How easy is it to change the hot water tank?
Question:From Gas to Electric? Do I need to let my landlord know? I'm going to pay for it and don't expect any money from the landlord. Thanks
Answers:
This is from a landlords point of view.
I would want to know. Even if you were paying for it. You're going to be altering someone's property, especially dealing with gas lines and electrical lines.
Will you cap the gas line properly?
Will you wire the water heater properly?
If something happens, will you be paying for any damages or taking me to court?
Also, why wouldn't you expect money from a landlord? You can't take the water heater with you when you move out. It's at least a couple hundred dollars.
Pretty hard and pretty dangerous, if you don't know what you're doing. The first thing is to disconnect the gas. If you don't know what you're doing, you can ignite the gas and die. Going to electric, you will need a 220-line which will have to run from the service panel via a wire of the right gauge and proper number of conductors to the tank... This is a lot of work. Not to dissuade you but...? Don't.
Lots of water under high pressure there. Better let a plumber do it to avoid danger.
I think your Landlord deserves to know that you are changing his property around. The next tenants may not want electric water tank, I know I wouldn't.
Don't do this yourself, get a registered plumber, in the UK you need a CORGI registered plumber to do this work.
You will need to inform your landlord of any proposed changes!
Changing is one thing converting totaly different. You MUST inform the landlord. No matter if you diy or pay a pro you can get in some serious hot water (pun intended) if you don't let the owner know.
conversions like that aren't for the casual diy'er.
# 1, it takes electric water heaters twice as long to reheat water, # 2 ask landlord for permission, he/she could be pissed off w/out asking and you may have legal problems not to mention losing security deposit, and not only will you need plumber but also electrician to run 240 / 25amp line
All valid answers so far. As a former landlord, the tenant better not alter anything in the structure without alerting the landlord first, and even then you may be denied.
Certainly more than one contractor or utility provider will have to be notified IF you're allowed to do this. The Gas company should come out to disconnect and close off that line. The Electric provider should be there to add a breaker strictly for the power to the water heater,and to note the utility as a new service or an extension onto your current Electric service.
Draining the heater is the easy part, and BTW it is not under high pressure, but should be turned off in the power source as well as the water feed lines. The heater should have a hose Bib on it which is the drain location.
Again, and with all due respect, Your willingness to pay certainly is your responsibility, the landlord should be notified in any case. If that doesn't happen you may at some point be evicted for violating any fine print in the lease aggreement.
Steven Wolf
Here in the states,,,Most states, natural gas is far more efficient and less costly than electric. To add to savings, especially in an electric, you can put it on a timer, or turn it off at the breaker during times of less or no use. A decent/New water heater will keep water at a viable temp for more than 24 hours, hence not causing it to have to reheat 40 or more gallons of cold water.
The gas a hot water tank uses is minimum, a gas water heater is also cheaper to use than electric once you install the electric water heat your light bill will go up too, plus your landlord will must definitely keep your deposit and probably sue you. plus whoever told you it was easy and cheap to do this lied you got to run wiring and install dedicated breaker
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