HW heater - 50 gal for $1,800?

Hello neighbors. Anyone care to advise on how many estimates I should try to obtain to evaluate a price of $1,800 to replace a 50 gal. gas State Select heater? thanks

well, the rules have changed so it isn't cheap, but what matters is what they are replacing it with. Two or three estimates might be good, but be sure to know what brand the plumber is installing.

That sounds about right. There is not too much to be saved there.

I paid just under 1K to have a 40 gallon Bradford White gas HW purchased and installed. So seems high.

When was that mary2530? I think there was a recent regulatory change which increased the price of gas hot water heaters.

mrincredible said:

When was that mary2530? I think there was a recent regulatory change which increased the price of gas hot water heaters.

That hasnt taken effect yet/.

georgieboy said:

mrincredible said:

When was that mary2530? I think there was a recent regulatory change which increased the price of gas hot water heaters.

That hasnt taken effect yet/.

I thought it was last year sometime, but that retailers were allowed to sell out their remaining inventory of the previous type of water heaters, which gave a few months (or more) of a 'grace period'. I recall discussions here about whether or not it made sense to go ahead and replace a working (but aging) unit. Ours died in March 2015 and was replaced about the time I started noticing this topic, so I didn't have to contemplate that decision.

Hold on to your hat. Rules changed on venting as well. So you agree to have the Hot Water heater replaced. The plumber does his thing fair and square. The the Building Official gets involved and the venting has to be re-done to a new-standard and it includes work on the chimney.

I had one where I pre-checked the venting out against the code. Then the plumber came in and had to raise the floor to the new standard for space from the low floor to the burner. That kicked my vent angles out of wack and I got busted on the Code inspections and paid that bill as well.

Best of luck to you, have your eyes open, and often you plumber will just not know until the inspection.

Later,

George in Jersey

No Beaches here, we got da Shore!

quote seems high. I just had new 50 Gallon Bradford White installed with some needed repiping to meet code and it was 1245.00 plus permit fee. We used Corragio Brothers. We had another quote from a different company that was about 500 bucks higher.

Thanks for the replies!

These went into effect last year.

-s.

If you want another opinion from an honest local plumber, I highly recommend Anthony Masi - Amasi Plumbing - 973-444-2122.

(We were actually on vacation out of the country when our hot water heater died last year. Our house sitter messaged us and I texted Anthony to explain the situation. He took care of it and we settled up after our return.)

ETA - I checked the label on the heater and my records. It is a Bradford-White with listed capacity of 48 gallons and it was $1380 (18 months ago.) That included tax and permit, etc. but we later had to have some chimney work done (by a chimney contractor) because our previous installation venting was not code-compliant.

I got a permit that was an extra $102; the inspector came and there was no problem. I knew to get a permit and a licensed plumber. It was just under $1K. Inspector approved it,so I am fine with it. I also needed a pipe repair and threw that in and took the old hot water heater.

ETA: Had it done about 2 months ago.

mary2430 said:

I got a permit that was an extra $102; the inspector came and there was no problem. I knew to get a permit and a licensed plumber. It was just under $1K. Inspector approved it,so I am fine with it. I also needed a pipe repair and threw that in and took the old hot water heater.

ETA: Had it done about 2 months ago.

Care to share who did the work? that's a great price.

We just had another 50 gal installed which required a venting change. The cost, heater and labor, was $1140. It passed inspection.

The new regs did away w the proposed electronic damper requirement but do come w more insulation which gives the tank a bigger circumfrence . Also chimneys must be certified, on a form seperate from the plumbing sub code form.

FWIW: Weltman's wanted to charge $2800 for a basic American 50 gal tank. (Granted it was on a Sunday).

sprout said:

FWIW: Weltman's wanted to charge $2800 for a basic American 50 gal tank. (Granted it was on a Sunday).

Weltman's reputation is that they are always crazy expensive.

altnough on Sunday I'd hope the gang got double time.