Anyone have a gas hot water heater replaced recently? Ours stopped working yesterday and I noticed the pilot wasn't lit and tried to restart but wouldn't spark. Plumber came today and immediately said it had an internal leak and needed full replacement and gave an estimate of $2500 which seems a bit high but not outrageously high I don't think. Anyone have any other experience here? Located in San Antonio.

Seems high but nothing surprised me anymore.

I paid $1400 to replace a 40 gallon in the attic in 2020.

This as well. How would he know what was going on inside of it off the bat? If the pilot light is out, it may just be the burner unit. I had one go out on a water heater over the weekend that was under warranty.

Sea Speed said:

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This as well. How would he know what was going on inside of it off the bat? If the pilot light is out, it may just be the burner unit. I had one go out on a water heater over the weekend that was under warranty.

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Or it could just be a thermocouple. That's what was wrong with mine when the pilot wouldn't stay lit. It was like 2 bolts, 5 minutes, and a $15 part and I was back up and running.

BenTheGoodAg said:

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bonfarr said:

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Plumber came today and immediately said it had an internal leak and needed full replacement and gave an estimate of $2500.

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We are missing some details, but I think $2500 sounds high.

Call me skeptical - was there actually water in the pan? Calling it an "internal" leak is an odd description. You'd likely still see some evidence of a leak other than the pilot being out if water is getting into the combustion chamber.

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Water heater located in garage and there was about 1/2 in water in the drain pan.

that's insane...I replaced 2 tank heaters with 1 tank less for less and that was waaay more labor

Sea Speed said:

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bonfarr said:

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BenTheGoodAg said:

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bonfarr said:

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Plumber came today and immediately said it had an internal leak and needed full replacement and gave an estimate of $2500.

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We are missing some details, but I think $2500 sounds high.

Call me skeptical - was there actually water in the pan? Calling it an "internal" leak is an odd description. You'd likely still see some evidence of a leak other than the pilot being out if water is getting into the combustion chamber.

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Water heater located in garage and there was about 1/2 in water in the drain pan.

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Idk if you're handy, but this is about the easiest job you can do plumbing wise around the house. It should take you a couple hours and the cost of thebwater heater, which can be had for significantly less than a grand. There is absolutely no chance I pay that much for a garage water heater replacement. That job will take the plumber like an hour if there is nothing unusual about the job. Hell for 2500 bucks id upgrade to a real nice on demand gas unit.

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If it was electric I would give it a shot but I know nothing about working with gas appliances. The plumber also mumbled something about a permit, is a permit required to replace a water heater?

An add on to this. I have a tankless in the attic which doesn't get my water super hot even after i upped the temperature on the unit.

I was quoted $2250 which included putting in a 50G tank and a warranty.

Should i just replace a tankless for a tankless since its in the attic?

Definitely not if you do it yourself. It doesn't get much simpler than changing out a garage water heater.

bonfarr said:

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Sea Speed said:

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bonfarr said:

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BenTheGoodAg said:

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bonfarr said:

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Plumber came today and immediately said it had an internal leak and needed full replacement and gave an estimate of $2500.

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We are missing some details, but I think $2500 sounds high.

Call me skeptical - was there actually water in the pan? Calling it an "internal" leak is an odd description. You'd likely still see some evidence of a leak other than the pilot being out if water is getting into the combustion chamber.

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Water heater located in garage and there was about 1/2 in water in the drain pan.

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Idk if you're handy, but this is about the easiest job you can do plumbing wise around the house. It should take you a couple hours and the cost of thebwater heater, which can be had for significantly less than a grand. There is absolutely no chance I pay that much for a garage water heater replacement. That job will take the plumber like an hour if there is nothing unusual about the job. Hell for 2500 bucks id upgrade to a real nice on demand gas unit.

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If it was electric I would give it a shot but I know nothing about working with gas appliances. The plumber also mumbled something about a permit, is a permit required to replace a water heater?

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Give your current one a once over and look at the connections on it and see how simple it is and see if you think you can hook it up. It really won't be hard. Additionally, if they still make the similar model of the current one, it will literally be plug and play with the new one. There are a billion videos how to do it online. There really isn't too much more to the gas vs electric besides gas inlet and exhaust which should both be pretty easy due to the flex hose and standard exhaust placement.

bonfarr said:

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Sea Speed said:

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bonfarr said:

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BenTheGoodAg said:

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bonfarr said:

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Plumber came today and immediately said it had an internal leak and needed full replacement and gave an estimate of $2500.

