Bumping an old thread. So I built this house in '98 and '99. My first State brand HWT lasted only 10 years.
I did the math and figured I'd break even renting versus buying if it only lasts 10 years.
What I didn't factor in my math was the additional cost of service calls and replacement parts. The GSW that replaced the State had 3 service calls in it's short life which ended yesterday. Since it was a rental, the service calls didn't cost me a dime. Now that the GSW failed, they replaced it with a Rheem at no cost to me.
My original State HWT was a passive vent with a 6 inch direct vent pipe. The GSW was a little taller but they could run the 2 inch PVC vent out through the original 6 inch chase which they made up flashings for. The Rheem however is taller and they had to drill a new 2 inch hole above the original 6 inch hole that I then had to plug up. I was lucky that the 6 inch hole was entirely in one strip of siding and didn't span two strips and that it was a short section between my hydro meter and a window. Fortunately I kept a small piece of the vinyl siding so I could pull off the section, remove the part with the 6 inch hole, and stagger the seams so that it doesn't look like a patch job.
As for the installer, I was not impressed. I had a CO detector plugged into a wall outlet next to the powervent right above the HWT. He didn't remove it and so when he was sweating some fittings, melted the plastic case on the detector. When I looked in on his progress the detector was removed, so he must have realized what he did and removed it and then put it back when he was done without telling me he melted it.
When he drilled the 2 inch hole, rather than risk breaking the vinyl siding, he marked it with a fat-tip Sharpie and cut it inside the line with snips. I would have used a smaller circle template so as to cut away the black Sharpie line. Also would have used the hole saw in reverse so as not to shatter the vinyl. He not only left the thick black line but he also made the hole too big. Then he wanted to use clear silicone seal to fill the gap. I have white siding! Now I have to get some white silicone seal to fill the huge gap and lather it on thick enough to cover the black Sharpie line.