Hot Water Tank Upgrade
 

Gonna be upgrading the hot water tank in my rental, as agreed upon with the landlord. As this is the first time I'll be purchasing one, I've genuinely no idea what I'm looking at/for. The existing unit is a 40 gallon, natural gas tank. Anyone have any suggestions on what I should be looking for and a realistic price on labour? Prices seem to vary quite a bit on the tanks themselves. As this is merely a place I'm renting, I'm not overly concerned about a long warranty (neither is the owner, as he's attempting to sell the towhouse), but I'd like something that keeps warm water flowing for more than three minutes while I'm having a shower. :lol

Suggestions?

My parents upgraded their water tank a few years ago. Bought it at Sears (Include installing and they took our old water tank too). We upgraded to the largest one we could use. Best investment ever. At least now there is enough hot water to allow 4 adults take shower one after another.

Unless you have more than 4 people living there or more than 2 full bathrooms at your townhouse, there's really no point get anything larger than a 40 gallon hot water heater. Realistically you'll only be using 10-12 gallon of hot water for a 10 minute shower, and it will take less than 10 minutes for your hot water heater to recover that.

As for brands, I find that they're all pretty similar. Personally, I went down to the closest Home Depot and bought the cheapest 40 gallon/6year warranty hot water heater for less than $500 and called it a day.

ya if it was a house you owned i would recommend instant hot water heaters but for a townhouse you're renting just get the cheapest one with a good warranty

curious why you're paying for it and not the landlord...i assume there's "nothing wrong" with the old one you just want one a little better?

This is a good thread. About how many hours or how much total should one expect to pay to replace the old one for labour?

I had mine replaced in August. Plumber took out a Sears brand, said they were crap and he saw rust deposits IIRC that could clog the pipes and cost a lot more to repair than replace the tank, although it was only 7 or 8 years old.

Got a 50 gal Bradford White for $1100 installed.

Physically swapping the tank isn't difficult... or shouldn't be, if the piping was done right (some idiot hard-piped straight into ours without using any thread-on fittings). With an electric tank it's pretty straightforward to turn off the breaker and change over the wiring.

With a gas tank, you really want a qualified gas pipefitter so you're sure the piping is done right and there are no gas leaks. But in theory, you could turn off the gas to the tank, do the swap yourself, then just bring in the gasfitter to hook it up.

Landlord doesn't live in town, nor anywhere near. Just easier for me to pay for it and then subtract the total from the rent. As for the tank, there's nothing outwardly wrong with it, but literally three minutes into a shower the hot water disappears.

I do actually have a instant heat, tankless unit at my other place but I find that the water isn't necessarily as hot as I'd like it to be... though that could simply be a setting on the unit I haven't seen yet.

Guess I'm hitting up Home Depot today once my painkillers finally kick in.

Called Home Depot yesterday. They said that the install would be roughly $450. That price includes installation and removal of the old tank, labour, a permit to redo the gas line, new parts and a pilot relight. So all said and done, I'm looking at roughly $1k for the labour and new tank (which, incidentally, was the cheapest NG unit they carry). Not too bad, I think. I'm sure I can find cheaper labour elsewhere, but I prefer using a "big name" company to do the work, even though they outsource it to a third party. The guy on the phone did also mention that any unit they sell that carry's an Energy Star rating is available for a rebate through Fortis ($200 for tanks, $500 for tankless), provided it's a natural gas unit.

Probably the result of a broken dip tube.

On the inlet of the tank, there's a tube that goes down inside to almost the bottom, so when cold water comes in, it goes straight to the bottom of the tank and pushes the hot water from the top of the tank out to you. Sometimes those come loose or break off at the top, so what you end up with is cold water dumping straight into the top of the tank and diluting your hot water. Happened on the tank at our old townhouse, I just put in a new PEX tube. Was still working great when we moved out a little over a year ago.

I'm pretty sure Home Depot doesn't have installers on staff and hires a sub contractor to do the install so you really aren't necessarily getting a big name company to do the work. That said since it's not your house I would go the easiest route for sure.

Do they have those water heaters that only turn on when the hot water is running? They're common here, and they are the best things ever. I'm not sure if they are usable in a home with multiple bathrooms or anything like that though... Worth looking into at least

Home depot outsource their installation to blue ocean construction, and to say the least you don't want those guys in your house
Call richardson wes plumbing and heating, I believe they charge under $700 for a 40gallon NG unit.
And you don't need a "gas permit" to change a tank, anyone that tells you you have to pay extra for a "gas permit" is full of it. Ask them if they are registered with BC safety authority and ask to see their gas contractor license.

They do here, most our new houses we put in either IBC/viessmann/triangle tube/eco King. Just the unit itself it's not enough for a 2 bathroom group house, always install them alongside with a 50 gallon storage tank to run the domestic hot and the radiant heat in the house.

I'm in Kamloops, so I have to deal with local contractors. Also, anything that's attached to the gas distribution system in a house requires a permit when it's being swapped or lines are being rerouted, both of which would be happening in my case. That information is actually on the BC Safety Authority website. ;)

Regardless, I'm having a local company swing by first to check the dip tube. After Soundy's comment about it, I did a bit more research and it's sounding more and more like that may be my issue.

Incorrect (Gas permit | City of Vancouver)

Whenever a gas hot water heater (or most gas power appliances) needs to be replaced, the plumber/gasfitter must apply for a gas permit at the BC Safety Authority and have the work inspected after completion so that it is up to code. Even if a home owner was capable of doing the work themselves, s/he would still have to get a gas permit and inspection afterwards. Having said that, I'm pretty sure that 98% of new hot water heaters are installed without permits!

Another thing is, as Lomac mentioned earlier, a rebate MAY apply for certain models of hot water heaters/appliances. However, Fortis (or any company/government agency) would definitely not be giving you this rebate without a) a receipt of the work that was done and the model of appliance that was installed, and b) assurance that the work was done properly according your jurisdiction(i.e gas permit). As simple as it is to install, I've seen A LOT of hot water heater installations that would not pass an inspection.

If the hot water heater is more than 6-7 years old, I would just replace the whole thing.

My mentality with hot water heater is, if it's more than 6-7 years old and it has a problem, it's "cheaper" and less of a headache in the long run by replacing it. Having a plumber come in at $100/hour a few times real adds up (I'm pretty sure it won't be less than $125 to replace the dip tube if that's the problem), plus the life expectancy is realistically only about 10 years.

It cost me $10 for a length of 3/4" PEX, and an hour of my time.

Bumping up an old thread.

We had to replace the existing 40 gallon gas water tank in my parent's house and we went with KC Plumbing by Kingsway and Victoria. Their store is ghetto and old but my parents were beyond impressed with the work and professionalism of the two technicians that showed up for the appointment

https://www.kcplumb.ca

did your parents qualify for any energy rebates?

Going to need to replace my tank soon as well.

Roughly how much are we looking at for the tank now? and then how much for labour?

I don't think they did because they'd need to get a more expensive tank in order to fully qualify for the rebate.

It was roughly $1350 for 40 gallon gas tank, installation, parts, and removal of old tank.

Their rates are posted here: https://www.kcplumb.ca/rates

They do consults on Tues - Thurs from 10am - 2pm.