Anyone want my old water heater or parts from it?

[woodworker2000]

I am replacing my water heater with a tankless unit and was wondering if anyone had any need for the old water heater or parts from it before it ends up in the dump. It is a Rheem Fury 50-gallon direct vent water heater. There is a leak somewhere in it (is currently leaking about 5 gallons/24 hours) but the burner is still good and I will no longer need the short vent pipe on it. It will be replaced it this Thursday (July 11). Just let me know.

 

[Charles Lent]

Last month they finally ran a gas line down my street and to my house. I've been waiting 30 years for this. The first gas appliance installed was a high efficiency Rheem 50 gallon gas water heater and it replaced a 3 year old 50 gal top of the line electronic controlled water heater. I saved the electric water for 2 weeks and tried to give it to Habitat and anyone else that might want it with no takers. I finally put it on my son's truckload of scrap metal that he was taking to the metal salvage yard. You can't even give away an old water heater, even if it has no leaks. They've become a disposable commodity.

Charley

 

[gator]

When PSNC installed my tankless, I still had two additional past electric water heaters in the crawl space from many years of replacing them. The installers asked if they could have them. They said that PSNC sells them for scrap and donates the money to charity. They took all three.

George

 

[BKind2Anmls]

I've seen plans to turn an old water heater into an waste-oil heater for the shop.

http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_library/ethanol_motherearth/me4.html

Or a solar water heater

http://www.byexample.com/projects/current/batch_collector/

Or recycle for money

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKTnBg-A0go

 

[woodworker2000]

Looks like I will be letting the plumber take it with him. At one time, did people ever cut these in half and use them for water troughs for livestock or am I imagining things?

 

[ashley_phil]

Looks like I will be letting the plumber take it with him. At one time, did people ever cut these in half and use them for water troughs for livestock or am I imagining things?

They did back in the days when water heaters were substantial tanks.

For the last 20 years or more water heaters are flimsy shell tanks with fiberglass insulation rather than the more expensive metal tanks of yesteryear.

 

[Charles Lent]

The inside surfaces of water heaters made in the last 30 years are glass enamel coated to reduce corrosion. Cutting them open leaves thin broken glass along the edges of the cut. They are not worth the effort in most cases. Let the steel recycle center deal with it.

Charley