What does a water heater cost?

For a water heater installation you’re looking at:

$1275 for ground level new 50-gallon water heater, all parts, and installation.

$1500 – $1,625 for a new 50-gallon water heater, all parts, and installation. Sometimes they’re behind the air handler, behind ductwork. They’re really difficult to install even for professionals, so the price can go up from $1,625 if your attic is more challenging.

Of course, always, hauling off the old one, it’s a two-man job, so the labor increase, the cost increase, the more difficult the access of the job, does increase the price.

There’s a lot more than meets the eye. We’re going to explain what to look for so that it’s done correctly and properly, especially if it’s natural gas.

Natural gas, of course, once burned, it releases carbon monoxide, which in turn is poison and kills animals, humans, children, young, old people. That’s one of the main basic selling points. No matter where it’s at — if it’s in the attic, in the garage, in the laundry room, or a little shed attached to the house — you want to make sure that this thing is properly vented.

Call us and we will gladly give you a price over the phone.

The area is known for water heaters in strange places, let us help identify your water heater problems.

Things to consider before installing your own water heater

is it safe to self install gas water heater 400 x

before and after water heater installation KPRC-TV

Is it safe to install my own water heater?

When looking into what does a water heater cost you first need to know if it’s gas or electric. Gas water heaters are preferred in most installations as they are more energy efficient. But, dealing with natural gas and safety is not something your weekend handyman can be trusted to do. Here’s why:

Back in the old days of water heater installation, they used to just use single-wall exhaust vent, and that’s not code. The single-wall vent sends the harmful exhaust through the exhaust vent that runs through the attic to the roof. Single-wall vents could possibly have holes in them and the harmful exhaust gets sucked right back into your air conditioning system. If it’s single-wall vent, it definitely needs to be changed out.

The new type of gas vent is called Type B Gas Vent, which is double walled. Of course, the newer the better, and the exit method is pretty foolproof with double-wall venting.

Then, of course, even just the natural gas installation, hooking up the natural gas. That’s flammable material. Even if you just didn’t tighten the flex and natural gas fills up in your house, boom. Or it won’t kill you, but it’s going to give you and your family and your pets quite a headache.

On the gas pipe itself, you want to make sure that it has a drip leg, or what we call a drip leg/dirt leg, which is right before the connections to the gas control valve. You want that drip leg in there to catch any kind of dirt, sediment, crap that just goes through. How it gets there is a legend all it’s own.

The drip leg will actually hit the sidewall, the tee, and then fall down into the drip leg. If it’s just hard-piped straight into the appliance, then you’re going to get all that stuff in there which could cause mechanical failures in the water heater. That’s another thing that really is important that people should know and look out for.

As far as the flue pipe goes, it doesn’t matter if it’s on the first floor or the second floor.

You want to make sure that it goes up and out all the way through the roof and it goes through that flashing. You need a cap and collar. You need a storm collar. Usually, the flashings can last pretty good.

This is why the plumbing codes are very strict. The State Board of Plumbing examiner test all levels of applicants on gas water heater installations in order to get their journeyman or master’s plumbing license, it’s in both tests. Tradesman, journeyman and master’s test in depth to applicants water heater knowledge, about code issues, ventilation issues, the delivery method of getting rid of the carbon monoxide. There are several things at hand, here.

All of our new water heater installations comes with new water flex lines and new gas flex lines. The gas flex, you want to make sure that it’s installed properly. It’s corrugated stainless steel. Once again, here it is a health and safety code issue. You want it to be the right type of material, the right product, the right code to approve the product to ensure the safety of your home, house, pets, people, etc.

With older water heaters, say 25, 30-year-old heaters, they were installed most often with an undersized gas flex. If the gas flex isn’t sized properly, then the delivery method of gas fuel to make the water heater work properly, can’t work properly. You want to make sure that it’s full-bore half-inch corrugated stainless steel.

Where is my water heater located?

Water heaters can be safely installed in the laundry room, in a storage closet, or a little attachment on the back of the house, basically the major cost difference when searching what does a water heater cost will be if one man can do the job or two. One man is less expensive, he can drain it, he can put it on a dolly, he can put it in a truck and dispose of it, put the brand new heater on a dolly, and bring it over to the installation site where the install takes place.
The price difference is simple — one-man-job on the first floor is far less extensive of a job versus an attic installation, which is a totally different job.

Is my current water heater flue exhaust safe?

We can’t stress how important it is that your flue exhaust be a double wall designed one. Double-wall AmeriVent is our choice of the product. The product manufacturer, AmeriVent, a good product, it interlocks. It’s got a male end and a female end that you stick it in there and then you do a quarter-turn twist on it, and it’s locked in. There are no vapors, no gasses, no carbon monoxide. Nothing will come out once it is installed properly.

Then, of course, there’s a lot of code association. You can’t come up out of the water heater at a 90 and then go over 10 feet and then 45 up. It’s got to really, basically, just have a straight flue.

There is a little bit of leeway in that. You can 45 and straighten up and all that, but they really don’t like 90 and back up, because of course, that adds restriction to the functionality of getting rid of the poison gas. Only a licensed plumber would know that, not “John Q Home Depot handyman”.

You would definitely want to make sure it’s double walled Type B Gas Vent, and you want to make sure that it goes up through the roof, though the flashing, and then goes up above the roof, not the roof ridge, but where it comes out of the roof, you want it to be 18 inches above the roof line, wherever it comes out at. That way, you know that the carbon monoxide is up away from the roof and is within the wind distance to be able to carry away the nasty, the harmful things.

You can’t just shove the pipe in the little hole and know it will be good. No, if you get a big gust of wind, which we do quite often, it will blow that stuff right back in the attic and then people are going to get sick, breathing that stuff.

Carbon monoxide is very dangerous. You can do a quick Google search. People die all the time because they forget they leave their car running. Even though it’s in the garage and it’s sealed, well that stuff still creeps into the house and you’re sleeping, and then either you wake up with a massive headache or you don’t wake up at all.

How hard is installing a water heater in my attic?

Water heater installs in attics definitely take two people to install. A lot of the times the attic’s tight. It’s in the attic, it’s up a flight or two of stairs, and then the stairs that lead to the attic. Of course, draining and other things are just one person, simple enough. When it comes to hauling off the old one, well, that’s where it gets tricky.

Remember: Once the water heater fills the attic opening, then additional people cannot climb into the attic.

In Houston, it’s common to visit homes where water heaters are almost older than the installer himself. To make things worse, Houston’s water supply is just so terrible that the sedimentation builds up in the water heater unless you have whole home filtration. The new water heater that is going to be brought up, it weighs…Generally, 150 pounds, brand new, empty. (Caution: attic stairways are rated 200 lbs/ NOT rated for the weight of a heavy water heater plus man’s weight and remember, once the water heater fills the attic opening, additional people cannot climb into the attic.) A water heater that has been in the attic for 30 years, 25, 15, even less, they have all that sedimentation buildup and they are much heavier.A lot of the times, it takes some strong young men with a good back to take it down, because half the time they won’t drain, plus all that sedimentation buildup. Often times the builder block the boiler drains, so you can’t even drain the water heater before you take it out, and that, of course, makes it even heavier! (Water alone weights: 40 gallons = 333.6 lbs / 60 gallons = 500.4 lbs) You don’t want to risk dropping it through the ceiling or causing you to slip and hurt yourself or the handyman that likely isn’t insured asking for medical bills to be paid.

Unless you are lifting weights daily already and twisting and turning with your back under heavy load in a dark hot attic sounds like a ‘good workout’ – this isn’t for you to try.

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