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Home Repair Hot Water Heater Replaced by Modern Mechanical

Discussion in 'Homeowners Corner' started by Mr. Linux, Feb 18, 2013.

  1. Mr. Linux

    Mr. Linux Senior Member & Moderator Forum Staff

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    Just had Mark and Brendan from Modern Mechanical install our new water heater. They called prior to arriving at our home and arrived promptly. They were extremely polite and took great care making certain that they didn't track any dirt into the house, etc. They took a look at the water heater they were replacing, explained the process and quickly began working. They laid out a tarp to protect our carpet and to use as their work area. They removed our water heater without any water leaking anywhere. They replaced it with our new unit and took great care to make sure everything was to code and without any leaks. They explained how to operate the unit and how to keep it maintained. By the time they were gone, they had cleaned up everything and it looked like they were never here. Both Mark and Brendan were VERY professional and made the whole process simple for us. I am very impressed with my first experience with Modern Mechanical and will probably get a yearly maintenance/service contract with them to maintain our HVAC, etc.

    :2thumbs: Highly recommend them! :2thumbs:
     
  2. Chsalas

    Chsalas Active Member

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    Did you go with a standard water heater or the newer "flash" style. I'd like to upgrade to the latter for a couple of bathrooms in our house, that take about 3 minutes of running to get warm, which to me is a waste of money.
     
  3. Mr. Linux

    Mr. Linux Senior Member & Moderator Forum Staff

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    I went with a plain one - there's a good chance we'll be upgrading from our townhouse to a single-family home within Broadlands over the next few years, so there was no reason to go with anything special. Modern Mechanical use Bradford White hot water heaters which is what we got installed. Much more efficient than our previous one (original unit from when we had our house built in 1999!)
     
  4. dbrow

    dbrow Member

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    Just curious if you replaced proactively or due to a problem? Any idea on life expectancy of water heaters?

    How long did it take to replace the unit?

    Thanks
     
  5. Mr. Linux

    Mr. Linux Senior Member & Moderator Forum Staff

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    I replaced it because of a leak that started to develop where the hot water leaves the tank and enters the house plumbing. This unit was over 13 years old. Most units produced in the last 10 years will usually last 6-12 years, unless you buy an expensive model. About 75% of my street has already had to replace their tanks, some are on their 3rd.

    I was totally expecting mine to start leaking any day because of its age. It came with a 6 year warranty. I checked on it very often which is how I was able to find the leak before it caused any damage to the house. I consider myself lucky to have gotten over 13 years of use from it.

    One quick way of determining the life expectancy of your tank is to find out what the manufacturer warranty is on your particular model (check the labels on the tank for dates). That's usually a good barometer of when you should start keeping an eye on it. That being said, tanks can develop leaks anytime depending on the mineral content of the water and other external factors. If you have a tank over 8-10 years old, or one that originally came with the house when it was built, check on it weekly and get a cheap water detector that will start beeping if it detects moisture. When our house was built in 1999, code didn't require the tank to sit in a pan. Current codes require a pan. If your tank isn't in a pan, it's probably on the old side.

    Hope this helps!
     
  6. flynnibus

    flynnibus Well-Known Member Forum Staff

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    a tankless heater will not help get hot water to a tap sooner. The 'lag' between when you turn on the tap and get the water is a function of the plumbing, distances, insulation, and rate of flow at your tap.

    If your tap is the type that is one knob.. see if you can adjust the blend of hot/cold to increase the hot water flow. That will get the fresh hot water to you sooner.

    A tankless system actually increase your lag time (the hot water isn't there and waiting..) but save energy over all by not maintaining the hot water when you don't need it.
     
  7. CJA

    CJA New Member

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    Just curious as we have had our hot water heater for 13 years also. Are the new ones expensive to replace and get installed?
     
  8. ModernMechanical

    ModernMechanical New Member

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    Thank you for the kind words. As a broadlands resident, I'm always excited to hear from our happy customers in Broadlands.

