40 gallon gas water heater

I also would not replace it until you need to.

I put a Rheem from HD in about 7 years ago with a 7 yr warranty. How convenient for it to start peeing all over my basement floor at 7 years 4 months. :mad:

If you do end up needing to, at least they make copper fittings called Sharkbites that work awesome for this type of job in particular as you might not need to solder at all depending on your current plumbing.
 
I installed a Bradford White in 2017 simply because I wanted to support a Middleville Michigan manufacturer. I dislike the anode rod is part of the supply plumbing. As all these threads indicate, the brand name water heaters are commodities. They all share similar build, quality, and some parts. Thus, they all have bad production runs from time to time due to a faulty component, i.e. Honeywell controllers. The last time I studied brands at the Terry Love plumbing forum (pros and DIYers), Rheem seemed to very slightly edge out the other brands comparing components, warranty, etc..

And, the 20+ year life stories are awesome, but don't mean much regarding today's units.
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A simple modification will make your tank and anode rod last longer. Place a water pipe clamp on the inlet and outlet pipes off your tank. Then connect a heavy copper wire between the two clamps. I used a solid bare about an 6-8 awg on mine. That stopped my inlet dielectric coupler from heavily corroding which I had to replace after a year.
 
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I wouldn’t replace it until it dies unless very expensive to run or has issues.

I installed a Richmond (Rheem) hybrid water heater August 2022. I’ve been very happy with it minus condensation alarm going off after it’s been running all day from laundry. I had it on the eco mode when this happened and as soon as I set it back to heat pump, the issues gone away. It’s saved us about $50 a mont on our power bill. No issues with running out of hot water either. My parents have a 13 year old GE hybrid unit that can’t keep up with a family of 4.
 
For anyone that's interested, this calculator helps determine the payback period for different water heaters:

https://benhollis.net/experiments/water-heaters/

In my situation, a gas tank was still the best option by far, even when ignoring labour costs for a hybrid heat pump:

KevinMalone

Thread 'Gas vs electric hot water tank costs?'

My Bradford White gas hot water tank is likely due for replacement soon (~13 years old) so I've been exploring my options. I've already replaced the circuit board on the Honeywell gas control valve as well as the pilot assembly, but annoyingly, I cannot service the anode rod easily as it is integrated with the hot water outlet.

I was considering switching to electric or a hybrid heat pump and ditching gas altogether since we have a heat pump now. Plus, the majority of our electricity is from hydro so I can feel warm and fuzzy about that too. However, when I use various calculators, gas is...
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Our BW is still trucking along despite still using the original magnesium anode. I think our soft water is easier on tanks? I did have to replace the pilot assembly and control board on the problematic Honeywell valve controller.
 
walterjay said:
Ran the calculator for a tank gas water heater vs a tankless gas heater. Savings were nill for the tankless.
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KevinMalone said:
Nevermind the increased maintenance of tankless too. I'd only consider one due to space limitations
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Exactly right.
I much prefer a tank, our last house had a gas 50 gallon in the garage
Moved into a new house in 2023 and we have this stupid instant instantaneous hot water heater hanging on the side of the house.

What do you get for it? A more complicated system with circuit boards to go bad.
Coils that will need regular cleaning and a ridiculous replacement cost once time comes to replace it. In the recent cold spell, a certain number of people in our community had the water pipes freeze to the units.

Somehow, we sometimes love to complicate a simple thing like heating water.
Even.gov website study cannot conclusively say either type saves more energy over the other.
 
I would pull the anode and replace if needed. Are you draining it yearly? Get a leak detector alarm. Wait until you see some signs of it failing. I think half of water heater longevity is the water. Hard/soft, etc.
 
alarmguy said:
Exactly right.
I much prefer a tank, our last house had a gas 50 gallon in the garage
Moved into a new house in 2023 and we have this stupid instant instantaneous hot water heater hanging on the side of the house.

What do you get for it? A more complicated system with circuit boards to go bad.
Coils that will need regular cleaning and a ridiculous replacement cost once time comes to replace it. In the recent cold spell, a certain number of people in our community had the water pipes freeze to the units.

Somehow, we sometimes love to complicate a simple thing like heating water.
Even.gov website study cannot conclusively say either type saves more energy over the other.
Click to expand...
Heat pump water heater.
 
I think most would agree that the new ones likely won't last as long as its predecessor. So reports of ones going over 15 years don't really predict the lifespan of the new ones. It is interesting reading seeing how long some of these old tanks are lasting no matter of the brand..
 
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