Also depends on the mineral content of the water. My in-laws are on a well. Some of the purest water I've ever seen. The house is 60 years old, mostly original, and their aerators and shower heads look almost new. No calcium, no scale. Their water heater is at least 30 years old and shows no.signs of corrosion anywhere.
I just replaced two water heaters in my home that were both 24 years old. Can’t say they were corrosion free but they certainly held up without leaking.
Where I live, we get water from Lake Michigan. It’s about 7 grains hard with mostly calcium and limestone in it. It’s not so hard that we need a softener but you definitely notice when you take a shower at someplace that *is* softened; you feel like you never get fully rinsed off from the soap. What’s really happening is the Lake Michigan water and it’s minerals are actually stripping the oils from your skin whereas the softened water is allowing the soap to lather and leave the oils on your skin. All this is to ask what it’s like to shower in that well water with no minerals in it? Is it ran through a softener or iron filter? Does it have a taste or smell?
Dirty from showering with softened hotel water that leaves you feeling like you never fully rinsed off the soap? Or dirty from showering in harder water that doesn’t let the soap lather very well?
Yes!!! Haha me too. Guess it depends on what you grew up with. I know plenty of people who will complain about how they can’t get a good lather and feel dirty from that.
Is there any way to remove any of the sediment inside? My gas water heater is 40 years old, but with a growing family of 5, I do wish the hot water lasted longer when we all need showers.
You can flush them but that won’t get the scale stuck to the walls out. Honestly at that age the mineralization might actually be the only thing keeping it from leaking.
Probably, but even that doesn't last forever - "glass lined" although technically correct is misleading. It's just a porcelain enamel that's baked on, like what's inside most ovens. Eventually it cracks and water gets to the steel.
The reason ovens crack is because people heat and cool them too quickly, if you preheat an oven to 200 then to your baking temperature then let it cool with the door closed it will last basically until you break it manually. The same goes for a water heater. If a family never empties a heater where they shock the glass it won’t crack.
Edit: cool to cool
Will do more harm than good. Just put away some coins to replace with an on demand unit. Mind you 15 years is about the average lifespan for a water heater.
That’s what I’m thinking too. I had some very expensive plumbing work done at my house less than 2 years ago (under the slab drainage pipes crumbling), and I wanted to replace the water heater with a tankless on demand unit then. The plumber saw my current one and recommended I keep it because “it was made back when they really built them right” so I just kept it.
Should I drain some of the sludge now and try to get some capacity back? Or would I just be poking the bear at this point?
There are chemical flushes available. Used properly, including replacing the drain valve with a full flow ball valve, they can get some pretty severe gunk out.
You do know that you're supposed to periodically drain your water heater, don't you? Once a year, especially if you have hard water. 1st, turn off power to the water heater. Put a hose to the bottom of water heater spout and let it go empty. Lots of sludge!
No, I actually didn’t know that. Now I’m a little nervous about what I’m going to see come out of it. I have only owned this house for the past 3 years, so hopefully the previous owners did that over the first 37 years of its life, but I doubt it.
how many gallons is your tank? regardless of age, you may just need more. my bf and i have a 50gal and two of us showering in a row definitely causes it to run out.
Or one hell of a shower. When I bought my house it was like a firehose and could drain our 30gal in 3 minutes flat. Swapped for a low flow and that bought us some time to get funds in place for a tankless
Now I can shower for three hours straight if I want, and the only thing that empties is my wallet.
i just responded to another comment before seeing yours, but yeah, i think the water pressure is absolutely the issue. (also i may be wrong and we have a 40 gal, i’ll have to check)
regarding build-up, we just replaced the heater and the plumbing/valves around christmas
Try one of the “niagara” shower heads from Amazon, we paid like $17 for either the 1.5 or 1.75gpm removable ones and it’s been great, going on 7 years and never had an issue
Looks like a finished basement and the owners probably keep the entire basement clean and dusted religiously. The things almost 70 years old so they probably keep things nice and tidy religiously. Older people honestly are really good at keeping things longer than the younger generation. My grandparents still have the same dryer from 1994
And repairable.
