We bought our 1904 Chicago house in 1975
and had to get a water heater pronto.
We called Sears & they did sale & install.
(50 gallon, burns gas.)
Still going.  But my wife would be aghast
at the idea of my saying this out loud --
she thinks we were lucky it lasted all winter.
She's usually right.

I gather from various sources 
that a 10-year lifetime is normal.

At 06:36 AM 4/8/2010, Gabriel Orgrease wrote:
>On 4/7/2010 10:20 PM, [log in to unmask] wrote: 
>> 
>>Word on the street (actually, the dirt road) is that "they used to make 'em they'd last 25 years sonny, now they want 'em to break down". 
>> 
>>So, wassup wid dat?   What was it that they used to make 'em like?   This is just for a seasonal house, electric, and we have two heaters, one for showers, one for the kitchen laundry.
>
>c,
>
>I have no accurate clue for an answer but can say other things. Our water heater uses fuel oil (Sun-Ray Oil Burner). It has been working for 20 years without my thinking very much about it. I do not know when before that time it was installed, it came with the house. It came with the house of which of the former octogenarian owner when I asked how often the basement floods he said never. The house did not start w/a basement, and within a half mile of the Atlantic it is the only house around us w/ a basement... the previous owner -- who was not a very tall guy -- dug out the basement beneath the house deep enuf for him to stand in, I assume when it was dry, and cool in summer. My wife says the maintenance folks don't want to touch the burner on the hot water heater, afraid it will fall apart. So what I want to know is why with the recent 1.5 feet of flood water in the basement that submerged the burner unit did the damned thing stop working after all of these years? Now, I m!
 ight h
ave done something to forestall the situation but we have never had that much water in the basement before and it was something of a surprise. My wife won't call the maintenance folks until I get the water completely out of the basement. In the mean time I am now looking into water heaters, different types and energy sources and I notice that they are all rated at # of warrant able years... I suspect maybe that lifespan has not so much to do with the energy source as with the construction of the tanks and corrosion from minerals in the water. My knee-jerk surmise is that water heaters work better when the water is inside the tank and not outside of the tank.

Martin C. Tangora
University of Illinois at Chicago
[log in to unmask]

--
**Please remember to trim posts, as requested in the Terms of Service**

To terminate puerile preservation prattling among pals and the uncoffee-ed, or to change your settings, go to:
<http://listserv.icors.org/archives/bullamanka-pinheads.html>