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Charlie: Mike writes “I’m looking for a replacement for my 1988 water heater.”
Tom: He got his money’s worth.
Charlie: I was going to say this is a man-
Tom: I like it.
Charlie: Who hangs onto it, runs the wheels off. He says-
Tom: I wonder if he has a water softener, I would like to ask that question but we can’t here. That might be the reason it lasted so long.
Charlie: We could ask, we’d have a long wait for the answer.
Tom: Yes, so we won’t.
Charlie: Anyway he says “I’m interested in a tankless system and I’ve heard you need a 3/4 inch gas line. I’m pretty sure that my 1955 house is a 1/2 inch.” Tom wants to know how big of an issue is it to convert or upgrade that gas line.
Tom: It depends how much gas line you need, how accessible it is, some of them don’t need 3/4 inch. Some of them can get by with a half inch, so it depends on which one you buy. Do a little research before you think you can or can’t do it, but it’s not just you have to have a 3/4 inch and that’s it, because you have options.
Charlie: Okay, like an electric one, maybe?
Tom: An electric on demand would be one, a different type of gas on demand or a hybrid that’s half on demand and a small tank. You’ve got a lot of different options when it comes to water heaters and efficient ones out there. Just research a little more and see if there’s one that can handle your needs, because quite frankly, Charlie, a 1957 home is usually a pretty small home compared to today’s standards. You might have one that will go fine with just a 1/2 inch line.
Charlie: He might find, when he looks at the pricing on this, that a traditional water heater might be just fine.
Tom: If you can get one that you bought in 1988 to last another 30 years, that would be great too, so I’m for that one.