"beverly" wrote in message
ups.com...
I heard the hot water tank life span is about 16 years is that true

Mine is 22 years old (electric) and still operating fine; I've replaced one
thermostat and one element in that time.

A neighbor whose WH was the same make and age did a 'precautionary'
replacement last year. I had the plumber hacksaw open his old one and it
still looked OK inside, so I'm letting mine go until something happens. It
is installed in the garage, has an overflow pan and I always turn off the
water if I'm going out of town so I figure the risk of damage from a leak is
pretty small.

YMMV.