Replacing a Water Heater Cost - Buyer Experiences and Price Information

leaking heater- friday am-called Blau- upfront quote $2200 plus-replaced the same day-I was out of town- I think my wife signed overcharged quote -seems like the highest price on this site.11 yr warranty

Got tired of replacing Rheem every 9 years which was the reason for the switch to BW. Quotes were all over the place some as high as $1,300. Orange Coast Plumbing were fair, honest and very responsive, work was completed in 2 hours. Hopefully this U.S. made unit will last longer.

18 year old AOSmith started leaking. Called several plumbers from yellow pages and got phone
estimates from 800 to 1400 (learned 2 lessons: don't bother with the first few companies listed in the yellow pages and don't bother with companies that hire receptionists to give estimates, in both cases the estimates will be higher). Also called HD and got phone estimates of $809/919/989 for GE water heaters with warranties of 6/9/12 years. But a technician from Fast Water company would have to come by to give me the final quote. I could smell a scam already and didn't bother having them come out. Went online and put in a request for estimates with Service Master. Three companies were recommended: (1) Better Water Heaters, (2) Juan's Plumbing Services, and (3) On Demand Water Heaters. The first one, BWH, is rated the highest and also had very high ratings on yelp. Got an estimate for $800. When the plumber came, he changed the estimate to 1025 because the hot/cold water lines had to be replumbed, and the gas and T&P lines needed replumbing as well. This was flabbergasting (you always need those lines replumbed when changing water heaters). So, I turned the guy away. The owner of BHW called me back right away and said that his technician's quote was very fair, but I didn't buy it. Finally went back to Action Plumbing Service that I used 8 years ago for my rental.
Tom Krauss is honest and very experienced. But I started shopping around because his quote of $849 was much higher than his $550 quote back in 2003.
Lesson 3: the highest-rated company soon believes they can charge a lot more because they are the highest rated or maybe they paid a lot to Service Master or yelp to get the very high ratings.

This is the quote i'm getting in Queens NY from two local Plumbers for AOSmith XCV-40. Seems high, as 4 years ago I had a 40 Gal/12YR American WH brand installed by keyspand for 729, including removal. I will get a few more quotes and compare.
Is this a high price?

Heater aprox $500 (inc tax) + 385 install.
Consulted with 8 local plumbers, 3 of which actually showed up + Home Depot install service. Plumbers quoted $1,050 to 1,400. HD, with an initial phone quote of $979, went up to $1,450 after the guy showed up with the heater, which I promptly sent him away. Their HDQ called me 15 minutes later to offer a one time deal, which I promptly rejected, I didn't care what it was, I just don't like playing games, but if you do, try them out see if they blink. I had no good vibes from the install guy anyways. HD may force an inspection fee on you so you must ask. HD also surcharges you if the guy has to climb more than 14 steps. The plumber I finally picked was someone who was installing a heater at my neighbor 6 month ago, and his immediate quote of $875 after actually looking at the job (2nd floor, tight closet) earned him a quick "lets do it." Took him just over an hour.

i replaced a water heater. include labor and equipment it cost me $1800.

tried installing myself. Almost Every joint leaked. Called plumber. plumber had to charge triple to salvage the heater and remove what i tried to install. plus i was going to install the heater using the wrong size smoke pipe which would envelope my home with carbon monoxide, creating a fatal situation. Leave it to the pros.

Hey are there a lot of suckers on here. The reason I paid 500 is we did it ourselves. To have that model installed most all (except for the rip off artists) charge 750-800, installed. I'm from Canada and we should be paying more than the USA. To the master plumbers who are backing the 1500 and 1600 dollar installs, take a hike scammers! I'm happy with out install and looks prof. Find a reputable company to do the work and SHOP around !

Our water heater died last week and because we're in the dead heat of summer, I wasn't in too much a hurry to replace our water heater without calling a couple of places. I searched the internet for an average or median price for the cost of replacing and installing a new water heater and found this site. The first quote I got was the plumber that I signed for the job and his was the lowest of all the five places I called.
We got a 6 year warranty for the heater and a one year warranty for parts. I was hoping to find a lower price but $800-1200 seemed to be the average price in this area. They had 2 guys come in and do the installation in our two story home in the attic. It has been blistering hot this summer, so I did not envy them having to do all that work during the hottest part of the day.
They were also in charge of the removal and it was done in maybe a couple of hours. Based on some of the prices I've seen posted, I think we got a decent deal.

If you are considering one, look at your Electrical Company. Many are offering $1000 rebates for the purchase of one. The rules are very specific, so look before you buy.

