ickplantSep 7, 2025

A conundrum

https://lemmy.world/post/35574450

Show threadjubilationtcornponeSep 7, 2025

Then there’s all the expenses you didn’t know about before you bought the house. If you don’t have at least some DIY skills, you get to pay people a lot of money to fix things for you.

…BTW, the county just did a reassessment on your property and your property taxes have now doubled. In exchange, you get nothing. Congratulations.

Show threadLemmyoutofhereSep 7, 2025
Yup. Oops, you need a new roof and a water heater, that will be $34,000.
Show threadHeyJoe
Hey, I just did these things! Water heater i was ripped off, which cost me $2600, and the roof i actually thought was a good deal at 17k. Not fun but the roof made me happy. The water heater actually destroyed my basement by leaking out…
Sep 7, 2025 at 2:50pmWeb
Show threadMrVilliamSep 7, 2025
And so now you’ve learned that you need to regularly flush the water heater and change out the anode rod every few years, right? I just bought my first house. Hot water wasn’t working right. Heating element was dead. Why? There was so much scale that the lower element was covered in it. Replaced the element, flushed as much out as I could reasonably remove, and then flushed again six months later while replacing the anode rod. This keeps the corrosion at bay.
Show threadmushroommunkSep 7, 2025
With new water heaters yes, do your maintenance. Old water heater that came with the place and hasn’t been touched in years? Yeah, the advice is to actually not flush it because you don’t know what cracks that gunk might be blocking up and it will be more likely to fail on you sooner.
Show threadBlue_MorphoSep 7, 2025

I’m guilty of ignoring my water heaters. Had my backup start to leak and it cost $1500 to replace. So I immediately bought a new anode rod for my primary tank. Drained/flushed it and replaced the old rod which was completely gone. It was an easy task but you will need a cheap impact wrench, 1 1/16" socket and chain link anode rod to make it easy.

It’s something you need to do every couple of years. But I never do it.

Show threadLemmyoutofhereSep 7, 2025
Ooof.
Show threadLemmyoutofhereSep 8, 2025
As long as you didn’t get a rental water heater, you did not get fucked.
Show threadHeyJoeSep 8, 2025
I have no idea what that is, but I dont think I wanna know. I did want tankless on demand, but the service guy convinced me it’s not worth it, and I regret my decision. Said I won’t save much because the power draw is much higher than a water heater, so even though the heater is always keeping it warm, the on demand still takes more. I think I may have needed additional wiring for the electric and believe that’s really the reason he swayed me away.
Show threadLemmyoutofhereSep 8, 2025
Sounds like it is not common where you are, consider yourself lucky. Where I live, all new houses are built with predatory rental water heaters. $50-100/month forever. You end up paying the purchase price many times over. Electric tankless heaters use an insane amount of electricity when they operate. Overall they are more efficient, but the wiring needed to supply it will greatly increase the price, often requiring a panel upgrade and possibly an upgrade in service to the house.
Show threadHeyJoeSep 8, 2025
What happens if or when it breaks? Since it’s rented, is that at the very least not on you? I would imagine any or all work on it shouldn’t cost you anything since you’re paying monthly for it? Not that I want that, but do you get anything for this rental fee?
Show threadLemmyoutofhereSep 8, 2025
Yes, if it fails, they will either repair or replace it at least.
Show threadjumping redditor [they/them]Sep 8, 2025
so it’s betting that the water company will get harder water
Show threadHorsecookSep 8, 2025

Rental water heaters are some weird Canadian scam.

My ~70 year old water heater failed 5 years ago. I drove to the nearest hardware store, paid $700 for a new one, and installed it myself.

Comparing efficiency between electric and gas is complete nonsense. You need to compare operating cost. In my market, with very high electric prices, it’s $60/yr for gas tank, and $1,100 for electric tankless.