A property we looked at recently has this electric hot water tank. There’s no date on it, but it’s obviously quite old and the realtor says to him it looks like an 80s model.
Common wisdom and information I can find online says that you’re doing really well if you get 20 years out of a hot water tank (10-15 years is a more realistic lifespan).
So… How is this tank still functioning? And if we were to buy this house, should we expect that we’d have to replace this basically right away?
From my nonexpert perspective and the apparent state of that thing, I would assume you would have an amateur rocket with an unspecified launch date. Even if it’s safe, you’ll save money with modern efficient models.
This, and also externally this heater might look ok and “works” but inside might be full of rust-mud.
We have recently removed our old heater and the insides were pretty nasty, the walls have almost rusted away just waiting to pop.