Loading…
22
Found out my 20 year old water heater is a ticking time bomb after reading the city's inspection stats
I was looking up that new city rebate program for energy efficiency and stumbled on a report from APD about house fires in Albuquerque. Turns out, water heaters over 15 years old cause like 40 percent of residential fire calls here. Mine is from 2004 and I just never thought about it. The report said most failures happen in the fall too when people turn their heat on for the first time. I'm Already calling around for quotes this week. Has anyone else dealt with an old unit failing suddenly?
3 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In3 Comments
bettykim4mo ago
Wait, I used to think old water heaters were just inefficient, not dangerous... but that 40 percent stat really made me stop and reconsider. My parents had one from the 90s that gave out with a bang last winter, soaking their whole basement. It's wild how common these failures are once you actually look into it.
8
brooke4844mo ago
Hmm, is that really a common thing though @bettykim? I feel like most old water heaters just leak a little before going out, not explode or anything dramatic...
7
alice_harris353mo ago
Nah, I gotta push back on this a bit. I've seen plenty of 25+ year old tanks still chugging along without any issues. A lot of those stats get blown out of proportion because they lump in all sorts of stuff like faulty wiring or poor installation with age alone. I'd bet most of those 40 percent were already showing obvious signs like rust or leaking way before they actually caught fire. If yours isn't leaking, isn't making weird noises, and still heats water fine, I don't see the panic.
2