I am in process of selling my home. It has a 20 yr old water heater that
has seems to work just fine for me. There is no rust, no leaks, and the
temperature of the water is plenty hot when I need it.

The buyer's home inspector has just indicated that "water heater has slight
back draft and poor rate of rise" and buyer requests this to be repaired
prior to closing. What is he talking about? How significant is this?
(also costwise) Is it something worthwhile repairing, or should water
heater really be replaced?

--
Have a great day, except you spammers
To email, remove the obvious

.......

What is rate of rise , temp or flue rise, for temp rise tank could be
clogged with setement, Or replace it with the cheapest one you can.
There could be debris in the chimney.

The buyer's home inspector has just indicated that "water heater has slight
back draft and poor rate of rise" and buyer requests this to be repaired
prior to closing.

This sounds like "home inspector" BS to me. Checking rate of rise means a lot
of fussy work with measuring containers and thermometers and stopwatches and
takes more time then the HI would like to spend on the job. Ask to see his work
sheet and odds are he won't even have one. The so called back draft is a
another implausible nifty. If you waft a bit of smoke near the heater vent and
it blows back at you, there is a genuine backdraft. If the vent is joined with
a furnace chimney, there should be an adequate draw at all times on both units.
Put some cotton rags in a tin can, light them and let them smolder fo produce
smoke for your testing. Take pictures of test in action for evidnce for the
buyer.
Go down to your box store and get the best priced water heater you are willing
to pay for and slap it in place. Now everybody should be happy, so enjpoy your
closing. HTH

Joe

"Les" wrote in message
...
I am in process of selling my home. It has a 20 yr old water heater that
has seems to work just fine for me. There is no rust, no leaks, and the
temperature of the water is plenty hot when I need it.

The buyer's home inspector has just indicated that "water heater has
slight
back draft and poor rate of rise" and buyer requests this to be repaired
prior to closing. What is he talking about? How significant is this?
(also costwise) Is it something worthwhile repairing, or should water
heater really be replaced?

--
Have a great day, except you spammers
To email, remove the obvious

"buyer requests this to be repaired"
It is a request. If your feel like you should replace the unit then do so.
You could decide to ignore the request. You could decide to lower your price
a tad.

Becareful of giving in to requests. I sold my home to a couple that was
making requests up until the last minute.

The BS from the inspector is just that. Most are hacks, my experience only.
If it is a code issue then by all means negotiate the issue.

From: "SQLit"



"Les" wrote in message
...
I am in process of selling my home. It has a 20 yr old water heater that
has seems to work just fine for me. There is no rust, no leaks, and the
temperature of the water is plenty hot when I need it.

The buyer's home inspector has just indicated that "water heater has
slight
back draft and poor rate of rise" and buyer requests this to be repaired
prior to closing. What is he talking about? How significant is this?
(also costwise) Is it something worthwhile repairing, or should water
heater really be replaced?

--
Have a great day, except you spammers
To email, remove the obvious

"buyer requests this to be repaired"
It is a request. If your feel like you should replace the unit then do so.
You could decide to ignore the request. You could decide to lower your price
a tad.

Becareful of giving in to requests. I sold my home to a couple that was
making requests up until the last minute.

The BS from the inspector is just that. Most are hacks, my experience only.
If it is a code issue then by all means negotiate the issue.


Home inspectors standard, computer generated BS used to help the buyers
negotiate a better price.

At each and every "request" explain: "Yes, we know that and took that into
consideration to arrive at our asking price. Would you like me to fix it and
add those costs to the sale, or would you like to do it more to your probable
likeing after purchase?"

"HA HA Budys Here" wrote in message
...
From: "SQLit"



"Les" wrote in message
...
I am in process of selling my home. It has a 20 yr old water heater
that
has seems to work just fine for me. There is no rust, no leaks, and
the
temperature of the water is plenty hot when I need it.

At each and every "request" explain: "Yes, we know that and took that into
consideration to arrive at our asking price. Would you like me to fix it
and
add those costs to the sale, or would you like to do it more to your
probable
likeing after purchase?"

Exactly right approach. When I sold my house, the buyer wanted this that and
the other. My standard answer was "This is the house I am selling. If you
want a new house, go see a builder."

Charlie

A few guesses, since I can't see that clearly from he
Assuming it's a gas heater.

"back draft" (downflow in flue) with pilot-only simply indicates
negative gauge pressure in house- maybe from exhaust fan(s), or
chimney-effect in whole-house. With burner on, exhaust is not vented-
a major safety problem. I'd suggest you call the gas company, and
make sure.

"poor rate of rise"? Ask him what he means by this. (Did he use a
thermometer and stop-watch? Not bloody likely.) Ask the gas company
what your recovery rate should be, given the water capacity and input
rate. Ask gas co rep how that compares with "rate of rise", in
writing if possible.

More important, most water heaters are guesstimated to have 10-year
lifetime, so you might be best off to just replace heater- what else
could the buyer be angling for? Better efficiency, peace-of-mind,
happy buyer, better safety in case of combustible fumes, etc., etc.
And check on stack draft, besides.

Heater and installation are so inexpensive, it's a waste of time to
quibble in the context of a house sale.

Tack on a few bucks to the selling price, and everyone's happy. Or
.... knock off a couple against purchase/installation, and let her/him
do it later.

John

"Les" wrote in message ...
I am in process of selling my home. It has a 20 yr old water heater that
has seems to work just fine for me. There is no rust, no leaks, and the
temperature of the water is plenty hot when I need it.

The buyer's home inspector has just indicated that "water heater has slight
back draft and poor rate of rise" and buyer requests this to be repaired
prior to closing. What is he talking about? How significant is this?
(also costwise) Is it something worthwhile repairing, or should water
heater really be replaced?

Put some cotton rags in a tin can, light them and let them smolder fo
produce
smoke for your testing. Take pictures of test in action for evidnce for
the
buyer.

Don't do this.

See my reply to water heater exhaust problem for the correct way to check
for back draft.

Colbyt

Well of course next wll be the AC.

Tell em to shove it

Unless a Co meter ran high Screw em, they are screwing you