Sticker shock and not gun related

[Marshal Dan Troop 70448]

Water heater went out and my regular plumber on vacation so I called a couple who have high good feedback. One quoted 2154.00 and the other 2396.00. 50 Gal electric.

Looked on line and Home Depot had an exact match for one I have. With all needed fittings, teflon tape and cement 572.31 and installed myself in 2 hrs 10 minutes. Now have hot water.

Things have gone up, but that is sounding like plumbers are price gouging. One said he would install mine, if I bought one for 593.00 labor. So were does a 1300 plus or minus water heater come from and who makes one so high priced?

[Tell Sackett SASS 18436]

Vladimir Putin!!

[July Smith]

Prices are high on everything right now for a number of reasons.  I suspect a lot of that price is inflated because we have about one business week left before Christmas.

[Rye Miles #13621]

I had a water heater installed 2 years ago, $1500. Best thing about it, I didn’t have to anything!

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

1 hour ago, Marshal Dan Troop 70448 said:

Water heater went out and my regular plumber on vacation so I called a couple who have high good feedback. One quoted 2154.00 and the other 2396.00. 50 Gal electric.

Looked on line and Home Depot had an exact match for one I have. With all needed fittings, teflon tape and cement 572.31 and installed myself in 2 hrs 10 minutes. Now have hot water.

Things have gone up, but that is sounding like plumbers are price gouging. One said he would install mine, if I bought one for 593.00 labor. So were does a 1300 plus or minus water heater come from and who makes one so high priced?

What did you do with old one?
 

I have one in my basement that’s gonna go sooner or later. I can install a new one easily, but the old will be heavy as h***. Getting it disposed of is the problem. 

[Dantankerous]

6 minutes ago, Abilene Slim SASS 81783 said:

What did you do with old one?
 

I have one in my basement that’s gonna go sooner or later. I can install a new one easily, but the old will be heavy as h***. Getting it disposed of is the problem. 

 

 The old one I set on the driveway and put an add on craigslist for a free broken down water heater for scrap. It was gone in less than an hour.

[Marshal Dan Troop 70448]

7 minutes ago, Abilene Slim SASS 81783 said:

What did you do with old one?
 

I have one in my basement that’s gonna go sooner or later. I can install a new one easily, but the old will be heavy as h***. Getting it disposed of is the problem. 

We call garbage pickup and tell them we have an appliance that needs to be picked up. They give us a day in which to put it at the curb.

[Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062]

3 minutes ago, Dantankerous said:

 

 The old one I set on the driveway and put an add on craigslist for a free broken down water heater for scrap. It was gone in less than an hour.

 

 ..... around here that would sit there for days; ...... but put a price tag of say ...... $15 on it and it will be stolen before you finish closing the door .....   

[Cypress Sun]

18 minutes ago, Abilene Slim SASS 81783 said:

What did you do with old one?
 

I have one in my basement that’s gonna go sooner or later. I can install a new one easily, but the old will be heavy as h***. Getting it disposed of is the problem. 

 

11 minutes ago, Dantankerous said:

 

 The old one I set on the driveway and put an add on craigslist for a free broken down water heater for scrap. It was gone in less than an hour.

 

This is exactly what I did when I replaced mine. My gal put it on Craigslist as scrap, I wasn't even done cleaning up and someone picked it up.

 

 

BTW - Those Shark Bite flexible hoses are the best invention for people who don't like to solder plumbing.

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

13 minutes ago, Dantankerous said:

 

 The old one I set on the driveway and put an add on craigslist for a free broken down water heater for scrap. It was gone in less than an hour.

Getting it upstairs and to the driveway is my problem. Got Junk? and services like that won’t come in your house. 

[Crooked River Pete, SASS 43485]

1 minute ago, Abilene Slim SASS 81783 said:

Getting it upstairs and to the driveway is my problem. Got Junk? and services like that won’t come in your house. 

Just drain the water before you drag it up the stairs, makes it a lot lighter.

