Portland plumber finds flaw during water heater replacement
Published on November 1, 2009
A well cared for water heater should last 12-16 years, according to Stan The Hot Water Man.
Stan The Hot Water Man
Category Water Heaters
Portland-area plumber Brent Lackey [of Stand the Hot Water Man] replaced an 8-year-old leaking hot water heater for Meredith Hines.
"Brent figured the leak was due to a poor weld coating," Hines says. "My understanding was that fixing an internal leak would mean rebuilding the tank, so he replaced the tank instead for $699.
"He was done in under 90 minutes. However, during the replacement, he discovered the hot and cold had been plumbed wrong and reversed on the old heater. He added hardware to the pipes so that the hot and cold went in the right place and he explained how the heater would be working now.
"Thanks to Brent, I now have a hot water heater that doesn't leak and is hot at a 50 percent lower gas setting than the old one."