When it comes to replacing your water heater, it helps to know what to expect as you go through the process and have a new water heater installed.

Getting Quotes

When it comes to buying a water heater, you can buy one directly from a home improvement store or buy the water heater from the installation company you hire to install your water heater. Most plumbing and heating companies carry their water heaters' supply or purchase water heaters with their contractor's discount.

When you get a quote, you will get a quote for the cost of purchasing and installing the water heater in most instances, unless you purchase a water heater on your own.

You will want to take pictures of your current set-up so that you can share those with the heating and plumbing company you call; they will use those pictures to offer you a better quote.

If the quote is given based upon pictures, there is always a chance that you could be charged more when it comes to the water heater installation. If anything is not up to code, the contractors will have to bring it up to code.

Installation Day

On the installation day, the contractors are going to come in and check out your set-up. They will then let you know if the quote they provided is accurate or if more work needs to be done to bring things up to code. Your water heater will need to meet all new building code requirements. If you approve of the cost, they will move forward with the installation.

First, they will need to turn off the water going to your water heater. Then, they will need to drain the water out of the heater. Once that is done, if you paid for it, they would remove the water heater.

Second, they will bring in the new water heater and work to set it up. They will make any necessary improvements necessary to bring things up to code. Depending on the work needed, this could take anywhere from an hour to a couple of hours to complete.

Finally, they will allow the water heater to fill up and test it to ensure it works. They will turn on the water at a few faucets within your home.

When you need to replace your water heater, you will want to call around to get quotes. On installation day, the installers will remove your old water heater and will set-up the new water heater.