How much should a 75 gallon water heater cost to purchase and have installed?

[McLovin]

Originally Posted by Evans, Marv

^^^^ This. I've replaced plenty of water heaters. $2K for a simple replacement is ridiculous.

Agree, it’s nuts.
I can’t believe there’s so many guys here who don’t believe they can competently screw a simple gas line on without blowing up their house. Doesn’t take a Tim Hancock to do that.
Takes all kinds, I guess!

[juanbenae]

what did it do chris? is it leaking, or not firing? i had an old gas one i thought was going bad because i would lite the pilot, it would fire and only heat for a couple minutes and it would shut down again. i did some research and found a youtube video of some funny plumber from the boston area that suggested blowing or vacuuming out the vent screen at the bottom of the unit. mine was completely caked with dust and dog hair from being in the garage leading it to being starved of combustion air.. i simply removed the igniter unit to access the screen blew the dust and hair out and vac'd under the thing and all be if that was the problem. worked like new again.

if you are experiencing the start up and shut down like i did you may consider this being the issue.

[Baz]

Jeepers.....that's a heap of moola.

I've replaced my 40 gal. electric one here myself a couple times.

$3-400 for the heater and the rest is just my time and elbow grease.

[look 171]

Originally Posted by McLovin

Agree, it’s nuts.
I can’t believe there’s so many guys here who don’t believe they can competently screw a simple gas line on without blowing up their house. Doesn’t take a Tim Hancock to do that.
Takes all kinds, I guess!

They can build a 911 motor, but can't replace a water heater.

[look 171]

I need to mover to OR just to install water heaters, take my laborers with me, undercut everyone and leave my CA lic plate on. That's a lot of money. Where's the heater, in the basement mounted sideways?

[KC911]

Originally Posted by look 171

They can build a 911 motor, but can't replace a water heater.

It's the H2O... scary stuff for air cooled guyz

[look 171]

Originally Posted by KC911

It's the H2O... scary stuff for air cooled guyz

They should not be so rigid and try the water variety. They even shift themselves

[cantdrv55]

Originally Posted by juanbenae

what did it do chris? is it leaking, or not firing? i had an old gas one i thought was going bad because i would lite the pilot, it would fire and only heat for a couple minutes and it would shut down again. i did some research and found a youtube video of some funny plumber from the boston area that suggested blowing or vacuuming out the vent screen at the bottom of the unit. mine was completely caked with dust and dog hair from being in the garage leading it to being starved of combustion air.. i simply removed the igniter unit to access the screen blew the dust and hair out and vac'd under the thing and all be if that was the problem. worked like new again.

if you are experiencing the start up and shut down like i did you may consider this being the issue.

It was leaking underneath. It’s 16 years old though. I wanted to DIY it but my bro says no. It’s his house and his money. He could’ve saved a bunch.

[Nickshu]

About 3 months ago I had a 50 gallon, 65,000BTU, non-powered HydroJet water heater installed along with adding an expansion tank and the total was $2011.00 including removal and haul away of the old water heater. I am not sure how much more a 75 gallon is but it can't be that much more.

[JavaBrewer]

Water heater business is a scam. Fell for it once, to my credit I negotiated down but still stupid to pay what I did. Recently worked with look 171 and bought a WH locally for $700, replaced my defective unit same day by myself, and the shop took my old WH as scrap for free. Heck if I can dot almost anyone can.

[nota]

nuts

I did a tankless el for $250 inc an up rated breaker
use sharkbites way quicker then silver solder

[Evans, Marv]

When I first looked at tankless water heaters, I decided on propane because the electric ones drew 160A each at full tilt. My main panel is only 200A, though we'd probably never hit the full 320A running both. The two I have deliver 6+ gpm and we use an average of .23 gal./day. (The tankless water heaters are the only gas appliances we have. The rest of the house is electric.) There is only me & the wife though.

[look 171]

Originally Posted by Evans, Marv

When I first looked at tankless water heaters, I decided on propane because the electric ones drew 160A each at full tilt. My main panel is only 200A, though we'd probably never hit the full 320A running both. The two I have deliver 6+ gpm and we use an average of .23 gal./day. (The tankless water heaters are the only gas appliances we have. The rest of the house is electric.) There is only me & the wife though.

You use propane to heat the house also?

