OT: selling house, Cost to put in Oil hot water heater

[buddybikes]

Urgent situation, we are supposed to close on house sale (MA) TOMMORROW! and perfect timing, our oil fired hot water heater is leaking (probably 8 years old). So time to give back money I think, very last minute a local oil guy going by at 8:00AM and let buyers know the cost. We aren't near the house and won't be at closing. What a mess. Any comments on anyone who installed new oil fired tank? Rewiring to electric isn't simple, as we have old 100 amp service that is pretty full.

thx

[AngryScientist]

just got a new gas one put in here in NJ - total cost with new heater and labor = $1k.

new oil jobber should be close, maybe slightly more.

bear in mind with hot water heaters, they are priced by the warranty.

one with an 8 year warranty will be significantly cheaper than one with a 15 year warranty.

[Hilltopperny]

I just swapped one out on Monday. It is a relatively simple process.
Shut the water off at the valves, find the oil shut off and unhook the old hot water tank after draining it if possible. Two hoses on the top , the oil line and then the wires all just need to be reattached to the new tank.


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[C40_guy]

Check Mass Save.com. Might be a rebate on a heat pump electric hot water heater. Nice setup for small house, not ideal for a larger house (recovery takes a bit longer).

Is your tank an indirect (boiler actually heats hot water tank) or does the hot water heater have its own burner? Indirect should be very simple to R&R. Give the buyer credit for the basic indirect, then they should upgrade to a SuperStor. But that's their business. :)

[Ken Robb]

When I was a Realtor 11 years ago there were home protection plans that not only covered the buyers for 1 year after purchase closing but also covered the sellers if they ordered the policy while the home was listed. Did you order such a plan?

[Gsinill]

Check on SupplyHouse.com.

[buddybikes]

>>When I was a Realtor 11 years ago there were home protection plans that not only covered the buyers for 1 year after purchase closing but also covered the sellers if they ordered the policy while the home was listed. Did you order such a plan?



Nope, don't think either end thought of it. It is forced hot air, also emergency time as we want to close, supposedly tomorrow 21st. I can't lift anything nevermind a hot water heater at 5AM. Need to do last min negotiation on how much to hand back.

New house, high efficiency (96%) gas boiler/water heater, just put in so I am warm and toasty.

[54ny77]

I would say if you offer up $2.5-3k you'll be fine (for an 80 or less gallon), assuming your circuit panel doesn't have a lot of other load (you should be ok there too for a home run to the unit itself or shared with some other trivial items) and not a pain in the ass install space requiring a lot of fab work, bends, etc. Our was about 2x that but it was large and the required fab work was bonkers. Not to mention the morons who installed the old unit (Ford) installed an HVAC air handler 1.5" too narrow for any possible removal of water heater. Yes that means the plumbers invented all kinds of new words while they CUT the old unit up and took it out in pieces. The new unit (forget the brand) fit the gap by about 1/2", thankfully.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it...

[Ralph]

When I was a Realtor 11 years ago there were home protection plans that not only covered the buyers for 1 year after purchase closing but also covered the sellers if they ordered the policy while the home was listed. Did you order such a plan?

This is a good idea for you. Just offer to buy an appliance insurance policy for the new buyers. Have it part of the closing. Your RE agent will be familiar with these. She gets paid.

Or....I bet your RE agent knows about how much to knock off at closing, to keep buyers closing. Don't nickel and dime here.

[C40_guy]

Remember, the buyers are getting a brand new water heater as part of the bargain, versus the 5 or 13 year old one they thought they were getting...

And the lawyers will know how to handle this, even if you can't come up with a fair and reasonable estimate tomorrow morning. They can put in some sort of clause "not to exceed X" where X should be in the range of $1500...

[54ny77]

Exactly.

Tell them (lawyer) or the title & escrow people too set it aside until completion. It's not a big deal.

S%$#@! happens, believe me. Literally.

Once had mice running around an apartment the afternoon before closing some years ago, dropping little turds everywhere. Boy was that fun!

Remember, the buyers are getting a brand new water heater as part of the bargain, versus the 5 or 13 year old one they thought they were getting...

And the lawyers will know how to handle this, even if you can't come up with a fair and reasonable estimate tomorrow morning. They can put in some sort of clause "not to exceed X" where X should be in the range of $1500...