Is it worth buying my 15 year old reliance water heaters for good? there asking 40 dollars for each (set of 2)

AlastairL wrote: ↑ May I ask if they are actively or passively vented? Active, being a blower motor at the top of the tank and passive, bring a straight pipe exiting.

Gee wrote: ↑ If the house was built in 2003, there is a good chance that it is active.

I would buy them and replace the anode rods and hope for the best.

fusion2k2k wrote: ↑ Good luck getting the anode rods out after all those years...and it's not like Reliance has kept up on replacing them.

AlastairL wrote: ↑May I ask if they are actively or passively vented? Active, being a blower motor at the top of the tank and passive, bring a straight pipe exiting.

schade wrote: ↑For $80, buy them and use them until they fail. Even if you get another 6 months to a year out of them you'll be better off. Then you can take your time finding replacements

stendzme wrote: ↑Yes - at that cost ($80), buy them out so you are out of the contract with Reliance. You may get a few more months/years out of them, and based on the costs you mention, even if they only last 1 more month you are ahead. Once you buy out, then plan for eventual replacement and shop around for deals at your leisure.

Gee wrote: ↑ If the house was built in 2003, there is a good chance that it is active.

I would buy them and replace the anode rods and hope for the best.

thatsnazzyiphoneguy wrote: ↑ they are passively vented. no fan, there vented into the chimney, same with our 1986 furnace which is still going strong lol. is there an issue if they are passive or fan vented you uys wanted to point out?

they use a pilot light, which i like cause if the power goes out we still get hot water.

hierophant wrote: ↑ I would be more inclined to have them pick them up if it's free of charge and then buy your water heater outright. I don't really understand that logic of buying out the old one because "you can get xx more months" when a) it's end of life b) it's been on hardwater c) you're responsible for the disposal and you'll probably end up paying more to have them removed. If you know you have to replace it, why prolong because you might get an extra 6 months when it's going to be a much bigger headache when it fails (which it eventually will do) and may result in flooding or other water damage.

thatsnazzyiphoneguy wrote: ↑ its lasted this long. we switched to soft water now as of 4 months ago. think its going to die soon?

kmarcie wrote: ↑ As a heads up, some insurance companies require that you keep hot water tanks less than a certain number of years old unless you provide proof of inspection to proof it is in good working order with no rust etc. If you've purchased it and hope to use it for the next 5 years you may run into the problem of having to find another insurance etc. It isn't a big deal, but just as a heads up.

abstract808 wrote: ↑ It isn't a problem for the insurance company, they'll just exclude any damage caused by a malfunctioning water heater. Most companies just look at the age of the unit, e.g. > 10 years, they could care less if it's working fine or inspected.