to install it! Very expensive. Do your research and ask around town for local plumbers. We luckily know a guy here in town who does plumbing for his "side job", but is licensed and charged us 125.00 for the whole job, a far cry for what they charge at Home Depot etc. But you need the expert for this job, don't try to wing it.

 

[Duckfan-in-Chicago]

When the one I have in the basement goes, I'm going with a tankless hot water heater.

 

[sweet angel]

My water heater is only 2.5 years old and I've been having problems with it for about a year. Last June/July I had to manually light the pilot for hot water for several weeks before my heating/cooling company that installed it could fit me in for service -- and that's WITH a service contract. They ended up replacing the thermocouple and charging me around $200 (part + 2 service calls)

Well, the pilot has started going out again and I'm thinking if I have to pay that much for service again, I'm better off just replacing the whole darn thing. The service guy at the company when I called yesterday quoted me "about $750" for a water heater which I thought was pretty high. He said he was going to call the manufacturer to find out if they'll do anything about it since I've been having ongoing problems and the heater is relatively new.

Can I just say that it really sucks having to get up at 5 a.m. to light the pilot so DS has hot water to shower at 5:30, when I don't even have to get up til 6:30.

Duck, how much more are tankless systems?

 

[Taylor]

It is actually just a "Water Heater", hot water doesn't need to be heated.

 

[John VN]

It is actually just a "Water Heater", hot water doesn't need to be heated.

Actually, it starts out as a water heater but once the water is hot from being heated the hot water cools down a bit and if you have the thermostat set fairly high the heater will kick on to make the hot water even hotter.

 

[Duckfan-in-Chicago]

Duck, how much more are tankless systems?

I guess they cost about twice as much now, BUT they pay for themselves in maybe 2 1/2 years in energy savings, they last twice as long, you never run out of hot water, and you get a $300 tax credit now.

 

[sweet angel]

I guess they cost about twice as much now, BUT they pay for themselves in maybe 2 1/2 years in energy savings, they last twice as long, you never run out of hot water, and you get a $300 tax credit now.

Interesting. We've never "run out of hot water" though. Savings on energy and tax credit is a nice incentive though.

 

[Duckfan-in-Chicago]

Interesting. We've never "run out of hot water" though. Savings on energy and tax credit is a nice incentive though.

Well, some people don't run out because they buy a huge tank and they're heating it 24/7. If you never run out that means however big your tank is you're heating more water than you ever use 24/7/365.

 

[golfgal]

Check with your gas company and see if they sell them. We have gotten appliances through the gas company and the installation was very inexpensive. They also have pretty good rebates and warranties on their products usually.

 

[sweet angel]

Check with your gas company and see if they sell them. We have gotten appliances through the gas company and the installation was very inexpensive. They also have pretty good rebates and warranties on their products usually.

This particular model was part of my conversion from electric to gas. It was actually free from the gas company -- but I didn't do my conversion thru the gas company.

Duck -- I only have a 40 gal. tank.

 

[DaisyD]

We have the 80 gallon. I remember when we had the 40 gallon and running out of water all the time. Get an 80 gallon.

 

[sweet angel]

We have the 80 gallon. I remember when we had the 40 gallon and running out of water all the time. Get an 80 gallon.

I've never run out of hot water with my 40 gal.

 

[DaisyD]

I've never run out of hot water with my 40 gal.

We always did with 5 people in the house. A lot of house buyers like having that 80 gallon too.