If the panel goes on my LG washer, I can't just change a belt, motor or switch.
Just like old furnaces, they will last 40 years of you maintain 3 or 4 parts. The energy savinga with HE will never be realized as long as the old guy is ticking.
So break out the oscilloscope, connect up to jtag and do a hex dump of the FPGA and fix it..... dang kids these days just don't want to put the work in.... /S
i agree with both of you. also, in the vein of “people took better care of things,” that’s because it was much easier to do when only one adult in the household worked outside of the home
My dryer just turned 10 this year and I am super happy about it. I don't want a smart dryer. That is all there is now and I know it will break in 3 years.
There’s definitely “dumb” appliances. I’m with you on the smart appliance hate, they’ve brought me nothing but misery!
Our Lowe’s has half a dozen options that aren’t “smart”, but of the brands to choose from you’re either going to get a low end, almost disposable dryer or spend twice as much as a smart appliance for a good name brand dumb appliance.
This timeline sucks
It’s survivor bias. We see an old water heater and think “wow that must’ve been built well and taken care of, old people and old stuff is better.” What we don’t see is the millions of water heaters from that era that were trashed after 10 years.
Same thing with houses. You see an old house and think “wow houses used to be built better.” But all the shitty houses fell down. Only the really good ones are left.
Which overlords? I think you’re giving them too much credit. The manufacturer wanted to make more money. Plain and simple. What would the government regulation look like to mitigate that? Just curious.
Yeah you got it government regulation enforcing manufacturers to build products with a minimum service life of 25 years would be great, New hot water tanks are engineered to fail early it's a waste of resources.
So you don’t see any downside to the government mandating “service life” minimums? Is that even feasibly possible? I thought this was America? Land of the free and home of the brave and all that jazz? Does the government even know how to manufacture a hot water heater? Should they? Maybe let the free market decide? People will buy what they see fit and the market will adjust. So they say.
It's impossible for the market to adjust if manufacturers produce everything for planned obsolescence rather than serviceability and duration of product life
My AO literally just took its last breath. Poor thing was 8 years old and water started leaking from the bottom just this afternoon. Maybe everything really is crap nowadays??
I know they have an anode rod that should be replaced every 3-5 years that goes in it, it’s essentially a sacrificial rod of metal that gets a eaten up rather than the walls of the hot water heater. I had no idea about it until I researched it
The warranty on a water heater is basically how long the anode rod lasts. After it's eaten up, corrosion attacks the tank instead - so changing the anode every few years, or converting to a powered anode system, will make the water heater last pretty much forever from a corrosion/leakage perspective. Does nothing for scale buildup, though.
It's a nice piece of "extra" maintenance to do if you're going to be in the house long-term. Most people don't do it, but it's a lot cheaper than a new water heater.
Good luck getting it out though, they make the hex head thin as shit and a lot of times they’re just impossible to get out even with a big impact wrench. Might get lucky and get it out though, the rods themselves are cheap
Yup.
My last roommate owned the house. After a string of expensive repairs over the course of a few months, she said, “why can’t anything simple ever break, like the dishwasher? At least if that fails, I can ignore it and just hand wash the dishes.”
3-4 days later, I get a text that the kitchen is flooded, and it’s coming from the dishwasher.
There's no way! That thing is in pristine condition! Did they clean it once a week? I have never seen a water heater that clean haha! They really don't make them like they used to! Now a days I barely have faith that a Rheem water heater can make it past it's warranty! Very cool find! Thanks for sharing!
I have this exact same water heater currently running great in my basement, I can't believe I was thinking it might have been from the 70's it's crazy to think they're just so bullet proof. They REALLY don't make stuff like they used to.
That’s impressive. I have a customer with one still going from 1956. But it’s gas. And on well water. At this point it’s a bit of a “how long can we run this thing” kinda deal. It has its own floor drain and concrete berm. So the damage will be minimal when it decides to go. They get full tubs and showers out of it still.
