Gas hot water heater is 14 years old - when to replace?

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mattster1975

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I have a gas hot water heater that is 14 years old (not sure when it was put into service - we have used it for the last 7 years. It is a GE with a 6 year warranty.

It's not leaking and the T/P valve is ok. I have never flushed it or changed the anode. We have hard water in our area. Should it be replaced soon? Should I just check every few months for leaks? It's in a 2nd floor closet with a drain pan.
 

Dj2

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I wouldn't invest a dime on this 14 yo water heater, instead, would start putting money aside for a new WH.

At the first sign of trouble, replace it.

Flushing, or trying to flush it at this stage, may open a can of worms.
 

mattster1975

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I don't know many people that would spend money on a gas water heater over ten years. They do tend to fill up with deposits over time anyway.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to replace it. What things should a homeowner look for when changing a hot water heater out? Expansion tank? Tempering valve? I don't have any of that stuff now and we do have some water hammer on the hot side.
 

Dj2

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You mentioned that your WH is on the second floor - that's a nasty place to have it in. In case of a leak, the pan will or will not help you, depending on the leak size and whether or not the pan has a discharge pipe to a drain.

I assume that you will hire a general plumber or one who only does water heaters. Ask for an estimate to move the water heater to a better location, like the garage or basement. I've seen water damages from a burst WH on a second floor going unnoticed, they ran in the thousands.

If you are going to DIY, remember that modifying gas lines requires city inspection.

Old water heaters used to have plastic drain valves. New water heaters are starting to come with brass valves. At least new Rheem water heaters do. If your new WH comes with a plastic valve, replace it with a brass one, prior to filling the WH up. For a water hammer, install an arrestor, you may not even need an expansion tank.

dj2

The Rheem heaters at Home Depot have plastic drains.
At the plumbing wholesale houses, they are brass.
Added by Terry Love
 
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Jadnashua

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I'm an advocate of the WAGS valve

http://www.taco-hvac.com/products/hydronic_accessories/wags_valve/index.html

. If the pan gets about 1/2" of water in it, the valve shuts off the incoming supply water and can disable the burner. It does not require any power to run it. With the inlet turned off, it sort of acts like your finger over the end of a straw, and limits the amount and speed of whatever water is left in the tank from coming out. It's a one-time use thing, so don't try to test it first!
 

Cacher_Chick

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I'm an advocate of never putting a water heater on an upper level of a house. It's just poor design, knowing that eventually it WILL leak.
 

Master Plumber Mark

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There should be a special place reserved in hell for the builder who designs a home with
the water heater on the second floor of a home.....
After 14 years even the plastic or aluminum pan the heater is sitting in
probably will leak from stress cracks and flood out your home..... I have seen many pans
that have been ground through by the legs and the weight of the heater..

My advice is that someone is giving you fair warning to change
that heater before it totally destroys
your home.... I have seen the horror and seen the water running down a flight of stairs because it ruptures so badly....

of course you dont have to listen...

 
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I was wondering why water heaters would end up on 2nd floors of a single dwelling.

Is it because of energy reasons, to have it placed in a warmer environment where it will be easier to heat and maintain temp?
 

Terry

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I've seen a few on second floors. And of course condo's are a big one for that. On a second floor, I like to change them at 10 years, or make sure you have really good insurance and nothing you won't miss if they leak.
 

Jadnashua

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IF the heater is closer to the main use points, you get hot water there faster and you can minimize (potentially) running as much hot water piping - copper isn't as cheap as it once was! Other than that, I don't see a good reason to do it.
 

Dj2

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I've seen water heaters in single story homes' attics. Not many, just a few homes.

Their logic, which I disagree with, is that attics can get as hot as 150 degrees during the day, naturally heating the water and saving gas.
In other words, they are willing to take the risk of a flood for potentially saving, giving an estimate here, of $250 a year on gas.

Just the thought of hoisting a water heater into the attic...gives me a backache.
 
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So my guess was right about possible energy benefits, as it is easier to maintain heated water on the 2nd floor or as what #15 said, in the attic.

If you think about, it's more like a hot water cistern.

Afterall, cisterns are placed pretty much anywhere. The only difference is that they just aren't under any supply pressure as the water just sits there.

What if we put a curbed showerpan under it? The drain can't be trapped because that might not handle a water explosion. And since it's not trapped, we can't drain that into the main stack. It would have to be "guttered" thru a soffit, perhaps.
 

Dj2

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One day Americans will heat water with solar. It's been done all over the world for decades.
But here, utilities are resisting, for obvious reasons.
However solar water heaters will eventually come to states with lots of sunshine.
Until then, a better idea than attic gas water heaters is water heaters in metal sheds on the south side (all day exposure). These sheds are common in CA, AZ, TX and NM.
 

Jadnashua

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THe argument that the attic will provide enough heat for the WH to be useful begins to break down when you consider that that space is not normally heated, and when the sun goes down, or in the winter, and even fall/spring, it might be significantly colder and you'd risk freezing the supply lines, and wasting energy to keep things warm!

One apartment I lived in Kuwait didn't have utility water 24-hours...there was a storage tank on the roof, and it fed the house via gravity. The thing had a float valve on it, and when the water was on, the tank filled. Those valves didn't always work, and it was not uncommon to see water cascading down the sides of the building until someone noticed and fixed it. Also, for about 8-months out of the year, sitting exposed on the top of the roof, the water stored in the thing was so hot it would scald you. So, for those months, we'd shut off the WH in the apartment, and try to remember to use the cold for hot and the hot for cold which worked fine until you ran all of the 'cold' water out of the WH, then you had hot coming from both supplies!

Solar can work, and work well, but it needs to be engineered properly. Easier to use solar cells, and use their power to do the things you want.
 
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