Purchased a Whirlpool hot water heater 5 years ago. Just after warranty ran out...hot water heater went out....no warning...cold water. Called them...they said they were no longer making that hot water heater. They sent out upgrade parts kit which they said would fix the problem. Checked with contractor who said he has installed several of these upgrade kits and they do not work. People are then out the cost of paying someone to install these kits and are then having to end up getting a new hot water heater anyway and then having to pay installation for it. There are numerous class action lawsuits going on against them and problems noted also for GE hot water heaters. Of course in the class action lawsuits, the only ones who win are the attorneys. The consumer ends up with nothing...Why isn't the government doing something about this problem? These hot water heaters are defective and have even been noted to catch people's homes on fire.

I don't see anything about two story attic installs. I got an extended warranty on the tank (putting in an extra rod to attract calcium). Stainless steel fittings. Ball valves instead of faucets. No holes in the wall nor attic. No carpet pulls or strips ripped out on stair case. An extra person hired to do all of this because of the little space to move it. In my ignorance I am happy. This guy came on a rec so I didn't check prices. Totally on trust.

Used our home warranty plan to replace leaky water heater originally installed in 1988. The model is U140T6FRN-394 which costs between $750 - $1100. But we were billed for $510.00 in Service Fees (60), Ventilation (80), Earthquake Straps (90), Gas cock (90) and Haulaway (90). Didn't know what else to do, so I agreed to pay. I think I got ripped off....

replaced old 30 gallon to new 40 gallon...some adaption/customization required, replaced also shut off valve that was stuck open (so had to shut off water to whole unit during down time)Parts ~400..3-4 installation

Cost more than I expected. But I did check around and found similar pricing elsewhere. Called Friday and scheduled for Monday done in 3 hours. Price was quoted and agreed upon before work started. Options like purchase heater at Loews and they install where discussed. Plumber said code requires installation of expansion tank which increased the cost. Valve added on output side (not sure why), new stove pipe to chimney added, 4 cement bricks for platform added all no extra cost listed. Explained starting procedure. Cleaned up. Took old heater away. Satisfied.

Here were my quotes for 9yr gas heater (different brands)plus installation:
Sears ~ $850 (including taxes, permit)
Home Depot ~ $950 (NOT including taxes, permit)
Lowes ~ $950 (including taxes, permit)
For a 6yr warranty quote, where plumber was not willing to pull permit.
Private Plumber ~ $1100
Placed order with Sears (~9am)who guaranteed same day installation, but customer service gave a run around. Installer called (~6pm). Next day the installer called after noon and said they never placed my order and didn't have it in stock. Cancelled order.
Was warn out from Sears... Forgot the difference between Home Depot and Lowes, and chose HD because of the brand. Final cost came to $1200 (plus tax $67, permit $65, and two valve replacements to bring up to code $130).
Careful about the extra add ons... city permit cost is actually less, but they added on a fee. You can't apply for your own permit, but you need to book your own appt for an inspection, because you're paying for it. Some companies only charge you, but don't actually pull permits.
Yes, the add ons were a rip off... It only took them about 45min to install. Lowes probably would have been a better choice. Best would be if you knew a good plumber...

Replaced a 26 year old Kenmore Power Miser 5. Purchased a Bradford White through installer. Had originally purchased a Whirpool from Lowes but returned it after reading horror stories online about them. He had the removal of the old one and installed the new water heater in 2 hours. Also he replaced the main shutoff valve in the house and the shutoff valve for just the water heater. Cost was $745 for water heater and labor. $120 for valve labor and parts. Very happy with work and the water heater.

very knowledgeable & professional
saved me lots of time and money on problems other plumbing companies had worked on previously and never repaired correctly.great work.
804-503-6530

Needed to replace a 10 year old 40 gallon gas water heater. Have home warranty and paid nothing for water heater (went online retails for $482). The plumber had to bring the install up to code: pressure tank, drain pan, earthquake straps and dielectric fittings. He also hauled away the old heater. So total cost for a professional to install was $937 if you include the cost of the water heater.