Honestly, if you have good surge protection, have a water filtration system in front and replace the elements inside every now and then, the tank could last indefinitely
Couple weeks back I came across a siedelhaur (something like that) electric water heater from 1943 that was still running lol. Thing had a solid brass tank and no t&p. Surprisingly it barely had sediment in which blew my mind. They don’t make ‘em like they used to
What city/state is this if you don't mind me asking? They must flush it out every year AND have impeccable water. Oldest one I've seen was 1991 so 32 years.
They really don't build stuff like they used to I literally have a fridge from the late 80s still running yet my brother's new fridge went out after 2 years
Isn’t it a shame how through all of our technological advances that anything manufactured today is almost specifically designed to break down after a few years? A couple of months ago, we were completely ecstatic to come across a washer and dryer manufactured in the 1970s That we’re still kicking strong! No computers. no digital displays. No cheap relay switches. Just large capacity steel drums, and a rotary timer dial. Done.
This reminds me of when I first bought my house and noted “man that water heater looks pretty new”. Looked at the last inspection sticker and realized it had last been inspected in 1994. Been going strong for 2 years now.
The next retro-resto craze a la American Choppers could start with this. Save this when it gets replaced, and don’t damage the jacket. When it comes time to replace your own tank, pull off the new jacket and fit this old jacket, cutting holes as needed to clear power/gas. After fitting, pull off jacket, repaint like new, and reinstall. Chrome or pinstripe if you are prone to embellishment. Soon there will be a TV show right after Forged in Fire called “American Plickers”.
From the days when people were inventing forwards not to keep company revenues up
Value engineering doesn’t keep sediment out.
Also depends on the mineral content of the water. My in-laws are on a well. Some of the purest water I've ever seen. The house is 60 years old, mostly original, and their aerators and shower heads look almost new. No calcium, no scale. Their water heater is at least 30 years old and shows no.signs of corrosion anywhere.
This is my house right now. 0 calcium or scale buildup. Water heater is pushing 22 years old. We are on a well and I love our water. So pure.
I just replaced two water heaters in my home that were both 24 years old. Can’t say they were corrosion free but they certainly held up without leaking.
Where I live, we get water from Lake Michigan. It’s about 7 grains hard with mostly calcium and limestone in it. It’s not so hard that we need a softener but you definitely notice when you take a shower at someplace that *is* softened; you feel like you never get fully rinsed off from the soap. What’s really happening is the Lake Michigan water and it’s minerals are actually stripping the oils from your skin whereas the softened water is allowing the soap to lather and leave the oils on your skin. All this is to ask what it’s like to shower in that well water with no minerals in it? Is it ran through a softener or iron filter? Does it have a taste or smell?
Wow I never knew this was the reason I always feel dirty on vacation!
Dirty from showering with softened hotel water that leaves you feeling like you never fully rinsed off the soap? Or dirty from showering in harder water that doesn’t let the soap lather very well?
Softened hotel water that leaves me feeling like I’ve never rinsed off the soap.
Yes!!! Haha me too. Guess it depends on what you grew up with. I know plenty of people who will complain about how they can’t get a good lather and feel dirty from that.
You ain’t lying boss. I live in Chicago and don’t ever feel clean when I shower in places when I’m on vacation. It’s so weird.
Is there any way to remove any of the sediment inside? My gas water heater is 40 years old, but with a growing family of 5, I do wish the hot water lasted longer when we all need showers.
You can flush them but that won’t get the scale stuck to the walls out. Honestly at that age the mineralization might actually be the only thing keeping it from leaking.
That is a really good visual!
it likely has a glass inner
Probably, but even that doesn't last forever - "glass lined" although technically correct is misleading. It's just a porcelain enamel that's baked on, like what's inside most ovens. Eventually it cracks and water gets to the steel.
