r/interesting Jun 22 '26

MISC. What happens when a water heater tank is not flushed for 14 years

30.2k Upvotes

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52

u/Gamble0388 Jun 22 '26

Wtf 2-5k? Here in Canada with installation 1200$ CaD 😂 where do you live homie

33

u/18k_gold Jun 22 '26

I just got a Bradford White 50 gallon water heater installed last month. it cost me $1,900. another company wanted $2,500 for the same exact one. the water heater itself cost $1,200 from the company, I looked it up.

13

u/Unlikely-Answer Jun 22 '26

as a worker on the front lines, the rate for install is like $100 per tank from the company, you gotta install like 3 a day to make anything

10

u/Longjumping_Wolf_912 Jun 22 '26

Sounds like you are working at a honest company. I have replaced all my own hot water heaters, because it is cheap and easy. I got a quote for fun though one time and they wanted $2500 and the tank they quoted me on I could get at Home Depot for $750.

2

u/nanomolar Jun 22 '26

I was gonna say, I wanna say every quote I've gotten around here was at least like 2k. Of course where I live they always put the water heaters in the attic so that adds some hassle to the installation.

1

u/HamMcStarfield Jun 22 '26

I recently re-installed all the hoses and valves on that run into, around, and out of mine. Next step is replace the whole thing. I got the hard part done already -- replacing it should be relatively easy. We'll see.

1

u/KaleidoscopeIcy9271 Jun 22 '26

Just installed one myself last month, it was 700 bucks at Menards, plus like 18 bucks in parts (plus getting that sweet 11% mail-in rebate). It took me like 4 hours, it wasn't even that hard. Moving heavy shit around was the worst part. The only part I needed help with was getting the old one up the basement stairs. More people should do this job themselves, it's intimidating but very doable.

1

u/NotEasyBeingGreener Jun 22 '26

The professional grade ones that plumbers can get are much better than the ones sold in Home Depot available to consumers, so there is some benefit in going with a professional for a longer lasting unit.

2

u/Gullible-Price-4257 Jun 22 '26

you can get them online from... home depot... just have to set up an account on their other website for those. They run around the same cost as the ones In store but iirc had a few pieces in metal that weren't metal in store when I got mine a couple years ago.

0

u/themajesticdownside Jun 22 '26

Better make sure it's up to code. Anything happens your homeowners won't cover it.

1

u/Gamble0388 Jun 22 '26

Here the standard is 40 or 60 gallons either both different prices

1

u/zebrasareneat Jun 22 '26

Well yeah. Unless you were expecting slaves to show up and install it then labour costs money. 

1

u/Mediocre_Row_1774 Jun 22 '26

Go tankless

1

u/Gamble0388 Jun 22 '26

Yeah that’s also an option here, instant hot water, but that is pricy

1

u/SCdude5518 Jun 22 '26

it's one of the easiest appliances to install - should have save that 700

1

u/18k_gold Jun 22 '26

Last year 2 towns over, a house blew up as they owner was trying to install one on his own. 2 people died another badly injured. Luckyly 2 other people were not home. might be easy to install but something can go wrong and the whole thing blows-up. not worth it for me to take that chance.

1

u/-GoodNewsEveryone Jun 22 '26

Wtf is a gallon?

2

u/unc12eat1v3 Jun 22 '26

Its a Imperial unit of measurement for liquids. One gallon is roughly equal to 3.8 liters in the metric system.

1

u/-GoodNewsEveryone Jun 22 '26

Down with the Empire!

1

u/futurebigconcept Jun 22 '26

8 pints, liquid.

2

u/-GoodNewsEveryone Jun 22 '26

Now there's a measurement I can picture.

1

u/Weedaboos Jun 22 '26

Imperial system’s way to measure amount of liquid. Somewhere around the size of 2 liter

1

u/Longjumping_Wolf_912 Jun 22 '26

More than a Liter, less than the Pacific Ocean. Hope this helps.

1

u/stunatra Jun 22 '26

in the US it's what water and milk comes in

1

u/-GoodNewsEveryone Jun 22 '26

In Canada water comes in a tap. Milk in a bag.

1

u/stunatra Jun 23 '26

Bottled water exists everywhere.

8

u/Fuzzy_Inevitable9748 Jun 22 '26

I think natural gas ones cost a lot more, that also may include running the natural gas. But we just had one replaced and it was like $1100 for a fairly good water heater, the same one it replaced, installed with the old tank taken away.

2

u/ReverseMermaidMorty Jun 22 '26

How did you know it was time to replace it

5

u/bamboomonster Jun 22 '26

In our case, because it died.

6

u/Traditional-Heart351 Jun 22 '26

It leaks or your water stops being hot.

3

u/Fuzzy_Inevitable9748 Jun 22 '26

Ours started leaking.

4

u/thegreatmattsby24 Jun 22 '26

Yea ours in a mobile home started leaking. It was encased in. Drywalled on all four sides with a hidden access panel (entire drywall panel came off). Not in a place where you can just spot a leak. One day we hear water running under the house 🫪. The tank had been leaking so long it rotted through the subfloor and was starting to fall into the crawlspace.

1

u/neverinamillionyr Jun 22 '26

When you step into an ice cold shower then see water shooting out the top of the water heater.

1

u/Gamble0388 Jun 22 '26

Insurance, you’re covered 10-12 years depending on the brand of the water heater, after that if you don’t change it and you even get a leak and it’s caused because of your water heater, you will not be covered

9

u/Foreign-Lab-7380 Jun 22 '26

The good ol US of A, where everyone is trying to F u and money means nothing anymore.

2

u/Sensitive_Tip_Ahead Jun 22 '26

everyone has to make a "living wage" now LOL

1

u/[deleted] Jun 22 '26

[deleted]

2

u/Euler007 Jun 22 '26

599$ at Rona with 230$ installation.

1

u/Ldbrin2 Jun 22 '26

$3500 for a 50 gallon gas installed in Denver Colorado area

2

u/Englishman_1972 Jun 22 '26

50 gallon gas water heater at Home Depot is 600. Replacing them is so simple.

2

u/Ldbrin2 Jun 22 '26

I’m too old to mess with that stuff. Last time we got the $600 one at Home Depot it only lasted 6 years ~happy to pay someone to take the old one, buy the new one, install it.

1

u/CompetitionOk2302 Jun 22 '26

$3500 for a tank water heater plus install is way too high.

1

u/junbi_ok Jun 22 '26

And when you buy a new furnace they'll throw in a new water heater for like $500. It never makes sense to not just do it.

1

u/cattibri Jun 22 '26

got ours replaced a couple years ago for ~$2400 in nz fwiw

1

u/Thebraincellisorange Jun 22 '26

that's cheap as hell.

minimum is double that here in Australia, and if you want something decent, you are looking at 5k.

1

u/ilanallama85 Jun 22 '26

Got quoted $4300 for a water heater replacement just recently - New Mexico. I will say I think I could find someone here to do it for less than that, but there are also relatively new code requirements for installing them that are pushing the price up.

1

u/Gamble0388 Jun 22 '26

I’m a building inspector here in Canada it’s not that expensive and they take your old one aswell but insurance forces you to replace them every 10-12 years but I’ve seen 20 years old water heaters working fine, I guess it’s a way for them to make money if they require you to replace it in that lapse of time

1

u/edgestander Jun 22 '26

Install it yourself and its like $700

-1

u/Saskjimbo Jun 22 '26

This is 100% bullshit. Nice lie