[Cypress Sun]

1 minute ago, Abilene Slim SASS 81783 said:

Getting it upstairs and to the driveway is my problem. Got Junk? and services like that won’t come in your house. 

 

I'll bet the scrappers will take it out of the basement. 

[Rye Miles #13621]

9 minutes ago, Abilene Slim SASS 81783 said:

Getting it upstairs and to the driveway is my problem. Got Junk? and services like that won’t come in your house. 

Got junk came a took a neighbors Piano that was in her house. 
It was shot! Big old upright, had to weigh a good 700-800 lbs

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

Huh, maybe they’ve changed their policy. Will give it a whirl when the current one craps out. 

[LawMan Mark, SASS #57095L]

About three years ago, I replaced my cracked water heater with a new heat pump version.  It cost almost twice as much as a comparable standard one, but two plumber friends recommended it, so I bit the bullet.  Paid one of them a hundred to help me install it.  Since then, I can highly recommend it.  It does a great job of keeping humidity down in the basement, and my average electric bill dropped 20 or 30 dollars a month.  

[Cholla]

36 minutes ago, Rye Miles #13621 said:

Got junk came a took a neighbors Piano that was in her house. 
It was shot! Big old upright, had to weigh a good 700-800 lbs

If it was like one we had, a large portion of that weight was the brass frame. $$$$

[J-BAR #18287]

1 hour ago, Abilene Slim SASS 81783 said:

What did you do with old one?
 

I have one in my basement that’s gonna go sooner or later. I can install a new one easily, but the old will be heavy as h***. Getting it disposed of is the problem. 

Call a fraternity and offer a case of beer for 5 minutes heavy lifting with a dolly.

[Creeker, SASS #43022]

8 hours ago, Cypress Sun said:

BTW - Those Shark Bite flexible hoses are the best invention for people who don't like to solder plumbing.

Shark Bites are some of the BESTEST inventions ever - maybe not quite up there with sliced bread, penicillin or Colt 1911's - but close.

[Creeker, SASS #43022]

As for the plumber charges - some locales (Clark County Nevada for one) demand a "permit" for installing a water heater.

 

So before the plumber can do the job they have to pull and pay for a permit - this may explain some of the cost.

Also by performing the install; they become liable for the disposal of the old unit.

 

Add permitting, pickup and purchase of the new unit, install, earthquake strapping (another genius Clark County requirement)  and disposal of the old - you can quickly add $100's over the cost of the unit itself.

 

OR...  You head down to Home Depot - inform them the heater is being purchased for an out of county install, grab the Shark Bites and a new drip tray and call a couple buddies.

Two Little Caesars pizzas and a couple liters of Coca Cola later - everyones happy.

 

[Rye Miles #13621]

10 hours ago, Cholla said:

If it was like one we had, a large portion of that weight was the brass frame. $$$$

That’s actually a steel frame sometimes called the harp. It’s cast steel. It’s painted a gold color so it looks like brass.

[J.D. Daily]

On 12/16/2022 at 12:34 AM, Creeker, SASS #43022 said:

As for the plumber charges - some locales (Clark County Nevada for one) demand a "permit" for installing a water heater.

 

So before the plumber can do the job they have to pull and pay for a permit - this may explain some of the cost.

Also by performing the install; they become liable for the disposal of the old unit.

 

Add permitting, pickup and purchase of the new unit, install, earthquake strapping (another genius Clark County requirement)  and disposal of the old - you can quickly add $100's over the cost of the unit itself.

 

OR...  You head down to Home Depot - inform them the heater is being purchased for an out of county install, grab the Shark Bites and a new drip tray and call a couple buddies.

Two Little Caesars pizzas and a couple liters of Coca Cola later - everyones happy.

 

It's all the CA natives that have moved to Lost Wages who brought some of their CA ways to NV that are responsible for Clarke County's building codes & permitting rules.  I don't know if Clarke County has building permit costs like CA.  In Churchill County building permits are cheap compared to CA.  The most expensive permits are for access to water if you are connecting your dwelling to a well. 

[Anvil Al #59168]

We replaced ours this summer.