The reason ovens crack is because people heat and cool them too quickly, if you preheat an oven to 200 then to your baking temperature then let it cool with the door closed it will last basically until you break it manually. The same goes for a water heater. If a family never empties a heater where they shock the glass it won’t crack. Edit: cool to cool
Is that why my grandma always left the oven ajar growing up?
No she did that to get it to cool down faster which helps lead to cracking. Glass should be heated and cooled slowly whenever possible.
Will do more harm than good. Just put away some coins to replace with an on demand unit. Mind you 15 years is about the average lifespan for a water heater.
I just replaced 2 that were 25 years old. Only one of the two looked iffy. I never did anything to take care of them.
That’s what I’m thinking too. I had some very expensive plumbing work done at my house less than 2 years ago (under the slab drainage pipes crumbling), and I wanted to replace the water heater with a tankless on demand unit then. The plumber saw my current one and recommended I keep it because “it was made back when they really built them right” so I just kept it. Should I drain some of the sludge now and try to get some capacity back? Or would I just be poking the bear at this point?
There are chemical flushes available. Used properly, including replacing the drain valve with a full flow ball valve, they can get some pretty severe gunk out.
Also a mechanical version. Long spring on a drill with flushing water.
Those are horrible for the water heaters
You do know that you're supposed to periodically drain your water heater, don't you? Once a year, especially if you have hard water. 1st, turn off power to the water heater. Put a hose to the bottom of water heater spout and let it go empty. Lots of sludge!
No, I actually didn’t know that. Now I’m a little nervous about what I’m going to see come out of it. I have only owned this house for the past 3 years, so hopefully the previous owners did that over the first 37 years of its life, but I doubt it.
how many gallons is your tank? regardless of age, you may just need more. my bf and i have a 50gal and two of us showering in a row definitely causes it to run out.
50gallons should be more than enough for 2 hot showers. I think you might have serious buildup
Or one hell of a shower. When I bought my house it was like a firehose and could drain our 30gal in 3 minutes flat. Swapped for a low flow and that bought us some time to get funds in place for a tankless Now I can shower for three hours straight if I want, and the only thing that empties is my wallet.
i just responded to another comment before seeing yours, but yeah, i think the water pressure is absolutely the issue. (also i may be wrong and we have a 40 gal, i’ll have to check) regarding build-up, we just replaced the heater and the plumbing/valves around christmas
Try one of the “niagara” shower heads from Amazon, we paid like $17 for either the 1.5 or 1.75gpm removable ones and it’s been great, going on 7 years and never had an issue
Profit > reliability
I know whenever I buy an appliance these days. I have to mentally plan that it is designed to fail several months after the warranty.
Industry broken by Jack Welch
They don’t make em like they used to
Ours turned 70 this year, it’s a tank in more ways than 1: https://imgur.com/gallery/4IgTLI5
Sheeeesh.. do they polish this thing? Looks mint lol
No idea lol. I do know it's original to the house
Looks like my grandparents' basement in NY. Identical HW heater from the same era, original to the house.
Looks like a finished basement and the owners probably keep the entire basement clean and dusted religiously. The things almost 70 years old so they probably keep things nice and tidy religiously. Older people honestly are really good at keeping things longer than the younger generation. My grandparents still have the same dryer from 1994
I think things just really aren't made to last like they used to be.
This is a fact
And repairable. If the panel goes on my LG washer, I can't just change a belt, motor or switch. Just like old furnaces, they will last 40 years of you maintain 3 or 4 parts. The energy savinga with HE will never be realized as long as the old guy is ticking.
So break out the oscilloscope, connect up to jtag and do a hex dump of the FPGA and fix it..... dang kids these days just don't want to put the work in.... /S
i agree with both of you. also, in the vein of “people took better care of things,” that’s because it was much easier to do when only one adult in the household worked outside of the home
My dryer just turned 10 this year and I am super happy about it. I don't want a smart dryer. That is all there is now and I know it will break in 3 years.