My hot water tank started to leak bad on a Sunday morning. Great! Called a well-known plumber / contractor who also installed our HVAC system. They wanted $1200 ballpark and couldn't come til tuesday. Very pricey to me anyway. On advice of a friend, called Mr. Waterheater. They could come on this Sunday for an extra $130 or come Monday morning for no additional weekend charge. Set up appointment for next morning. Went and shut off gas and waterheater water and drained tank. They called next morning at 8:30 and came at 9:30, as they said they would. In and out within an hour-and-a-half. Professional and efficient. Hauled the old tank away and installed an expansion tank for pressure included in the price. 10 year warranty. Had to replumb my copper lines too because I had to have a shorter tank installed. $739, would have been $610 without extra work I chose to have done. Unless you are having extensive work done or going with a bigger tank, a 40 gallon (common size) should run you between $550 - $700 installed maximum.
Bottom Line: If you are in Southwest PA, I highly recommend calling Mr. Waterheater for your hot water tank problems. I'm a satisfied customer and didn't get ripped off.

I am a service technician. I went today to give an estimate for a tankless water heater.Normally they are anywhere from 1600.00 to 2300.00 hundred installed.My boss(owner)told me to tell customer it would be 6500.00.It's people like him who give real plumbers a bad name.

I thought the cost was high, based on the sticker price of 600-some odd dollars at Home Depot. Delta Mechanical replaced the unit in just under an hours. They did a very profession job, showed up in the time frame promised, was very neat, and cleaned up after themselves. The $1200 included delivery,haul-away, $50 Anaheim city permit fee, new earthquake strapping, and copper piping. The original unit lasted 12 years before it started leaking. Still, $600 labor for one hour of work seems steep, but the piece of mind in dealing with a national company has some value.

My 9 years old 50 gal gas GE brand heater failed at 8 years, water everywhere in the garage. I called GE about warranty, they said return to home depot and it will be replaced. I called home depot and used there water heater installation service. I called at 11am and the old heater was replaced with the new one with additional drain pan and a 20 foot drain line by 4pm. Cost including permits was $445.

Bradfordwhite leaked after 13 years. Replaced with gas GE from H.D. Did this by self took about 2 hours as I went slow and careful to do it once. (like practicing sweat joints before doing it for score). Cost 25 to dump the carcass of the BW at the dump. Gas line was very easy as I put in a new flex tube, ensured there were no leaks.

Cost breakdown:
1) Water heater: $500
2) Hardware: $105
3) Copper pipe 8 ft $125
4) Permit with city $150
5) Labor $300
6) Total $1,180
The hardware includes:
1) Flex line with shut-off valve
2) No burst braided flex water connections (2)
3) Earthquake brackets
4) Venting
5) Smitty drain pan with alarm

OMG so many great stories here, but get this...replacing my friend's water heater myself was one of the easiest things I've ever done. Save money and have a handy friend help you.
Friend noticed puddle in laundry room. Dried floor & watched water seep from water heater. Six yr warranty recently expired, so new had to be purchased out of pocket. Shopped online, compared specs, noticed 12-yr warranty GE model weighed 15 lbs more than both 6 & 9-yr warranty models. Folks, that's 15 lbs of steel added to the tank. Found that both Home Depot & Lowes give 10% discount to military and veterans, which essentially negated the tax. So for the price of the water heater of choice ($498 for the 12-yr warranty model) plus two dollars for a small tube of pipe dope, the new water heater was install in less than an hour with the use of all the original hardware and an adjustable wrench. Go figure.
Feel free to email me if you'd like tips on replacing your water heater. richard dot haas12 at gmail dot com.

Our 75 gallon water tank was leaking and we had no hot water. We had it replaced by a team of 2 plumbers, who took about 2.25 hours, on the same day we called. One took apart and drained the old one while the other went to buy a new one. It looked like backbreaking work to take the old one out. From review of other posts, looks like we overpaid! But it was Boston on the coldest day of the year.

I replaced my 10 year water heater with a newer version of the same one. Lalo's team purchased the new water heater, removed the old one, replaced all valves, installed the new water heater (ProMax plus high recovery), hauled away old one and cleaned up the surrounding areas.

Had looked at Home Depot and Lowes products when the tank first started leaking. It stopped dripping and gave me a couple more months of dry service and it turns out it was 22 years old!! I'd read various pricing horror stories and they had me worried. I filled out an on-line service referral site form and barely finished clicking 'submit' when Kevin called with the estimate. And there were no other charges! I'd already let it drain over night, so he finished in an hour, was pleasant and tidy (and arrived promplty!). I am happy with both the price and the service... and a dry basement floor!

If was a relief to have a trusted plumber come in to install my mom's hot water tank. He was able to clean up the last guys mess, and make everything straight, neat, and up to code. If only the last guy would have been this professional her tankless water heater would have lasted longer than 3 years. I would love to have posted a picture of the before and after of the installation.