<p>I thought that I’ve seen everything with plumbers, but this one takes the cake… Our water heater gave up the ghost after 12 years with a minor leak consistent with ‘it’s dead Jim’. It was a Rheem High Efficiency gas unit. So, I call a well known services firm that we have used for HVAC work (they do HVAC and plumbing). They sent a ‘technician’ pronto and we spent an hour (literally) talking about this and that, straight off a marketing script.</p>
<p>At the end we looked at replacing the beast. The identical unit (same brand, very similar model) is $600 at the big box store. Figure another $600 install (connect to water 2x, gas, flue, and drip/drain pan to sump). Mr. ‘technician’ (who showed up with a flashlight and a nicely bound book the size of the NYC phone book) quotes $2600, which was $600 labor and the remaining $2000 for a ‘contractor grade’ Bradford and White heater, same identical specs.</p>
<p>The Bradford retails for $500 and is nowhere near the Rheem if reviews can be believed… But what is amazing is that they have the nerves to ask for a 4x markup… Basically the plumbing industry has been hijacked by big corporations buying out small and medium sized plumbing firms and switching them to flat rate, at MUCH higher effective rates than before. </p>
<p>Just for laughs I asked what is the cost to replace a customer provided sump pump (was $120, i.e. a service call with a time and materials plumber) and found it is $320. </p>
<p>So we’re getting the Rheem from Big Box Inc. and they’ll install it… I’m sure we’ll pay NASA price for any installation pieces, elbows, etc. but it still beats spending $2000 on a $500 unit…</p>
<p>If your hot water heater is in the garage and it shares a wall to the inside of your house, I would also make sure you have them install a “smitty pan” if there isn’t one already. This is a round reservoir pan under the unit that would catch any leaking water and divert it to your garage floor rather than have it run into walls of your house. Also, if you have a water circulation pump, have them replace it at the same time they replace the hot water heater. Lastly, when our 80-gallon unit got replaced the plumber only installed 2 earthquake straps. We were not aware that one this large required 3 straps in CA, where we live, until we sold our house. Know the requirements for your area/region.</p>
<p>Some towns in CA require a permit for the replacement of water heater, it can be done after the job is finished, but inspector will come out to inspect the installation. They will look into the following new code enforcement:</p>
<ol>
<li>If the water heater grounding is properly installed.</li>
<li>TPR valve now requires a pipe to outside of the house</li>
<li>“smitty pan” also need a pipe to outside of the house</li>
<li>If the gas water heater is in the garage, it has to be installed 2 feet above ground.</li>
</ol>
<p>I called a different company and got $250 labor only to install it, or $1600 to provide and install a Rheem unit. The existing Rheem water heater must have been offended by the thought and stopped leaking :D. I’ll monitor it and see what happens…</p>
<p>If you hire your own plumber to install the water heater, you can also order your own extra anode magnesium rod and have your plumber put it in during installation. When we had our installed, the company said that we can have premium installation that would double the warrantee from 2 years to 4 years for like $300+ more. Then I found out that they just added the extra anode rod that cost about $40-50.</p>
<p>ttparent, that is one thing they do - use a heavier rod to increase the warranty - but my favorite was the difference between a 7 year water heater and a 10 year water heater was some $$, and that was it! For a few extra $$ they extended the warranty from 7 to 10 years, but they made it sound like the 10yr water heater was a different/better model than the 7 yr one.</p>
<p>Yes, I believe the majority of failure or the cause of death for most of the water heater is the corrosion of the lining of the tank. The anode rod is the main thing that is used to fight this effect. Depending on the condition of the water in your area, the rod can corrode away after 3-4 years, and it is very inexpensive material wise to change to a new one, but the labor cost is probably going to get you.</p>
<p>The Rheem model we got actually has 2 different spots where you can attach the rods. The less expensive version has 1 rod and the more expensive version has 2 rods, but you can order the rod yourself from any plumbing supply store and just screw it in before all the pipe fittings are done and fully attached.</p>
<p>Is there any point in having a service call made to simply diagnose the issue of former leaking properly and conclusively and install an anode or two? I would think one ought to be able to see where the fittings go in and out of the tank and determine where the leak occurred…</p>
<p>If you have a 12 year old tank and was leaking, you’d be better off buy a new unit and have it installed with extra rod. Don’t try to revive the old one.</p>
<p>A more careful inspection revealed that the unit is indeed leaking, but due to clever design the leak is contained. Leak is rust colored (duh) so the unit has done the proverbial dead cat bounce… O well. </p>
<p>$300 installation + removal of old unit is not that bad… + $600 the unit itself and figure another $100 for NASA spec parts…</p>
<p>actually the parts are very cheap, if you have had them already on the old unit and it is transferable. My new unit is few inches taller than the old one, so there was hardly any parts needed, the plumber just cut off some pipes and vents, re-connect, that is it. If the new is shorter than the old, then you have to spend another few dollars for parts. It will cost a little bit more if the vents are either double or triple walled, you cannot cut those and needs to be reconfigured.</p>
<p>I changed my water heater because it is a 14 year old and even though it is not leaking, I changed it anyway, defensive plumbing, that is all.</p>
<p>In fact a cheap quote of installation does not mean it is good. You should ask the plumber if they will upgrade the new installation to code. That is the new code calls for single wall vent needs a 6" clearance from combustibles, not too many older installation will have that clearance, the double wall vent needs only 1" clearance and the triple wall needs 0" clearance. Most cost of installation will be for the double wall upgrade.</p>
<p>The double wall vent upgrade is not an easy task, since they have to start from the roof and down which is very labor intensive and the material is costly.</p>
<p>For my work site, we had to do a double wall installation because it will be subject to town inspection. For my house, I just winked it.</p>
<p>Once it leaks, no matter how small, it is most likely done. I have read stories about the basement flooded due to a once leaky water heater that suddenly develops a much bigger leak without the owner of the house knowing about it for certain amount of time.</p>