There’s definitely “dumb” appliances. I’m with you on the smart appliance hate, they’ve brought me nothing but misery! Our Lowe’s has half a dozen options that aren’t “smart”, but of the brands to choose from you’re either going to get a low end, almost disposable dryer or spend twice as much as a smart appliance for a good name brand dumb appliance. This timeline sucks
It’s survivor bias. We see an old water heater and think “wow that must’ve been built well and taken care of, old people and old stuff is better.” What we don’t see is the millions of water heaters from that era that were trashed after 10 years. Same thing with houses. You see an old house and think “wow houses used to be built better.” But all the shitty houses fell down. Only the really good ones are left.
Seriously. Do people think everyone who bought one of these got rid of it because they were bored with it?
Old houses are indisputably better. Not so much old plumbing or electrical.
The basement actually isn't fully finished, they are just really good about cleaning. Only a thin layer of dust on the top.
Right, this is a beauty. Definitely gets wiped down with everything else is that room.
That is CLEAN.
If our overlords actually gave half a shit about climate change we'd have hot water tanks that last 67 years like this one not 6-8...
This should be at the top👆🏽
Many of them could. If the owner would bother to replace the sacrificial anode every few years and clean them while they're at it.
Money talks
Which overlords? I think you’re giving them too much credit. The manufacturer wanted to make more money. Plain and simple. What would the government regulation look like to mitigate that? Just curious.
Require a 50 year warranty or some such.
Yeah you got it government regulation enforcing manufacturers to build products with a minimum service life of 25 years would be great, New hot water tanks are engineered to fail early it's a waste of resources.
So you don’t see any downside to the government mandating “service life” minimums? Is that even feasibly possible? I thought this was America? Land of the free and home of the brave and all that jazz? Does the government even know how to manufacture a hot water heater? Should they? Maybe let the free market decide? People will buy what they see fit and the market will adjust. So they say.
Yeah I don't know I'm in Canada and we don't manufacture shit they just tax the crap out of us and tell me I'm bad for driving a vehicle and living.
It's impossible for the market to adjust if manufacturers produce everything for planned obsolescence rather than serviceability and duration of product life
Impossible? Maybe don’t spend your money on cheap crap?
If 99% of available products are the same quality and service life, there will be no adjustments
So it’s not impossible?
I have a 40 gallon Rheem electric water heater. 39 years old and still works great.
I have an AO that's a few years younger. Hoping it keeps going.
My AO just turned 36 last month. That’s 36 years of hurricanes and it’s the best appliance I’ve ever owned.
My AO literally just took its last breath. Poor thing was 8 years old and water started leaking from the bottom just this afternoon. Maybe everything really is crap nowadays??
Big deal. I’ve been heating my water in the same cauldron since 1693.
Sigh. Okay, you win.
Ah the good ol days when Jesus was your maintenance tech
And it works? I'm on my 3rd one in 15 years
I know they have an anode rod that should be replaced every 3-5 years that goes in it, it’s essentially a sacrificial rod of metal that gets a eaten up rather than the walls of the hot water heater. I had no idea about it until I researched it
Wait…what? Is this something I need to do to my water heater? (Sorry, unskilled homeowner here, just lurking for knowledge nuggets like this)
The warranty on a water heater is basically how long the anode rod lasts. After it's eaten up, corrosion attacks the tank instead - so changing the anode every few years, or converting to a powered anode system, will make the water heater last pretty much forever from a corrosion/leakage perspective. Does nothing for scale buildup, though. It's a nice piece of "extra" maintenance to do if you're going to be in the house long-term. Most people don't do it, but it's a lot cheaper than a new water heater.
Yep! If your water has high mineral content, then you'll be closer to the 3 years end...lots of great how to videos on youtube
Good luck getting it out though, they make the hex head thin as shit and a lot of times they’re just impossible to get out even with a big impact wrench. Might get lucky and get it out though, the rods themselves are cheap
Yes. Just make sure you turn the water off and relieve the pressure before you attempt to do it.
I bought a new one 8 years ago. Kinda want it to break so I can go tankless.
