OK, so my hot water heater is showing its age (14 years), and I am shopping for a new one.

I have a small house, so my 40-gallon gas water heater has done the job just fine, but I'm having trouble finding affordable installation. Started with Home Depot, who set up ARS to do the installation. I don't mind the $800 tank, but ARS says their 'starting' quote for installation is $600.

That seems high to me so I am shopping around. Question is, what's a fair price for a reliable install? I don;t want to go cheap and be sorry because the 3 stooges do the job, but I don't want to spend $650-750 on a job that should cost around $350-400.

Anyone have an idea of what installing a hot water heater should cost?

Thanks in advance.

Oldbear83 said:

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OK, so my hot water heater is showing its age (14 years), and I am shopping for a new one.

I have a small house, so my 40-gallon gas water heater has done the job just fine, but I'm having trouble finding affordable installation. Started with Home Depot, who set up ARS to do the installation. I don't mind the $800 tank, but ARS says their 'starting' quote for installation is $600.

That seems high to me so I am shopping around. Question is, what's a fair price for a reliable install? I don;t want to go cheap and be sorry because the 3 stooges do the job, but I don't want to spend $650-750 on a job that should cost around $350-400.

Anyone have an idea of what installing a hot water heater should cost?

Thanks in advance.

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A local plumber will do you a better job and probably cheaper than a big box store.

I did a tankless last time and don't regret it .
More money but fewer worries

Stranger said:

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Oldbear83 said:

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OK, so my hot water heater is showing its age (14 years), and I am shopping for a new one.

I have a small house, so my 40-gallon gas water heater has done the job just fine, but I'm having trouble finding affordable installation. Started with Home Depot, who set up ARS to do the installation. I don't mind the $800 tank, but ARS says their 'starting' quote for installation is $600.

That seems high to me so I am shopping around. Question is, what's a fair price for a reliable install? I don;t want to go cheap and be sorry because the 3 stooges do the job, but I don't want to spend $650-750 on a job that should cost around $350-400.

Anyone have an idea of what installing a hot water heater should cost?

Thanks in advance.

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A local plumber will do you a better job and probably cheaper than a big box store.

I did a tankless last time and don't regret it .
More money but fewer worries

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Thanks, I will probably stick with the 40-gal tank just because I understand that technology, been talking with plumbers this morning. Two of them quoted me $1,050 for the whole job, only question is quality of the tank.

That doesn't sound right at all. Of course, I live in a little town.

Wichitabear said:

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That doesn't sound right at all. Of course, I live in a little town.

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Well, 40-gallon tanks run between $500 and $1200 depending on warranty and other details. I'm kind of stuck since this sucker is in an attic

Oh. Mine is in the basement. So I guess that would make a difference. Also, my better half installed it. He's not a plumber but he knew how to do it. Saved some money

Well, today I heard back from Lowe's. They absolutely won't give me any ballpark figure until they have sent a contractor out to inspect my house to, and I quote, "see what is needed to bring it up to code".

I told them that's all I needed to hear, and hung up.

Ace Hardware from now on for me.

Yep Ace is the place

Indoor plumbing is so uppity.

tommie said:

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Indoor plumbing is so uppity.

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If you keep the drains clear, it stays down well enough.

If you have a strong enough back, installation cost can be zero. I did it 3 years ago at age 48.

Get a friend with a strong back and DIY it...

It is 2 water lines, a gas line, and flu vent pipe.

Just shut off the cold water valve or whole house valve if you dont have a cold water valve at water heater, drain the old unit thru a water hose(once it starts draining, open pop off valve on side of tank to use as an air vent so it drains faster), remove two water lines and gas line connectiin, manhandle old tank out of attic, bring new tank up, swap over the old pop off valve line, install new flexible water line connections with sealant, install gas line connection with gas line sealant, install flu vent connection on top, open water valve and pop off valve and fill tank, as water gets close to top, close pop off valve so tank can fully fill- check for leaks. Start heater part according to instructions, go open hot water valves at sinks/tubs to remove air from lines. Double check everything!

Clean up tools and trash... pay the help with cash/beer!

Just because... its a water heater, not a hot water heater. My mentor used to say- where is your cold water heater when i would call it a hot water heater

We installed a tankless 9 years ago and love it.

Lowered our gas bill, too.

Like another poster said, higher up-front cost, but fewer worries, and you never run out of hot water. When we first installed it, one daughter was in high school and another coming home from college. Not running out of hot water was a huge advantage.

Oldbear83 said:

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Wichitabear said:

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That doesn't sound right at all. Of course, I live in a little town.

