Hot Water Heater Life Span
 

Can anyone give me an idea the life span of a hot water heater? I have 2 in my house and they are 10 years old.

I've been told 10 years. I'm not sure what it would take for someone to check out the insides, but losing that much water at once in your basement would suck pretty bad.

First, the mandatory pendantry. It's not a hot water heater, as it isn't heating hot water. It's a water heater, period. ;)

To answer your question, it depends. Gas or electric (or oil)? How hard is your water? What is the pH? Do you flush the heater, and if so, how frequently? Is there a whole house filter, and if so, is it before or after the water heater?

Aggressive water will obviously shorten the life of a heater. Once the sacrificial anode of an electric unit is consumed, the rest will be eaten up in short order. Lack of flushing and lack of whole house filter will allow the buildup of sediment in the base, which acts as an insulator, particularly with gas or oil units, and the bottom of the tank gets burnt out. A quality unit (not something bought from a home supply store) should last 15 years, and possibly longer with diligent care.

The word of the day is "Pleonasm". It's kind of the opposite of an oxymoron.

As stated, much depends on the water. Few maintain them to maximize the life so 10 years is reasonable. If they are at about ten years I would keep an eye out for leaks. I haven't had one gush water out in one day but maybe it could happen. Perhaps a towel wrapped around the base on the floor might be a good indicator of a leak. It could keep the leak from getting too far along and should make it easy to check somewhat regularly. Good luck!

flushing seems to be key to having an oil or gas fired water heater last 10-15 years. I try to drain/flush it out once a year.

I agree with the flushing option. It's pretty easy to do but pays back in a big way. Really, the difference between 10 years and much, much longer.

The warranty is 6 years so I say it lasts just about that long.

I say this because electronic devices, (TV's, computers, phones) last just as long as their warranty covers, which is a year, so I am pessimistic about the whole thing.

What???????

My previous gas hot water heater was 9 and a half years old when it flooded my basement in a matter of hours. The towel at the base is a good idea, because I had no warning until I was walking out to head to work, and obviously had to make a change of plans to stop the water and replace the heater.

a caveat to flushing the water heater. If it's an older heater (4+ years) and has never been flushed, then you shouldn't flush it, because the crap that's already in the bottom of the tank will jam the drain valve, and you'll never stop the leak unless you disassemble the whole thing.

Very good point!

My gas water heater is 13 yrs. old. It's still going strong despite never having been flushed, or anything else for that matter. I guess it could go at any time though.

I have noticed that the more modern water heater installations, at least in my area, usually have a pan installed under them for the inevitable day when it blows out to catch the first bits of leakage.

Definitely going that route when I replace mine.

Also, for when you are home, get a cheap water alarm such as ; they're about 10 bucks, and if they get wet, the alarm goes off. Mine is between my water heater and my washing machine.

Partially true. Sometimes, repeated flushing, or back flushing can clean the valve seat. When that fails, I install a brass cap with gasket on the garden hose outlet. I keep them on the service truck for evil water heaters and boiler drains.

My hot water heater is a propane model and has lasted 15 years with zero maintanence and one minor repair. (replaced expansion/relief valve) It has outlasted every other worthless appliance in my home. 2 washers and dryers, 2 refrigerators & a microwafe oven. With the one exception of my central unit which is still limping along.

Well I am not sure of the date on ours but it went today like the titanic....

My wife gets up before me so she showered and then went to our downstairs bathroom to blow dry her hair and not wake me. While she was in the basement bathroom she felt her feet get wet and came running for me. I though the house was on fire with the sounds she was making!

Luckily we caught it early and before we had left for work. Our basement is completely finished so I might need to replace the dry wall and baseboard closest to our furnace room but other wise the water found its way across our bathroom to the floor drain. Looks like the water is coming from the bottom of the tank.

The tank did not leak that I know of but something with the water intake as once I shut off the water to the heater the water stopped coming out. We pay a monthly fee for hot water heater/central air/furnace repairs so waiting for them to come out and have a look....they said maybe today, but probably tomorrow. Suckage with no hot water.

Since my wife was already showered she went to work and I stayed home in case they show up today. Tomorrow I'll go to work and she'll be home. I'll be filling up the tub with water heated on the stove tonight...sigh.

Just glad we were home when it started to leak. Could have been so much worse.

10 - 15 years, from my experience.

If it burps once after 10 years, it's gone. They aren't that expensive and the consequences of having one go bad can be pretty bad.

The tech who was about today dated ours as 20 years old. Took him about 30 minutes to pop in a shiny new tank and we were back up and running. I'll never again question why we pay an extra 15 bucks a month for service as I did not even have to sign anything. In and out.

Yes - when we moved into our house in 2005, we heard the occasional belching and growling. At that time , the water heater was about 10 years old. I tried on 2 or 3 occasions to drain it, but with no success - nothing would come out. I knew I'd have to unscrew the hose bib to fix the problem, but by then my garage was storing so much stuff I didn't want an uncontrolled flow coming out of the heater soaking everything.

We just sold the house last week, and I'll wager the new owner will have to replace it within months . . . . if she isn't broke from replacing the AC unit of the same age - it's on its last legs, too.