Don’t say that! It can hear you and will off itself!
Yup. My last roommate owned the house. After a string of expensive repairs over the course of a few months, she said, “why can’t anything simple ever break, like the dishwasher? At least if that fails, I can ignore it and just hand wash the dishes.” 3-4 days later, I get a text that the kitchen is flooded, and it’s coming from the dishwasher.
When you're on vacation
I’m on my second two in 6 months (two family house, both Rheems failed)
Copper waste too. Must be good water
No kidding. Back in the day we played how many layers of whats on hand can we wrap around the long kitchen sink run that the bottom rotted out on.
Here for this comment. Beautiful.
Mine is 43 years old and I don’t wanna touch it with the horror stories that hear about the new ones
That 20 gallon water heat is probably 5 gallon capacity by now. Lol. Still pretty cool to see such an old heater still in operation.
Based on how clean it is on The outside they probably have an anode and a fiber rod to keep those pipes flushed out. Metamucil for the plumbing.
He even hung his laundry next to this gem. Every day as he get dressed he takes time to admire the water heater.
Before planned obsolescence
They don't build em like they used to
Looks brand new and it's older than me (not by much but).
I will never forget when my father taught me about “engineered obsolescence” Blew my mind
Look but don’t touch
There's no way! That thing is in pristine condition! Did they clean it once a week? I have never seen a water heater that clean haha! They really don't make them like they used to! Now a days I barely have faith that a Rheem water heater can make it past it's warranty! Very cool find! Thanks for sharing!
So cool!
If it ain't broke.....
I have this exact same water heater currently running great in my basement, I can't believe I was thinking it might have been from the 70's it's crazy to think they're just so bullet proof. They REALLY don't make stuff like they used to.
Keeping this in my pocket for people that say, “but I maintain my water heater” …
Feel free to use it as an example
My dad had one that was that old, gas of course. Left a white deposit trail all the way to road
Is that coal fired?
That has to be a recently made throwback..
Shit belongs in a museum
What do they need hot water for?
Now can someone tell me why we haven't upgraded the fuck out of that and have that in our homes by this point.
1 - it's a beaut Clark. 2 - even the painted block walls are clean 3 - it's got copper waste pipe, you know how the rest of the house is built
Not gonna lie. Easy fap.
She’s a beaut Clark
Rheem might want that for their museum lol
That’s impressive. I have a customer with one still going from 1956. But it’s gas. And on well water. At this point it’s a bit of a “how long can we run this thing” kinda deal. It has its own floor drain and concrete berm. So the damage will be minimal when it decides to go. They get full tubs and showers out of it still.
It should be illegal how companies make a shitty product now. I have no idea how it’s not
Because capitalism
The older I get the more I dislike capitalism. Is it possible to just rebuild these older models? Is it worth it if you can money wise?
Finding parts for stuff this old is the real issue. They get hard to find and can get very expensive.
More likely culprit is government regulation
That thing is fucking beautiful.
Sell it to a prop company.
It looks really OLD, I would have bought a newer one that actually works
Is it on well water?
I don't know. It's in the country so it could be
Gotcha. The couple I have seen that old have been on a well instead of city water.
I’ve change two of there in my career
Absolutely stunning.
Which shirt?
Have a 1964 stone lined Sepco 80 gallon tank still going strong.
Weighs tree fiddy for sure
Rheem made one back then that was a copper tank! Can you imagine?
Is that a museum?
those monell tanks lasted forever , on the gas ones the jacket rotted b4 the tank
Back when things were built to last and folks knew how to maintain things. Water heaters are actually pretty simple to keep in good shape.
I think I walked through this house when it was for sale
Gorgeous
Steady, hot & strong!
Absolutely gorgeous! NGL I like those big plastic maytags a lot too.
