A failed unit is not automatically a replacement. Here is how we decide.
When a hot water system fails, the pressure to make a fast decision is exactly what leads to the wrong one. Some failures are genuinely worth repairing.
Elements and thermostats on electric storage units are relatively cheap and, on a unit under about eight years old, worth doing. The same is true of a failed thermocouple or gas valve on a storage unit of similar age.
What is not worth repairing is a tank that has corroded through. If there is water pooling under the unit and rust at the base, the tank is finished — no repair addresses that, and anyone offering one is selling you a few months.
Age is the other factor. Most storage units last eight to twelve years. Spending several hundred dollars on an eleven-year-old unit rarely makes sense, because the next failure is usually not far behind.
If you are replacing, that is the moment to consider whether to change type — but check the gas line sizing before committing to continuous flow, because an undersized line is the most common reason a conversion disappoints.
Planning something like this?
We will give you an honest cost range before anyone writes a quote.