New water heater cost

I may have to have my water heater replaced & was wondering about a ballpark cost w/installation. I know PSE&G will do it (& add it to the bill) but I'm sure it would cost more through them. Has anybody had to replace theirs recently? I know I could have a plumber do it but I'm sure that would cost plenty. Maybe Home Depot? Any thoughts or info would be greatly appreciated. TIA!


Do not have Home Depot do it. You don't know who will be in your home.  I just replaced a 50 gallon gas unit, but I did it myself.  The unit was about $700.  I'd guess a typical install runs around $1500 without any problems.


See if you can figure out what the issue is, if it is a simple or inexpensive fix it might be worth trying.  Our water heater stopped working years ago. We called PSE&G for the free evaluation. The woman they sent quickly identified the issue, something was clogged with sediment. She said it was a simple fix, and explained how to do it. She said it was something a homeowner could do themselves, but that if she did it then PSE&G would charge quite a lot even though it wasn’t a difficult repair. My husband was able to do what she had told him to, and we got another five years use out of that water heater before it finally had to be replaced


If you need one, Loews has one with a 12 year warrantee.


A while back I spoke to a plumber at a party.  He said any properly installed water heater should last 20 yrs.  Also, a plumbing supplier said that extended warrantys are NOT worth any extra costs because for the same reason.


I recently paid $1,300 for a new water heater+installation.  Local plumber.



Apollo_T said:

A while back I spoke to a plumber at a party.  He said any properly installed water heater should last 20 yrs.  Also, a plumbing supplier said that extended warrantys are NOT worth any extra costs because for the same reason.

Your plumber friend drinks too much.


You can sometimes extend the life of a water heater by changing the sacrificial rod, but I have no idea of how to do that.  I don't know about it reaching 20 years though.  

But I agree about extended warranties.  


Thanks all for your helpful comments & info. My water heater IS over 20 years old! Guess the ol' girl worked her heart out...  grin 


Many years Ago I bought a Sears branded unit and had it installed.  Bad choice.  Lasted only a few years.  Next was a plumber installed unit which gave great service life.  Good choice.  Lesson learned, your plumber can give great recommendations, listen to him and stay away from store bought units.


I called PSEG less than a month ago to replace my old water heater with a new one. On a Sunday morning. 1800heaters showed up within 2 hours of my call. With the new unit. They installed the new unit and took away the old unit, which had sprung a leak . The charge for this service was $369. Permit was about an additional $125.

spontaneous ^^^ asked about the anode rod  


To be clear: maybe $25 of that "permit fee" for the gas heater was pocketed by the installer as a "handling fee".



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