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We are missing some details, but I think $2500 sounds high.

Call me skeptical - was there actually water in the pan? Calling it an "internal" leak is an odd description. You'd likely still see some evidence of a leak other than the pilot being out if water is getting into the combustion chamber.

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Water heater located in garage and there was about 1/2 in water in the drain pan.

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Idk if you're handy, but this is about the easiest job you can do plumbing wise around the house. It should take you a couple hours and the cost of thebwater heater, which can be had for significantly less than a grand. There is absolutely no chance I pay that much for a garage water heater replacement. That job will take the plumber like an hour if there is nothing unusual about the job. Hell for 2500 bucks id upgrade to a real nice on demand gas unit.

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If it was electric I would give it a shot but I know nothing about working with gas appliances. The plumber also mumbled something about a permit, is a permit required to replace a water heater?

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Check the thermocouple before you do anything. As already said, it's a pretty simple and cheap fix. "Internal leak" sounds a lot like bull**** to me.

My 40 Gal gas water heater went out a few weeks ago. I suspected a bad thermocouple, but couldn't find a replacement thermocouple that was readily available, so only options were to replace the entire burner assembly (about $175), wait 3 or 4 days for a thermocouple, or replace the entire thing.

I decided to purchase a new one for about $500 at HD since the old one was 8 or 9 years old. It took maybe an hour to replace, not including the time it took to drain the old one. It is located in a laundry room near a back door, so swapping it out was really simple.

Everyone, as long as lifting the water heater is not an issue this is not remotely a difficult task. Hook a garden hose to the spout towards the bottom and drain the water heater in a bath tub or outside. You will have 2 water connections on the top of the water heater that unscrew with your standard wrench. You will have to move your gas vent to the side, then on the bottom there will be a gas shut off valve on the gas supply line. Turn that off then take your wrench and u do the gas line.

Remove water heater, then do everything in reverse above. This truly is not remotely a hard job outside of if you have to lift it into the attic however getting a neighbor or a buddy can make quick work of this. Please stop paying contractor's ridiculous prices.

So talked to their office and the breakdown is as follows:

$1500 for new water heater, vacuum breaker, and expansion tank and the cost of the permit. My unit currently does not have an expansion tank, he says that is a new code required by City of SA.

Looks like the cost of an expansion tank is less than $100 so probably a big markup on the parts to get to $1500. The 50 gal Rheem unit they want to put in probably costs about $800 I think.

Labor $1000.

My address is a SA address but I live in an unincorporated part of Bexar County so I wonder if I am obligated to do that.

I am pretty handy with a lot of tasks but if there is a new code enforced I could run into issues with that when I sell the home right?

When a plumber replaces it they also have to bring it up to whatever the current code calls for, so there may be some of that cost included in the estimate. But, I would agree, that number seems high.

bonfarr said:

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So talked to their office and the breakdown is as follows:

$1500 for new water heater, vacuum breaker, and expansion tank and the cost of the permit. My unit currently does not have an expansion tank, he says that is a new code required by City of SA.

Looks like the cost of an expansion tank is less than $100 so probably a big markup on the parts to get to $1500. The 50 gal Rheem unit they want to put in probably costs about $800 I think.

Labor $1000.

My address is a SA address but I live in an unincorporated part of Bexar County so I wonder if I am obligated to do that.

I am pretty handy with a lot of tasks but if there is a new code enforced I could run into issues with that when I sell the home right?

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Thats like 500 an hour for labor. If you do it yourself you don't need the expansion tank. I really doubt anyone is going to say anything about it when you sell. I've bought 2 homes in the last 2 years and it didn't come up.

Price seems high, even in an attic.

Diagnosis definitely seems potentially scammy. My first thought was thermocouple. Internal leak would have to go somewhere. See any evidence of water in the pan?

If it is a unit older than 8 years, any repair may not make sense, but that is situational and depends where it is in the house.

I would say a second opinion is in order at least.

This is so padded that I would come over and be happy to do the job for 2 grand and I would still be fat and happy at the end of the day.

