$250 to install a water heater...........??????????

[DennisArrow]

My pop off valve is dripping so perhaps it is time to install a new 38 gallon electric water heater. A replacement heater is $250 to $300 for pretty much the same thing at Home Depot, as I just checked tonight. Ok........so if I drain it and have a new one setting there for the plumber how much I asked the guy who over the years has plumbed a few things...................Dropped my teeth right through the floor.......NO WAY.....$250 to start and more if anything is wrong...............Golly what can go wrong......It is sweated on copper with the flex tubing water lines for connections........I personally replaced the flex tubing 2 or 3 times over the last 5 years and that is not a problem...............GOLLY.........is this the way things are???????.....Yes, called my hired hand and he and I are gonna do it tomorrow..........God bless........Dennis

 

[hhsco]

why'dja have to replace the tubing 2 or 3 times?

 

[Western]

Simple job and looks like it will save you about weeks groceries doing it yourself. Plumbers aren't cheap!!

 

[Tollster]

Yes, plumbers are not cheap, and you could likely install it four times before you got to that price.. Call a buddy, get a case of cold ones, and butter it up.

Oh, get everything you think you'll need, and a few extra fittings, then return what you don't use at a later date so your not running all day, that's what I do, but I'm 30 minutes from anywhere.

 

[charlz]

You can also just replace the pop off valve if that is all that is wrong with it (corroded so it won't close properly). Like $25 at HomeDepot for a new valve.

 

[ultrarunner]

This week the receptionists at work gets a call from her 19 year old son that there is no hot water when he came home from school and he went to the garage to check where the heater is and found water running out the garage door.

Her husband is away for a trade show and she calls one of the big ads in the Yellow Pages...

45 minutes later the guy shows up and says he can replace it today and writes up the contract... $1750 for a gas 40 gallon water heater sitting on an existing stand in the garage for a home in town.

She calls me as soon as I get out of the OR and I couldn't believe the quote... said she must not have heard it right.

Tell her I can have a new Bradford White 40 gallon heater in her home for $500 parts and labor in 3 hours...

Gas heaters in California are expensive... they have to meet California emission requirements and a 40 gallon is almost $400 including tax.

She calls the plumber and says she is not going to pay 3 times the price and the plumber said he has already started and has a signed contract from her 19 year old son...

This is a woman that earns $15 an hour that now has a $1750 water heater replacement bill... incredible what some people get away with.

 

[BigE_]

If you do replace the pop off valve, you should also drain the existing tank, and then replace the sacrificial anode. $50, an hour's work, and you're back in business.

 

[hhsco]

Doesnt hurt to take out the elements, take a look at 'em, and vacuum out the bottom if you've got super hard water. Just trust me on that one.

 

[Larry Jones]

Depending on the age of the tank, it is not worth the effort to replace anything, or clean out the lime deposit in it, you will just invite leaks. And at nineteen years old, I knew how to replace a water tank.

 

[s219]

You're lucky it's not in the attic like my old house. Plumbers charge an arm and a leg for that, if they even take the job. Many will pass on it.