Water heater replacement.

Why River Forest houses are different

Two things about our housing stock shape almost every water heater estimate.

First, most basements here have a masonry chimney that once served a coal furnace and now serves a gas furnace and a gas water heater together. When the furnace is replaced with a 96% condensing unit that vents out the sidewall, the water heater is left alone in a flue sized for two appliances. Its exhaust cools too quickly, condenses, and slowly eats the mortar joints from the inside. Sometimes the draft fails entirely and the flue gases spill back into the basement. If your furnace was replaced in the last few years, this is the first question to ask, and it is the most common reason a $1,800 job becomes a $3,500 job.

Second, the houses are old enough that the gas line, the water shutoff and the floor drain are all where a 1920s plumber put them. A tankless conversion or a relocation often means new gas pipe and new venting through a wall that is brick on the outside.

Tank or tankless

A storage tank heats forty or fifty gallons and keeps it hot. It is the cheaper installation, usually a direct swap in the same footprint using the same connections. Life expectancy is eight to twelve years, sometimes longer with a softener and annual flushing.

Tankless heats water as it passes through, so it never runs out and takes up a shoebox of wall space. It costs two to three times as much installed, because the installation is different: it typically needs a larger gas line, its own venting through an exterior wall, an electrical outlet, and a condensate drain if it is a condensing model. It lasts longer, around twenty years, and it is more efficient. It is also more sensitive to hard water, which we have, so a softener or annual descaling belongs in the conversation.

Neither is the right answer for every house. A tank is the right answer for most direct replacements. Tankless earns its cost when the household runs out of hot water, when space matters, or when a gas line and venting are already being reworked for another reason.

Size: gallons and first-hour rating

For a tank, the number that matters is not the gallons on the label but the first-hour rating: how much hot water it can deliver in a busy hour, which combines tank size and burner output. A 40-gallon tank with a strong burner can outperform a 50-gallon tank with a weak one. Two showers and a dishwasher before Roosevelt pickup is a first-hour question.

For tankless, the number is flow rate in gallons per minute at a given temperature rise. Chicago-area groundwater comes in around 50 degrees in winter, so a unit rated at 9 gallons per minute in a warm-climate brochure delivers considerably less here. Ask for the flow rate at a 70-degree rise.

Venting, and the orphaned flue

Three ways a gas water heater vents, and each is a different job.

Atmospheric vents up the chimney by natural draft. The cheapest tank, and the one with the orphaned-flue problem. If the furnace has left the chimney, the estimate should either include a properly sized chimney liner, or switch to one of the two options below.

Power vent uses a small fan to push exhaust through PVC out a sidewall, so the chimney is no longer needed. Costs more than atmospheric, needs an electrical outlet, and solves the orphaned flue without a liner.

Direct vent or condensing draws combustion air from outside and vents through the wall. Highest efficiency, highest cost, and needs a condensate drain.

A contractor who looks at your chimney and your furnace before quoting is doing the job. One who quotes an atmospheric tank into a flue that just lost its furnace has left the most important line off the page.

Reading the estimate, row by row

Unit. Brand, model number, gallons or flow rate, vent type. Model numbers matter here as much as they do for a furnace.

Fuel and venting. Existing chimney, chimney with new liner, or new sidewall vent. This row explains most price gaps.

Expansion tank and valves. Covered below. Their absence from the page is a question.

Permit and disposal. The Village’s permit sheet lists a replacement-only water heater as not needing a permit. A fuel or venting change, a relocation or new piping does need one. The Village’s express-permit page also lists water heaters, so confirm with Building & Zoning at (708) 714-3552 before work starts, and have the estimate say whether a permit is included. Hauling the old tank up the stairs is real work and should be on the page.

What drives the price

• Vent type. Atmospheric, power vent, direct vent, in ascending order of cost.
• Chimney liner if the water heater stays atmospheric and is alone in the flue. Often the single largest item after the tank itself. See the chimney guide.
• Tank versus tankless, and for tankless the gas line upsizing and new venting.
• Warranty tier. A six-year tank and a twelve-year tank are often the same tank with a better anode rod and a longer promise. Sometimes that is worth it.
• Code items that were not there in 1998 and are required now.
• Access. Coal-room basements with a turn in the stairs.
• Emergency pricing. Sunday and same-day carry a premium. If you can wait until Tuesday, say so.

The small parts that are not upsells

Homeowners often see these as padding. They are code, or close to it.

• Thermal expansion tank. A closed plumbing system, which most houses now have because of a check valve at the meter, needs somewhere for expanding hot water to go. Without it the relief valve drips and the tank fails early.
• Temperature and pressure relief valve with a discharge line to within inches of the floor or a drain.
• Drip pan if the heater sits where a leak would damage anything, and a drain line from it if possible.
• Sediment trap on the gas line and a proper shutoff valve on the cold side.
• Dielectric unions where copper meets steel.
• Seismic strapping is not required here; if it appears, ask why.

Warranties

Tank warranties run six, nine or twelve years on the tank itself, with parts often shorter. The labor warranty comes from the plumber and is usually one year. As with a furnace, the tank is covered and the visit to swap it is not, unless the labor term says so. Registration requirements apply here too. Tankless units typically carry longer heat exchanger warranties, often conditional on water quality and annual maintenance.

Heat pump water heaters

A hybrid or heat pump water heater pulls heat from the basement air into the tank and uses a fraction of the electricity of a standard electric heater. It needs a 240-volt circuit, headroom, and a basement that does not mind being a little cooler and drier, which many damp River Forest basements would welcome. Up-front cost is high, operating cost is low, and ComEd has offered rebates on qualifying units; check ComEd for the current amount. It is a real option if your panel has capacity, and a panel question if it does not.

When it is already leaking

Turn off the cold water supply valve on top of the tank and the gas valve at the bottom. Put towels down and, if it is a slow leak, a shallow pan. Most leaks are slow. You have a day, not an hour.

Then ask the first plumber the three questions that matter: what vent type are you proposing, is my water heater alone in the chimney, and what is the labor warranty. If the answers are atmospheric, yes, and one year, that estimate needs a second look even on a Sunday.

Questions to ask

• What is the model number, and is it atmospheric, power vent or direct vent?
• Is my water heater alone in the chimney now, and if so what are you doing about it?
• What is the first-hour rating, or the flow rate at a 70-degree rise?
• Are the expansion tank, drip pan and new shutoff included?
• Does this job need a Village permit, who pulls it, and is the fee included?
• Tank warranty in years, and labor warranty in years?
• Is the old tank hauled away, and is that on the page?
• What does the price become if I can wait until a weekday?

Permits, programs and the Village