Water Heater CO leak

[lgeiman]

We had a local plumbing company come out to inspect our water heater today. They found a CO leak at the vent hood. The unit is 16 years old (same age as the house). It has a water leak at the shut off valve & dielectric fitting is rusted out down into the tank connection.

They recommended installing a Bradford White water heater with a full 10 year warranty (includes parts & labor). 40 gallon 40,000 BTU includes updating flue piping, all for $1,194.00.

We are located in NW Ohio (Toledo area) & friends have suggested that the price is a ripoff. Obviously with the CO leak we don't have a lot of time & want to get it replaced in a matter of a few days. I just need advice as to whether the price seems reasonable.

Also we've owned this home for 3 years and had the water heater inspected during the home inspection prior to moving in. The home inspector noted no problems and stated just to flush yearly at that time. Today was the first time since that initial inspection that we had someone out to inspect again/flush the water heater. Today the unit wasn't flushed out due to the current unsafe conditions. We believe the unit was never properly maintained by the previous owners.

Today we took our carbon monoxide detector and put it in the basement to see if our home unit would pick up a CO reading and it did not where the plumber/inspector's handheld tester was going off for CO levels being present when he held it near the water heater.
Please advise quickly as we want to replace this unit ASAP!

[hj]

Water heaters do not "leak" CO. The chimney/flue leaks CO when there is improper drafting, and if that is the problem a new water heater will have the same problem. A 10 year BW heater is a 6 year one with an added expense insurance policy for the additional 4 years.

[lgeiman]

Thanks to hj for your advice on our water heater situation. I called a few other local plumbing companies and explained everything and they basically agreed with you. I have a different plumber coming out tomorrow to reinspect the water heater and I was given a quote of $585.00. He stated that my other quote of $1194.00 is definately very high.

[hj]

Make sure he is fixing the real problem, not just replacing the water heater, otherwise you will still have to find and fix the CO source, if there really is one, and the first plumber was not just creating a problesm to sell you a water heater..