wrote in message
oups.com...
You think that a water heater can make a $70-80 difference? Everyone I
talked to said no way. I'm thinking about replacing the water heater
anyway and see what difference it makes.

As for the gas leak, what if it was underground? I'm on a slab (both
old and new houses) and I've been wondering if a leak under the slab
wouldn't be as detectable.

It may be the water heater, but not a gas leak. What about the water itself.
I saw a setup a neighbor made to have warm water for washing his car. He put
both hot and cold water to the outside faucet. I guess it was nice having
the warm water and regulating it from inside, but when the valves inside
were left opened, the hot water began to flow across into the cold water
lines in the house. Flush the toilet, use some hot water.

It is possible that a faucet in the house is not closing properly between
the hot and cold lines even though the water is not flowing out. It would
heat all the lines as the hot water moved through the system.