I see that Home Depot carries a GE ultra low NoX for $1349 (for comparison purposes I just used Anaheim) and offers installation. Have you checked to see what their rates are?

 

New WH would cost about $750 at home depot. Then add labor to install and haul away the old one.

 

Pay to have the old one taken away?

I just place my old ones out by the curb.

They are usually gone in an hour or less, the scape metal guys snap them up quick.

They are after the metal tank or the gas burner to make a fish fryer.

 

Not sure what a mag head is.

New thermocouple is 5-10 dollars and takes 5-10 minutes to replace.

 

To anyone reading. Don't ever call your natural gas supplier FIRST, whenever any of your home gas appliance fails to work. Instead, call a licensed plumber/HVAC service or appliance service company immediately, to find your appliances problem.

Because once the gas company employee gets in your home, they can "red tag" your appliance. Of which means THEY, are then involved with their satisfactory completion, of your appliance needed repairs.

P.S. This ^^^ does not apply of course, if one day you open your homes door, and the smell of a huge gas leak engulfs your nostrils. Of which then, involves two calls needing made immediately, while NOT entering the home. One to the fire dept and one to the gas company. JMO

 

One thing about calling the utility's repair service is that they have Zero to gain by selling you something that you don't need.

I'd rather have a dangerous item red tagged than missed. The tech has no incentive to tag when not necessary.

Here, one can have a service contract with gas or electric supplier to fix or replace appliances, furnaces, water heaters, etc. I don't know if it's a bargain, but people like them a lot.

With our local utilities, if a gas appliance it tagged all one has to do is disconnect the appliance's gas feed or lock the appliance's valve. Often the utility's tech will unhook it for the owner. The rest of the building can remain energized.

The estimate you got, Wysocki, might or might not be high. It's surely worth it to call others for bids. And, does your utility do such jobs for a fee? They often are cheapest.

 

I just had an Electric water heater that was 20 years old and leaking replaced.

$1,300.00 all labor and all new connections, haul off the old.

Granted Electric vs Gas might change the cost, as well as LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION might be a factor.

ED

 

Maybe you live in a well to do neighborhood. Maybe it's LA or CA and maybe there is environmental charge, disposal and such? You should get more estimates and maybe, as said, consider homedepot. Your exhaust not being code "could" be just a nonsense or by the book. For btu sizes, 4" exhaust is called for but still ok with 3". Water heaters come with vent cap/hood? that fits both. Never been there, so hearsay only. It seems everything in CA is under earthquack rule, though strapping seems it should be cheap enough but an excuse to add on big charges.

 

That is why we do it ourselves.

 

If I ran into any obstacles with renewing the gas HW tank on the downlow-DIY, then it would be an electric one pretty quick.

 

There is a jurisdiction nearby that requires a permit to replace a water heater. They actually drive around looking for water heaters at the curb and when they find one they check to see if a permit was issued. Government waste at its finest.

 

They actually drive around looking for water heaters at the curb

They probably have an incentive system for garbage men, normally driving around, to out their neighbors.

 

And if you want this water heater to be the last one needed:

Marathon - Rheem Manufacturing Company

www.rheem.com

Electric only. So far has outlasted its two predecessors by 2x and still ticking!

HTH!

 

The A O Smith electric that I just replaced was 20+ years old and still heating fine, just developed a leak in the tank.

ED

 

and the pilot went out.

So, did he re-light the pilot light ?

I couldn't find the specs on that water heater to see if it was anything special, but I thought pilot lights went the way of the dodo bird back when Joe Biden was a teenager, so it can't be too special.
Even for LA, those prices sound out of line.
Go to the Home Depot web site and check out how much a water pressure regulator is. (and how much a water heater is)
Venting being out of date can be real, and can add some cost, but you would have to post some photos to get intelligent comments.

14 years is getting long in the tooth for a water heater, Hopefully he re-lit the pilot light and have time to search out some good quotes for a new water heater.

EDIT - and by the way, you might notice that the big box store will offer to install the water heater you you see in the store. Nothing wrong with that. Gotta assume they are pretty much qualified (I figure the incompetent guy from the big box that quoted my water heater was the exception) . But keep in mind that if they were good, they would have their own customers.

 

Most here go to the dump and then to the scrap metal pile. The recycler charges to take the heaters, the dump is free

 

Here we pay by the pound at the dump.

ED

 

Water heaters are not that hard to replace. Dive in and DIY. A new unit will cost only $800 to at most $1300 from Home Depot or Lowes. Lowes even carries AOSmith brand now, which is a premium WH brand. You can also redo the vent work without much hassle. Go for it!! My experience is that LA and California estimates are extremely high.

 

Water heaters are not that hard to replace. Dive in and DIY.

As long as the HO does a like-for-like replacement and pays attention to the details, it’s not hard. Hardest part is physically wrestling the wh into place and draining the water out of the old one.

 

Avoid the low Nox water heater if it is not mandated in your area. They cost $500 more and the damper electronics commonly fail and this part is not covered by the warranty. These are worth getting an extended service plan if it covers every part and the labor.