Old one had not gone out. But looking at the date we put it in.

It was 16 years old. So went ahead and replaced it. Did it myself. Easy to do.

Got it from a plumbing supply. Only placed that had that brand. Old one had been so good.

Wanted to stick with it. 

[Sedalia Dave]

On 12/15/2022 at 6:16 PM, Crooked River Pete, SASS 43485 said:

Just drain the water before you drag it up the stairs, makes it a lot lighter.

 

My sisters electric 40 gallon unit went out. When I tried to replace the upper element it wouldn't come out. The element would turn but it felt like I was winding up a spring. When I finally got it out the element was binding up on what appeared to be gravel. Turned out the the unit was full of nodules formed from minerals in the unusually hard water.

 

Even after draining the water from the unit it still weighed a couple hundred pounds. Took 3 of us to get it out of the garage and loaded into a pickup.

[Marshal Dan Troop 70448]

One thing I'm looking at for future maintenance of the water heater is the Anode and practicing on the old one its removal and were to get replacements. Found this Video and made me think of why they go bad and leak.

 

[Assassin]

Electric water heaters may take an hour to change. Gas, maybe add another half hour. Some plumbers prey on people with no mechanical aptitude. I used to change them out for $100 and everyone was happy.

[sassnetguy50]

2 hours ago, Marshal Dan Troop 70448 said:

One thing I'm looking at for future maintenaince of the water heater is the Anode and practicing on the old one its removal and were to get replacements. Found this Video and made me think of why they go bad and leak.

 

I've started replacing the anode rod every three years.  Never had a water heater get past 7 years until now.  Your local hardware store will carry it.  The last one was $25 at Lowes.  They make flexible rods that are sectioned with cable like nunchucks for $50.  Those are great if you have overhead clearance issues.

[Badlands Bob #61228]

We were out camping and shooting during the month of October.  S.E. Regional, Land Run, La. State match.  While we were out playing, the gas water heater decided to spring a leak.  It was original to the house and 24 years old.  OK, I had been putting off changing it because it still worked.  It's located in the garage and leaked into the finished basement.  Fortunately, my daughter came by the house and discovered the mess about a week before we got home.  Her husband cut off the water and drained the water heater.   A little water goes a long way when given time.  

 

I paid over $800 for a gas water heater at Home Depot.  Another $150 worth of new parts and pieces and we had hot water again.  I've got an aluminum drain pan under the water heater now.  Krazy Kajun came by and helped with some of the heavy lifting and with the loan of his trailer for all the wet stuff going to the dump.  The suspended ceiling, new flooring and sheetrock in the basement was another $4,000.   

 

The leaking water heater probably wouldn't have been such a big deal if we weren't gone for a month.  Life is an adventure.

 

 

 

 

[John Kloehr]

There are costs you may not realize, like bringing the installation up to code, and then there are rip-offs.

 

One home I bought had a hot tup (garbage) with a gas water heater. I wanted it removed. This required discounting the gas line at the union, removing a couple fittings, and installing a plug. Quote was $750 from a well-known "affordable" business.

 

Well, it is still $250 for the service call... UMM, SHOW ME WHERE I SIGNED UP FOR THAT!

 

No way! $50  from my BIL with a valid in-state general contractor license. 15 minutes work on site including leak check,

 

The first company filed a small claims against me. I provided the receipt to them for the completed work at 1/15th the estimate. The receipt included the next-day start and stop time. They dropped the suit.

 

This was all before I know how to properly service gas lines, today I understand how outrageous the original quote was.

 

But bringing a water heater install up to code, bringing the new one out, hauling off the old one... There is a bit involved in it. 3X materials is a good starting point. And a drip pan in the basement on dirt is stupid even if "required" by code. And running the over-temp pop-off to a safe place rather than just leaving it exposed on the side of the tank... Well, it does need to go to a safe place.

[bgavin]

In San Diego you need either a permit to install it yourself or no permit if done by a licensed plumber.  When we did mine, I used my Harley service lift to hoist it up 24” to put on the platform.