On Sun, 10 Feb 2008 17:48:03 -0600, HeyBub wrote:

I thought the around $300 installation price they had wanted
wasn't unreasonable. IIRC, it was around $700 installed next day for
their top-of-the-line heater.

Hi guys,

Thanks for all the advice. I'm making progress in the past few hours,
learning more than I ever knew about my hot water heater!

A call to the Home Depot Water Heater Servicing Center in 'da Bronx
(877-467-0542) uncovered the following choices by price installed (sans
about $55 for earthquake straps & another $50 for a local permit, if
needed) by SKU, FHR, EF, Gal, BTUs, & warranty:

$608 SG40T12AVH/182-755 72galFHR 0.59EF ??KBTU 40gal 6-yr(drain 2x/year)
$658 SG50T12AVH/183-717 80galFHR 0.58EF ??KBTU 50gal 6-yr(drain 2x/year)
$677 SG40T12AVH/182-786 72galFHR 0.59EF ??KBTU 40gal 9-yr(self cleaning)
$718 SG50T12AVH/184-076 80galFHR 0.58EF ??KBTU 50gal 9-yr(self cleaning)
$728 SG40T12AVH/182-953 68galFHR 0.59EF ??KBTU 40gal 12-yr(self cleaning)
$783 SG50T12AVH/185-191 83galFHR 0.58EF ??KBTU 50gal 12-yr(self cleaning)

Keeping in mind my existing (leaking) 65 gallon First Hour Rated 40 gallon
35,000 BTU gas-fired hot water heater is roughly equivalent to the first
one (i.e., least expensive) on the list, it looks like I can't go too far
wrong with any of these.

Do my assumptions (focusing on the cost per FHR) make sense moving forward?

Donna