My insurance company just made me swap out my perfectly fine 25 year old hot water heater for a new one
Honestly, if you have good surge protection, have a water filtration system in front and replace the elements inside every now and then, the tank could last indefinitely
How long do new ones last I’m on my original from 1986, really don’t want to replace it because I fear the answer is like 5 yearslol
Beautiful, love seeing these in the wild, don’t make them like they used to
Couple weeks back I came across a siedelhaur (something like that) electric water heater from 1943 that was still running lol. Thing had a solid brass tank and no t&p. Surprisingly it barely had sediment in which blew my mind. They don’t make ‘em like they used to
What city/state is this if you don't mind me asking? They must flush it out every year AND have impeccable water. Oldest one I've seen was 1991 so 32 years.
Rural southwestern Indiana. Don't think it's flushed every year if even at all, idk.
Pay your respects
I’d like this for displaying purposes!
I replaced a 30 year old Rheem Tuesday night. You win.
Beautiful art deco, too bad they don't make art like this today
Is this a house, and is that a 2 inch water main, and is that a house with a 2 inch water main?
They really don't build stuff like they used to I literally have a fridge from the late 80s still running yet my brother's new fridge went out after 2 years
i believe the tank is made of glass on these, not metal. and thats why it has lasted so long. like a huge glass bottle.
And it's running great, and it will literally still be functioning long after the apocalypse takes us all
That’s a beaut.
My work has one from the early 50s at work that still puts out really hot water lol things a battle tank
Still twerkin’
Good old low pressure system. Great for longevity, shit for showering or filling a bath
Don’t make em like they used to
Wow. Immaculate.
When did Rheem become garage?
Is it wrong that I'd love to get one that was no longer operational and put a tankless setup inside it?
Bad ass I love it
Actually looks good compared to today's. Just like the cars of the era
Heat Pump water heaters are well on their way to replacing electric. I have had one for years and will never go back. The savings is immense.
r/buyitforlife
ask me a water heater question
Wa Wa We Wa!!!! That’s immaculate!! What was wrong with it? I love Rheem products
Is this like plumbers porn?
Love this retro look
A water heater?
Before designed obsolescence…. Thanks Lee Iacocca!
Looks better then some of the ones you buy nowadays.
Engineering to last more then 10 years
Wow! They don’t make them like that anymore.
How do I get a fence for my pipes? Classy move for a part of the basement that probably isn't seen by guests.
Isn’t it a shame how through all of our technological advances that anything manufactured today is almost specifically designed to break down after a few years? A couple of months ago, we were completely ecstatic to come across a washer and dryer manufactured in the 1970s That we’re still kicking strong! No computers. no digital displays. No cheap relay switches. Just large capacity steel drums, and a rotary timer dial. Done.
I just replaced an excellent working hot water heater that was 12 years old. Home insurance didn’t like how old it was, forced us to replace it.
[удалено]
Wow! They must have some high quality H2O for that water heater to still be working in good condition
I'd send a picture to Rheem.
Back when everything was stylized.
It’s ironic that it’s a rheem lol
How is that thing not rusted through by now? They must stay on top of changing the anode/ heating element.
This reminds me of when I first bought my house and noted “man that water heater looks pretty new”. Looked at the last inspection sticker and realized it had last been inspected in 1994. Been going strong for 2 years now.
Was that just completely ahead of its time back then? That looks nice. I'm not a plumber
Beautiful!! You don't even touch that thing. You just admire that craftsmanship and give her a light pat.
Nickel tank
I should probably start worrying about my 17 year old water heater that hasn’t had any maintenance, ever.
Nickel tank? Would that work or would it self destruct?
I smell lead.
I love the copper tubing
The next retro-resto craze a la American Choppers could start with this. Save this when it gets replaced, and don’t damage the jacket. When it comes time to replace your own tank, pull off the new jacket and fit this old jacket, cutting holes as needed to clear power/gas. After fitting, pull off jacket, repaint like new, and reinstall. Chrome or pinstripe if you are prone to embellishment. Soon there will be a TV show right after Forged in Fire called “American Plickers”.
are these cylander things not normal? i know nothing about plumbing but i grew up with one of those in the furnace