Not gas, so cheaper to replace except it had to be crowbarred out of closet, poor guy
+ new gate valve + lots of time spent
$880 50g WH + $550 replace labor/parts
Nov 2022 Aggieland

So I told that company that I was getting additional bids and they gave me the talk about quality of work yada yada yada. My wife used to do some Marketing work with another reputable named company and she called them for a second quote while I was at work today and she was supposed to call me when they had an estimate. She calls me when I am about fifteen minutes from home and says yeah they seem great and they have a $300 off coupon special right now and they can do it tonight. I ask how much less their bid was and she says well actually it was a little more than the other one, $3400 after the discount, but they can do it tonight. I raced home and got into the garage before those dudes had the new equipment out of the truck and told them no and asked my wife if she was effin crazy and told her if she needed a hot shower tonight so bad I would put her up in the JW Marriott down the street tonight and still be $900 better off.

I got a bunch of recs from the neighborhood Facebook site and a guy is coming tomorrow to do the same work for $1625.

BenTheGoodAg said:

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Damn. $3400 for a garage water heater. That means people are paying it. Two of those a week and you're making $20,000 a month in labor. Maybe I've found a nice gig for a couple nights a week.

Glad you found a more reasonable price.

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For real. That is insane. How much do they charge for an attic job? Holy cow. I need to switch careers.

Sea Speed said:

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BenTheGoodAg said:

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Damn. $3400 for a garage water heater. That means people are paying it. Two of those a week and you're making $20,000 a month in labor. Maybe I've found a nice gig for a couple nights a week.

Glad you found a more reasonable price.

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For real. That is insane. How much do they charge for an attic job? Holy cow. I need to switch careers.

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I told the guy for $3400 I would expect to have a top of the line tankless water heater installed not another 50 gal and he said they charge $6k to install tankless.

bonfarr said:

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Sea Speed said:

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BenTheGoodAg said:

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Damn. $3400 for a garage water heater. That means people are paying it. Two of those a week and you're making $20,000 a month in labor. Maybe I've found a nice gig for a couple nights a week.

Glad you found a more reasonable price.

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For real. That is insane. How much do they charge for an attic job? Holy cow. I need to switch careers.

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I told the guy for $3400 I would expect to have a top of the line tankless water heater installed not another 50 gal and he said they charge $6k to install tankless.

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That is just wild. We used to use a plumber when I was overseas that was reasonable but sometime around covid he started jacking his prices up a ton. He wanted to charge $125 to install a quarter turn valve on a sink and quoted something like 10 grand to install a new tub. He must be getting it too because he just built a nice new house.

For whatever unknown reason water heater have become a terrible scam. The install, labor to get them into the attic excluded, is a REALLY easy 1 hour one man job. I mean, 3 or 4 pipe/fitting connections. Hardest part is lifting the unit up into the pan, but physics is your friend here.

I don't understand these ridiculous prices. It really is insane gouging. As said above, they keep going up, that means people are paying them. DON'T DO IT!

You need a permit to swap out a water heater? For real?

I just searched for my city's codes on doing this and couldn't find it. That makes it a DIY replace as is for me.

I see this on Nextdoor all the time. People seem happy to pay these outrageous prices, and even pat each other on the back for the recommendations of companies like Baker Bros who are known price gougers.

There definitely seems to be a thought process of high price = high quality. With any gas appliances there's also a tone of "omg you'll blow up your house if you don't call a professional!" That and we have a generation of people my age and younger who were never taught how to turn a wrench and consider the work dirty and below them.

akaggie05 said:

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I see this on Nextdoor all the time. People seem happy to pay these outrageous prices, and even pat each other on the back for the recommendations of companies like Baker Bros who are known price gougers.

There definitely seems to be a thought process of high price = high quality. With any gas appliances there's also a tone of "omg you'll blow up your house if you don't call a professional!" That and we have a generation of people my age and younger who were never taught how to turn a wrench and consider the work dirty and below them.

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This. To each his own… My dad would turn over in his grave if I called a plumber for this. Something I taught my kids you can do 80% of home repairs given YouTube, and a couple hours of work. Bonus for any new cool tools you may need and the satisfaction of doing it yourself.

Edit: This forum has given me as much advice as anything for repairs around the house also.

bonfarr said:

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Sea Speed said:

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BenTheGoodAg said:

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Damn. $3400 for a garage water heater. That means people are paying it. Two of those a week and you're making $20,000 a month in labor. Maybe I've found a nice gig for a couple nights a week.

Glad you found a more reasonable price.

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For real. That is insane. How much do they charge for an attic job? Holy cow. I need to switch careers.

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I told the guy for $3400 I would expect to have a top of the line tankless water heater installed not another 50 gal and he said they charge $6k to install tankless.

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That's exactly what I paid for a top of the line tankless about 6 months ago in B/CS, so you're right!

Congrats on finding a better option.