While I bought this house brand new, it’s already almost a decade and a half old at this point.
I have done what I can to take good care of it, but you can already see the exterior paint fading and chipping in certain areas that are the most exposed to rain and sunlight.
I already replaced my water heater once, but it seems like I should speak with my plumbing company about getting a new one very soon if I run into any leaking issues. That’s why I put a leak detection alarm within the water basin tray at the base of the water heater. If for any reason the base of the water heater starts to rot out and water appears in the tray, the leak detection alarm will notify me immediately with an extremely loud and piercing siren. I try to drain it out yearly and clean the anode rod each time to keep the whole appliance running smoothly for more years than usual. Still, I should start budgeting for a new water heater as soon as possible. It’s right up there on my list with my central HVAC system, which is about to hit the 15 year mark itself. Most heating and cooling companies will tell you to get a new air conditioner after 15 years because it will have lost a lot of its strength and performance compared to day one when it was brand new. The machine could still be running after this lengthy period of time, but it doesn’t mean that it’s going to be running efficiently. In all honesty it could be running inefficiently and costing you more money in the long run. That’s why SEER ratings are important to me because a higher number indicates that the machine can reach the same temperatures while using less energy in the process.