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Well, 40-gallon tanks run between $500 and $1200 depending on warranty and other details. I'm kind of stuck since this sucker is in an attic

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That argues for a tankless. Ours is in the basement, but the bottom of the hot water heater that came with our house when we bought it in '88 rusted out after a couple of years and flooded our basement. My husband and a neighbor managed to cap it off, cut off the water, and then looked like the brooms in Fantasia while they carried buckets up the basement stairs to empty out the rest of the tank for more than an hour.

Avoiding the risk having a tank of water over your head makes a tankless even more worth the cost.

Thanks Jinx, that's a good point.

The hard part is convincing the wife to spend more money than what we're looking at now.

Oldbear83 said:

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Thanks Jinx, that's a good point.

The hard part is convincing the wife to spend more money than what we're looking at now.

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Tell her to think about the extra $$$ as an insurance policy against having a water leak in the ceiling. Plus, the tankless takes up a lot less space.

2 1/2 years ago we replaced 1 40 and 1 66 gallon for 2,383.00, including tax. Probably could have gotten it cheaper, but this guy owed us money, so we collected some A/R.

Oldbear83 said:

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Thanks Jinx, that's a good point.

The hard part is convincing the wife to spend more money than what we're looking at now.

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We don't have gas in our neighborhood, and I was told by a couple of friends not to go tankless unless we had gas. Could have gone propane, I suppose, but we chose not to.

Jinx 2 said:

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Oldbear83 said:

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Thanks Jinx, that's a good point.

The hard part is convincing the wife to spend more money than what we're looking at now.

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Tell her to think about the extra $$$ as an insurance policy against having a water leak in the ceiling. Plus, the tankless takes up a lot less space.

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I will try, but she is hard-nosed about spending. Most of the time that's a really good thing, she knows how to find good deals and makes experienced salesmen run away crying. Problem is that mojo doesn't apply so well to plumbers and so on, and my skill set is limited to accounting, taxes, and statistical analysis.

I only know its time to get out of the shower some mornings when the hot water runs out. With tankless, I may simply not leave.

lrwells50 said:

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Oldbear83 said:

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Thanks Jinx, that's a good point.

The hard part is convincing the wife to spend more money than what we're looking at now.

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We don't have gas in our neighborhood, and I was told by a couple of friends not to go tankless unless we had gas. Could have gone propane, I suppose, but we chose not to.

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I lived in one of those parts of Woodway that didn't have gas. I noticed a house on another street that had gas. I called Atmos and they sent a young man out to visit with me. This was five years ago. We visited about it and he agreed to run a gas line to in front of our house. I bargained a little more and he offered to run the pipe right up to our house. We ended up with a gas range and fireplace which made their investment in us even better. As a result, several of our neighbors went on their line. Atoms loved it.

Give them a call. They might surprise you.

We have a tankless with a circulation system. It's fantastic.

Stranger said:

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lrwells50 said:

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Oldbear83 said:

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Thanks Jinx, that's a good point.

The hard part is convincing the wife to spend more money than what we're looking at now.

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We don't have gas in our neighborhood, and I was told by a couple of friends not to go tankless unless we had gas. Could have gone propane, I suppose, but we chose not to.

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I lived in one of those parts of Woodway that didn't have gas. I noticed a house on another street that had gas. I called Atmos and they sent a young man out to visit with me. This was five years ago. We visited about it and he agreed to run a gas line to in front of our house. I bargained a little more and he offered to run the pipe right up to our house. We ended up with a gas range and fireplace which made their investment in us even better. As a result, several of our neighbors went on their line. Atoms loved it.

Give them a call. They might surprise you.

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When we asked about it 30+ years ago they were still Lone Star Gas, and quoted us $20,000. The older part of our subdivision has gas, but we are the farthest away from that area. I think the problem is we are a couple of blocks from a state highway, and the gas is on the other side of the highway.

It's really a super easy job. It's not a fun job and it's not a dry job but it is easy. With the Sharkbite stuff these days there's no brazing needed. I've done 3-4 and I can't imagine paying someone to do one now. Get a nicer unit and install it yourself. Win. Win.

nein51 said:

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It's really a super easy job. It's not a fun job and it's not a dry job but it is easy. With the Sharkbite stuff these days there's no brazing needed. I've done 3-4 and I can't imagine paying someone to do one now. Get a nicer unit and install it yourself. Win. Win.

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I'm an old cancer survivor with a bad knee from sports and a car accident. I can climb - slowly - into my attic, but removing the old tank and installing a new one myself would end up paying a professional to do it, after my trip to the ER.

lrwells50 said:

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Oldbear83 said:

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Thanks Jinx, that's a good point.

The hard part is convincing the wife to spend more money than what we're looking at now.

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We don't have gas in our neighborhood, and I was told by a couple of friends not to go tankless unless we had gas. Could have gone propane, I suppose, but we chose not to.

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Don't go tankless unless you have gas/propane. My opinion. The electric tankless aren't near as efficient nor effective.