A good water heating system should be able to last your household for about a decade, but you might be concerned about whether you’re due to have it replaced (or whether you can put it off for just a bit longer).
This article has all the information you need in assessing how long water heating systems last, the life spans of different models, and which factors affect a hot water system’s lifespan.
Types of Hot Water Heaters
Hot water systems can last anywhere between 7 to 25 years. That’s quite a wide range, but knowing how long your specific water heater will last is dependent on a large number of factors. A good guideline to begin with is the type of water system you’re using or looking to invest in, and whether it’s tank or tankless.
Tank Systems
- Gas hot water system: 8–12 years
- Electric hot water system: 10–15 years
Tankless Systems
- Gas hot water system: 20 years
- Electric hot water system: 20 years
Check the Date
The most surefire way of discovering the age of your machine is by checking its manufacture date. Depending on the brand, there should be a label listing when it was built. If you can’t find the date, you can look up the serial number on the manufacturer’s website. If you can’t find the number or the entire label is too faded, you can have a plumber look at the machine and they should be able to find the number or estimate when it was made based on the brand and its visible age. If it’s starting to leak or not release cold water properly, though—it’s probably time for a change.
Factors That Can Affect Hot Water System Lifespan
The main thing that affects the lifespan of your water tank is internal corrosion due to mineral build up inside the heating system or tank. There are many factors that can come into play that lead to mineral build up, or can cause the hot water system to fail in other ways. Here are a few to keep in mind:
Material
Due to water system failure being linked so strongly to tank corrosion, the material your tank is made out of is key to understanding the general lifespan of your hot water system, as some materials can withstand corrosion better than others. Here are some rough estimates for each type of water tank:
- Glass- or enamel-lined tanks: 5 to 10 years
- Heat Pump: 10 years
- Stainless steel tanks: 8 to 12 years
- Low-pressure/gravity-fed copper tanks: over 25 years.
These estimates are by no means law, as some heaters can last up to 15 years or more. How long a tank lasts can be influenced by other factors, such as…
Tank or Tankless
The type of hot water system you have in your home is deeply important. Tank models tend to fail more quickly, as the number one reason for water system failures is tank corrosion.
Meanwhile, tankless models tend to last longer as they run into this issue less often and work by heating water when it’s needed, rather than filling a large tank with sitting water that can accumulate problematic minerals faster.
Water Quality
If you live somewhere with hard water (such as our very own Brisbane), that’s something that can be causing issues for your hot water system. Hard water is water that has an excess of minerals. Naturally, this can accelerate the build up of minerals and corrosion in your water tank that can cause it to fail. Having the hot water system regularly maintained to check for build up in the tank or using water softeners can help improve your hot water system’s lifespan.
Usage
Just like any piece of equipment or machinery, the more you use it, the more you wear it down. It’s difficult to measure exactly how much you’re using your hot water, especially during cold times of the year. It’s not something to majorly worry about though, as good-old-fashioned entropy will eventually come for your machine, and that’s okay. What’s important is to have the knowledge of how long it’s meant to last so that you know what to expect.
Your Go-To Water Heating System Experts
If you have any more questions about your water heater that you couldn’t get here, or want to talk to an experienced plumber in Brisbane about your specific water system and how long it has left, we are more than happy to have a chat and see what we can do for you. Contact us and we’ll help with all of your water heater issues.