    To hit on a few other items in the post, tankless water heaters add 1.5 seconds of lag time to getting hot water at the tap.

    To get instant hot water, we add a grundfus pump to your plumbing system. This will give you the instant hot water.

    Prices in water heaters vary greatly based on type, size, and location. Free instant quotes from Modern Mechanical can be obtained from http://www.quotemycontractor.com
     
  9. Capricorn1964

    Capricorn1964 Well-Known Member

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    Yup, Yup....they are an excellent company and I've used them for my A/C which I am really pleased with. In fact, it has helped me reduce my A/C costs already!

    Glad to hear you've gotten great service from them! I intend to keep them for all my plumbing and A/C & Heating needs.

     
  10. rich351854

    rich351854 New Member

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    Along the theme of water and lag..... We have terrible pressure, has anybody solved that issue?
     
  11. KTdid

    KTdid Well-Known Member

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    Appears Modern Mechanical can install a special pump for hot water issues...I presume there is a pump or booster for low water pressure.

     
  12. Chsalas

    Chsalas Active Member

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    Your right, but I am considering putting one on the side of the house furthest from the hot water supply. We have 2 bathrooms (one exactly above the other) that suffer from lagging hot water supply. I figured a tankless water heater to support these two place in close proximity would be better.
     
  13. flynnibus

    flynnibus Well-Known Member Forum Staff

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    Oh yeah.. adding another source closer would help. We had a problem where the shower in the master bath would take ages to heat up. We solved it simply by opening up the showhead more... greater flow = faster water delivery.
     
  14. rich351854

    rich351854 New Member

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    How do you do that?
     
  15. flynnibus

    flynnibus Well-Known Member Forum Staff

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    There's nothing saying you can only have one hot water supply :) You run a water feed to the heater, power, and replumb the hot water supply for the bathrooms to run to the new heater. The tankless heaters are desirable for that because they are small, can be wall mounted, and don't need to be ventilated like a gas one would be. They are small enough in theory you could put them in a closet.

    Me.. I just made the holes in the resistor in my showerhead bigger :)
     
  16. MikeK

    MikeK Member

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    I think I'm due for a new one soon too. What is the approximate cost? I'm in the townhouses off Demott so probably a similar setup.

    Thanks

    Mike
     
  17. Chsalas

    Chsalas Active Member

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    Yea, that is what we do now, but it seems so wasteful, but then again, I guess using energy to flash heat water waste power, either way, environmentally bad design putting hot water source so far from the end use.
     
  18. lauralynne

    lauralynne Member

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    All the above comments are really helpful; thanks!
     
  19. Dawne

    Dawne HOA Sec/Treas, Tech Comm

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    "An ounce of prevention... a pound of cure."

    An emergency replacement is going to cost you more than a routine replacement. If you're at 12+ years on an original builder-installed water heater, you should probably start shopping. Replacing before an emergency gives you the luxury of shopping for the right size, efficiency, installer and ratings (ala www.consumerreports.org, if you're into that).

    While you can pay about $300 for a water heater at your local DIY store, you'll probably need to pay an installer - especially if you're not a great DIY plumber with copper pipe. And there's the required county permits for gas connection inspections ($90). What do you do with the old one? Pay someone to haul it away?

    So while it looks pretty cheap to buy one yourself, by the time you add in the additional costs, you might as well go with a pro installer for the whole job. It'll probably save headaches in the long run.

    We priced a 50 gal replacement for ours last year (though we have not replaced it yet). It was around $1000 - $1200 installed. Keep in mind they have to drag it through the house down into our basement (no outside entry). Also, my hubby is big on efficiency, so that was probably one of the higher efficiency models.

    We will probably start looking at it again - and replace - this summer. Oh, and easier to schedule the install when you're not high 'n dry for hot water.
     
  20. CJA

    CJA New Member

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    Looking to replace our hot water heater soon as it is 13 years old. Anyone else have any recommendations on companies they have used for this?
     

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