25 years is a good run. They’re obligated to make them so they break down on weekends.
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25 years is fantastic. 3x what my last one did. We now have a softener and I'm purging it occasionally. Going for 12 years (9.5 left) before I'll need to convert to electric.
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We moved into a house in 2014 and it failed in 2015... the one they replaced it with failed twice through the years and finally leaked everywhere in 2025. So 2 in 10 years is my run. I have shit luck.
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According to the tag on mine it was installed in 1996. It finally blew last month, but given that I was paying attention it did give me plenty of warning by way of visible rust bubbles starting to form around the seams.
A lifespan of around three decades is exceptional for a storage tank water heater, so I really can't complain. The thing came with the house. I replaced it with a zooty hybrid heat pump model which by my admittedly rather fuzzy math will pay for itself in roughly... five years. (Before anyone asks, the Technology Connections video didn't have anything to do with it. That was always my plan for whenever the old one's number finally came up.)
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I remember my dad building a "water heater simulator" when my parents installed geothermal heating 15-20 years ago.
It was a plywood box built to the exact dimentions of the water heater, and was needed as the location for the heater is VERY tight and cumbersome to get to and goes through several narrow and low doors.
With the simulator he could figure out the best way to get it into the space for it.
This reminds me I need to drain mine
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I feel like I'm near the end of life for mine. I kinda want to be proactive and clean it, flush it, but at this point I feel like if I touch it at all it's gonna break.
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Keep up with replacing the anode rod on the new one!
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Who's it made by? That's a great run.
We replaced a 30 year old water heater last year. We love with very hard water too.
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My water heater turned off earlier in the week, looks like all it was is the gas was turned off down the line temporarily earlier in the day. The heater is so old it doesn't auto ignite. Followed the instructions and got it back on, super dull to do at 11pm.
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Pretty sure it peed on the floor.
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F
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did you replace the anode rod during that time?
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An excellent opportunity to get a heat pump water heater.
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