EXT wrote:
HeyBub wrote:
wrote:
My water heater is leaking around the base, and I can see that it's
rusted around the edge. It's 15 years old.

I'm looking around at prices, but does anyone know about how much I
can expect the plumber/installation to cost?

It's a 50 gallon natural gas heater.

And my house is for sale, so now I have a puddle on the basement
floor if we have a showing before it gets replaced.

On the other hand, I get to add "New water heater" to the listing.


Somewhere between $150 and $400 for labor.

Any reason you can't do the job? Here are the steps:

1. Turn off water.
2. Drain and remove old water heater.
3. Position new water heater.
4. Reconnect three (maybe four) pipes.
5. Turn water back on.
6. Dispose of old water heater by leaving on the curb for the urban
fairies.
The above is, at most, a two hour, twenty curse-word job.

Except the new water heater will most likely have both water inlet,
water outlet and gas connection in slightly different positions
requiring adjustments to all the pipes.

Right! In addition to the two-hour, twenty curse-words, add two (maybe
three) trips to the hardware store for flexible connectors, pipe-dope,
Teflon tape, and a pipe-wrench that will open 1/16" more than the biggest
one you've got.

It's not a complete loss, though. In ten years, when you have to replace the
water heater again, you'll already have the pipe-dope, tape, and wrench.

Oh, something else! Very important.

On the new water heater, replace the crappy plastic drain valve with a brass
one before you install.

Hint: With a black marker, write "Installed: March 2009" on the heater.
Leave room for writing the dates it was periodically drained.