Water Heater longevity

[bucolic_frolic]

I'm pushing my luck by mentioning it, but my glass lined electric water heater is almost 50 years old. I am appalled by the heaters sold today with 5 or 10 year warranties.

I've replace the upper coil twice, the lower coil once, and the thermostats once. The anode rod has never been touched.

I don't think most people would believe the age. Are there awards for longevity? I mean this is like a human living to 105 or so.

I attribute the longevity to 3 factors. Cleaning once every 15 years or so. It has a lousy cleaning mechanism, no swirl on the intake flow. To clean it you have to drain it, remove both coils, and remove sediment with a flat stick or spoon. And it doesn't do a very good job. Lots of sediment remains. There is also a bleed valve that I pop once a year or so but it doesn't do much.

Secondly there is iron in the water. Lots of iron. So there's no room for the corrosion to go into the water.

Finally, originally it was a terrible brand but when new they were trying to fix the company and built a run of glass lined insulated models. I suspect the original production run was to get good press and word of mouth. This is one of those units.

The company failed in the early 1980s in the Reagan recession.

[Raven123]

1. Wow. Might be a candidate for the Smithsonian someday

[bucolic_frolic]

2. lol That's really rubbing it in

but what do I expect?

[Raven123]

5. Hey I think you have done a terrific job maintaining it

That is a valuable skill set

[bucolic_frolic]

6. This Old House, 1984 /nt

[Kali]

3. I have a gas water heater that is going on 30 years

I think it was less than $100 back then too.

[brush]

4. My origianal one failed four years ago and I replaced it with a stainless steel one. No problens since.

[SWBTATTReg]

7. Wow, nice! There's no reason that a h2o shouldn't last a long time, unless you got some weird stuff in your water

that overly reacts w/ your water in the water heater. I have one pushing over 11 years so far, and it'll continue to go too, for, I hope much longer. I think the best thing is to periodically flush out your water heater, which I do (when I don't really need any hot water at the time, no showers or dishwater or washers are planned to run that particular day. This seems to help.

Congrats on a lucky (or not planned) purchase of an appliance that is lasting forever, how lucky are we in that sort of a purchase?!

[bucolic_frolic]

8. So many plumbers on youtube say 5-10 years for a water heater.

And as I said today's glass lined ones I saw in Lowes carry a 5-10 year warranty. Gives me no confidence in buying a new one. Because I'm sure the day is long overdue.

[pansypoo53219]

9. this old house had a rare survivor. i think it was a 70 yr old copper heater.

[bucolic_frolic]

10. Wow, didn't know they were ever made in copper.

This site has a history of water heaters, and the image shown below.

https://www.waterheaterpros.com/history-of-water-heaters

[pansypoo53219]

11. it was copper lined. i think it was ask this old house last season. i peruse estate sales around america + i saw

a ornate cast iron victorian water heater. heck. i just saw a dentil chair w/ cast iron mechanics. i actually saw a treadle drill at a sale.
my grandparents early 1900's gravity heater w/ a cast iron panel was the best.

[Hotler]

12. I have a gas heater I put in in 2009. I'll replace it by this summer. nt