I love tankless water heaters only if its a newly remodel home. I learned my lesson early on when these things came on the market. I put in the next biggest units available for the size specify by the mfg. Now, I install two little ones to run each side of the home. Its much more efficient eliminating re-circ pump and all the other PITA, costly items. Unless its a smaller home where one will do the trick, then we install re-circ pump and timer. Most people do not maintain them yearly and life shortens. Many are too cheap to install the scale filter, a very important item. They are great investments with endless hot water and a huge space saver. I run conventional water heaters in all my rentals. Change them out every 12 years. Good or bad, I send my workmen out and get rid of them to eliminate problems with whiny tenants. No electronics to go bad, it just works. I am ok with an electric cook top. I really like the new convention cook tops. Electric oven is far superior. Iknow these things but I do not cook. Can't cook. I may burn down my house if I boil water.

[look 171]

Originally Posted by JavaBrewer

Water heater business is a scam. Fell for it once, to my credit I negotiated down but still stupid to pay what I did. Recently worked with look 171 and bought a WH locally for $700, replaced my defective unit same day by myself, and the shop took my old WH as scrap for free. Heck if I can dot almost anyone can.

Dave, if you think about it, 400 labor isn't that bad. It takes a couple hours to perform the actual install depending on the location and the size of the heater. Plumber makes 100 per hour? He has to go get the new heater and get it to you yet he has to haul the old one back to dump it. That's a couple hours of work. Maybe a helper to get the dang thing in there especially the 75 gal giant. This includes his over head. Gas isn't cheap.

Hey man, I am glad it worked out for you.

[MBAtarga]

We paid $1875 for two 50 Gal gas Rheem heaters and expansion tank with new (rerouted) plumbing. The original two heaters had been plumbed incorrectly/efficiently so they were plumbed in pseudo parallel. New guy plumbed them correctly in series so the first tank is set to get water warm and the 2nd at normal operating (hot) temp. We've also got a water circulation pump to provide close to "instant" hot water even at the furthest bath/shower.

[Evans, Marv]

Jeff. No I don't heat the house with propane. Like I said in my post, the tankless water heaters are the only gas appliances. The rest of the house is electric. Plus, like I said, the daily average propane usage for me & the wife is .21 gal./day (or slightly less than a quart for the two water heaters). I have a 250 gal. tank that was filled on 5/31/18 and refilled on 6/23/20 with 146.6 gal. The last time I descaled mine was seven years ago & I had no scale then after three years of use. I think my water softener (80K grain) is doing a good job.

[look 171]

Originally Posted by Evans, Marv

Jeff. No I don't heat the house with propane. Like I said in my post, the tankless water heaters are the only gas appliances. The rest of the house is electric. Plus, like I said, the daily average propane usage for me & the wife is .21 gal./day (or slightly less than a quart for the two water heaters). I have a 250 gal. tank that was filled on 5/31/18 and refilled on 6/23/20 with 146.6 gal. The last time I descaled mine was seven years ago & I had no scale then after three years of use. I think my water softener (80K grain) is doing a good job.

Just by having the water softener, it will lengthen the life of those tankless water heaters another 10 years.

It really rare to find homes that has electric heat up here. Most are gas except some of the home or condos that were built in the 70s where they are all electric. How's that electric bill during winter months

[Evans, Marv]

My electric bill is zero. I have solar panels (should break even maybe next year) and sold 3 megs of power back to SDG&E last June (@ 2 cents/kW - what a ripoff). I ordered a Tesla Model Y for my wife which I'm going to use that 3 megs to charge in the future. If I have to pay them because of chrgeing the car, I may just add more panels.

[look 171]

Originally Posted by Evans, Marv

My electric bill is zero. I have solar panels (should break even maybe next year) and sold 3 megs of power back to SDG&E last June (@ 2 cents/kW - what a ripoff). I ordered a Tesla Model Y for my wife which I'm going to use that 3 megs to charge in the future. If I have to pay them because of chrgeing the car, I may just add more panels.

Interesting. I want to install solar panels dedicated to my AC unit but not hook up to the grid in anyway. Have a switch on those muggy days without full sun during the summer or to keep power from flowing back into the grid. I know, it isn't allowed. Other then that, I would be glad to pay for power on all other items through out the house. We don't use all that much power beside the few lights and microwave to heat up left overs and the kids on their computers.

[Tidybuoy]

Could depend on your WH location, specifically if it's in a closet. I recently replaced water heaters in my rentals and the water heaters fit in their respective closets but the door opening was too narrow and required me to do some construction.

For my house, I installed a Tankless and that required me to enlarge the gas supply line.