Gas water heater replacement. Possible to DIY?

[GC7]

why do you assume it is going out? i have had water heaters last much longer. my tankless is 0ver 20 years old

Everywhere I read says the typical life of a hot water tank is 15 years, so I was going off that.

But honestly my tap water isn't too bad. Not a whole lot of mineral buildup on any of the other plumbing I've touched.

Might just let it be for another 5 years and then reassess.

 

[THAT Gurl]

Are you going to sell anytime soon?
If so you might as well have a plumber do it and bring it up to code.
I did one myself last year and the pipe in the yard started leaking. They put in a new line to the house but wouldnt turn on the gas til it was brought up to code.
So there went an extra grand.
Tank and instalation runs 1500-1800 depend on where you live.

Beat me to it. We just replaced our 21 year old hot water heater. It was still working and had no leaks but we didn't want to tempt fate any longer. When the tech came out to give us a quote, he opened up the closet door and went ... We told him it was done new, to code, 21 years ago when I bought the house. He said "Wow ... Well, yeah, it's not really anywhere close now."

Cost us a flat $1850 to have a new 40 gallon gas tank put in and brought back to code. We are pleased as punch with the work they did.

 

[KOPBET]

Let me tell you, water heaters are cunning, crafty little bastages. They know when weekends or holidays or freezing cold fronts are coming through. They will lie in wait until the unsuspecting home owner can't get a rapid replacement or a plumber out that's not on OT and BANG! Out they go. My last one was a 19 year old electric and still going strong. But I thought I would R/R the upper heating element as a preventive measure so I went to the big box store and got one to do the job. Unfortunately, the element in the tank had seized threads and wouldn't budge. No how, no way. So rather than tempt fate, I called "the guy" (metaphor for that licensed someone who knows what they are doing) to bring in a new 40 gal. Bradford White tank and bring everything up to code/warranty requirements in the process. This did NOT include a stand BTW. This was last year and cost about $960.

 

[tyromeo55]

Let me tell you, water heaters are cunning, crafty little bastages. They know when weekends or holidays or freezing cold fronts are coming through. They will lie in wait until the unsuspecting home owner can't get a rapid replacement or a plumber out that's not on OT and BANG! Out they go. My last one was a 19 year old electric and still going strong. But I thought I would R/R the upper heating element as a preventive measure so I went to the big box store and got one to do the job. Unfortunately, the element in the tank had seized threads and wouldn't budge. No how, no way. So rather than tempt fate, I called "the guy" (metaphor for that licensed someone who knows what they are doing) to bring in a new 40 gal. Bradford White tank and bring everything up to code/warranty requirements in the process. This did NOT include a stand BTW. This was last year and cost about $960.

That is a good price for a BW electric installed

 

[KOPBET]

That is a good price for a BW electric installed

Commercial plumber working residential on the side after work hours. I know a guy that knows a guy... Maybe I got a break?

 

[tyromeo55]

Commercial plumber working residential on the side after work hours. I know a guy that knows a guy... Maybe I got a break?

Maybe. After tax that tank would be about $500. Good hoses nipples maybe a couple little extra bits put you at about $60 more.
To pickup, deliver and install (maybe remove and discard the old tank too) for the leftover $400 sounds like a really fair amount to me. Especially if he got it inspected

 

[KOPBET]

To pickup, deliver and install (maybe remove and discard the old tank too) for the leftover $400 sounds like a really fair amount to me. Especially if he got it inspected

Old tank was hauled away. No inspection was done. He appeared to be pretty meticulous on code, adding two water hammer arrestors and an expansion tank, but that's not my bailiwick so IDK.

 

[tyromeo55]

Maybe. After tax that tank would be about $500. Good hoses nipples maybe a couple little extra bits put you at about $60 more.
To pickup, deliver and install (maybe remove and discard the old tank too) for the leftover $400 sounds like a really fair amount to me. Especially if he got it inspected

Old tank was hauled away. No inspection was done. He appeared to be pretty meticulous on code, adding two water hammer arrestors and an expansion tank, but that's not my bailiwick so IDK.

I'm with you. I could care less if the installer gets an inspection as long as they do a good job (I know what I'm doing but I can see where most don't). After tax, arrestors and expansion tank are another $100 ish in parts plus more labor. That means he made about $300 I wouldn't do it for that

You did great

ETA. Personally I'm not sure you need the arrestors (at the HWT) if you installed an expansion tank. Surely they wont hurt

If you still had hammer The arrestors should of gone near the appliance

 

[Parks 788]

The first one i did in my home in 2010 went pretty easy. It took most of the day because it was my first one and didn't want to F something up and be down until i could get a plumber on Monday. New gas lines, new vent pipe, new incoming/outgoing water lines with a shutoff valve on the incoming. When we were prepping the house for sale several months ago our water heater took a crap and it was probably just the thermocoupler thing but i said screw it and called the plumber we have used in the past and he charged about $1300 for a new 40 gallon installed with all new hoses, lines and the whole shebang. He hauled off the old one and only took about 3 hours from start to finish. TOTALLY WORTH IT! Essentially cost me about 500 more than it would have cost me to do myself. However i would have had $1700 in pain, anguish and frustrations. So, i came hour ahead.

 

[RickN]

We had to have replaced two years ago right after I got out of the hospital. Bummed me out because I am sure it was just the dip tube and I have replaced those a few times on other tanks. Wife would not even let me look at it. Some crap about since I could not walk I had no business trying to fix it. Damn women just do not understand a man's need to do his own repairs and save money for important stuff, like ammo.