[kwlug-disc] (off topic) Water heater recommendation

[Tim Laurence]

Some additional useful details

1. We use softened water for hot water so we don’t scale up. These units have tight passages so I assume this is sort of mandatory.
2. The unit has a stainless boiler with likely goes part of the way explaining the lifetime.
3. I do descale unit every 2-3 years (pump vinegar solution though for an hour). They recommend every year but I am forgetful. About thing to add to my home automation I suppose.

--
Tim Laurence

On March 2, 2026 at 2:49:59 PM, Chris Frey (cdfrey at foursquare.net (mailto:cdfrey at foursquare.net)) wrote:

> On Mon, Mar 02, 2026 at 02:09:45PM -0500, Chris Irwin via kwlug-disc wrote:
> > > And overall, having paid rent on something for years when it would have
> > > ultimately been cheaper to buy outright was starting to grate on me...
> >
> > Ditto.
> >
> > My bad on not doing the math before this, but I've been paying $20/mo for 13
> > years on a 20-gallon water heater. That's $3k for a $750 water heater.
>
> If you're getting 15 years or more out of your water heaters, yeah,
> the math probably tilts differently. The water is really hard at
> my place, and so far it's worked out to be more like 7 years,
> and the rental has been pretty close to cost as far as I could figure,
> wihout the headaches of doing any work myself or hiring a contractor.
>
> Thanks!
>
> - Chris
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> kwlug-disc mailing list
> To unsubscribe, send an email to kwlug-disc-leave at kwlug.org
> with the subject "unsubscribe", or email
> kwlug-disc-owner at kwlug.org to contact a human being.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mail.kwlug.org/pipermail/kwlug-disc_kwlug.org/attachments/20260302/069ee59a/attachment-0001.htm>