What do you do with an old hot water...

[recycled sixtie]

tank. Ours is over 15 years of age and probably close to 20. Our insurance co. says that the basement contents etc are not insurable if the hot water tank lets go.
So do you keep the hot water tank(natural gas) until it quits/leaks or do you replace it at 15 year of age?

[Zeke]

Good question. I've been thinking of picking up one of the heaters I see on CL before I have to buy a replacement at retail. I see almost new ones come up when remodels are in progress.

[Hugh R]

In my experience, hot water heaters don't fail by going drip, drip, drip. The bottom blows out. When I re-piped my house from galv. to copper the water heater was in an inside closet in the center of the house, with NO drain. How it passed inspection I'll never know. I put it in a closet outside the house.

[GH85Carrera]

My COLD water heater need to be replaced soon because it is 18 years old. No problems, but it is old.

[GWN7]

You can lessen the damage by installing a water shutoff alarm. Water Heater/Tank Leak Detection and Automatic Shut-Off | North 42 Sales

No idea when you should toss the old tank. I don't worry about it as my basement is unfinished.

[azasadny]

We just replaced my father's 22 year old AO Smith water heater. When the guys were carrying it out of the house, it "let go" when it was in the driveway and the entire bottom blew out. The guys told us the tank was very close to failing and it was! I like to replace them before they fail...

[Baz]

When in doubt better to be pro-active and replace. 15 years is a good run.....you got your money's worth.

Water can do some incredible damage. Especially if the breach happens when no one is home.

My folks were on a trip once and one of the toilet supply lines gave way. One of the neighbors noticed water coming out from under the front door. Oops. Fortunately there was a very visible isolation valve.

Insurance covered the damage and the repair work was managed by Servpro but a lot of irreplaceable stuff was damaged like some photo albums, etc.

Check those toilet supply lines!

[Hugh R]

Stainless steel braided toilet, washer, dishwasher and sink supply lines. Not the plastic crap. What about the icemaker?

[Reg]

We've made a steambox with an old water heater for use in steam bending wood.

[johnsjmc]

They aren,t that expensive I,d replace it. consider your insurance deductible and the possible loss of stuff you can,t replace.
We had a toilet tank crack during a freeze in our Florida winter home while we were up north. It leaked for weeks. (The town had replaced the meter and turned the water back on. Insurance payout was close to $20k.

[mreid]

You could build a North Korean missile out of it.

[look 171]

Originally Posted by Hugh R

Stainless steel braided toilet, washer, dishwasher and sink supply lines. Not the plastic crap. What about the icemaker?

We only use copper for the icemaker. PITA to work around the tight space, but it gives us a piece or mind that it reduces leakage. No code for that, so plastic is used all the time. We normally run 1/2" to the shut off then soft copper to the ref. I know, i know, what a waste of materials and labor, but knowing it would let go when you are on vacation is worth more then a couple of hundred bucks.

Oh, keep an eye on those braided lines. They leak at the joint due to over tightening.

[johnco]

build a smoker

[mikesride]

If you replace it, seriously look at the on demand heaters. We love ours and our natural gas bill is now half of what it once was!!! ** not a true measure there...check that because we replaced the furnace with a super high efficient at the same time** Still, worth looking into!

[redstrosekNic]

I would check out the tankless heaters now available. My cousin has one and loves it...

[Evans, Marv]

+1 on the tankless water heaters. I have two in our house and really like them. If you just want to replace yours, I'd think 15 years is a good run and replace it. I've replaced several tank water heaters over the years. Those getting ready to start leaking would make a gurgling sound at the bottom. If you want to push it to the limit, wait until you hear that and replace it immediately.

[red-beard]

One way to extend the life of hot water heaters is to replace the galvanic rod after about 8 years...

[ckelly78z]

One reason to replace an old one is the newer ones are more efficient and will take less energy to keep heated. It seems the important infrastructure items like the furnace, hot water heater, or well pump in the basement always fail when it is least convenient for you.

I would replace for these two reasons.

[vonsmog]

I replaced my 20 year old 40 gal. gas one because the galvanic rod was shot, and it was $50 just for the part. So I spent $275 for the same heater only new, and just replaced it. Took me less than an hour to swap it out in the basement. No leaks or sign of it letting go, but better to be safe than sorry.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

The newer ones are crap, usually from china. Thin wall construction, junk.