Cost to move Hot water tank (2023 Update)

I am going to finish my basement and in short I'm going to have to move my hot water tank about 10 feet so I can finish that part of the basement. How much should it cost me to have a plumber come in here and move the hot water tank, disconnect th gas and the ABS pipe and the electrical and all that and reconnect everything ? I'm in Ottawa, Canada. Thanks all.

Reply to
car crash
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first how old is the tank? if its more than a few years old your probably better off installing a new one. in the finished basement will a leak do damage? all tanks leak sooner or later:)

Is the ABS the pressure release valve line or is this a direct vent unit?

its going to be hard to estimate price, but add a drip pan to drain if a leak will do damage

Reply to
hallerb

That's going to cost you a fortune. You most likely do not have enough money in your life savings to pay for this and you'll end in debt for life. It would be cheaper and easier to leave the water heater where it is, and move the house. But if you insist on moving the heater, you better sit down for this............ prepare to spend anywhere from $350,000 to $600,000. I'm a professional plumber and this is the estimated cost for the labor. Parts will be extra, plus you'll need a costly building permit.

Al's Plumbing & Heating

Reply to
alsplbg&htg

You'll be lucky to get by for less than five hundred. Plus permits.

Reply to
SteveB

I reckon you're looking at 1-2 days labor plus parts plus permits and taxes. You'll probably need an electrician on top of that.

I agree with other posters; replace the heater unless it's in fairly pristine condition and add a drip tray (maybe with alarm).

Reply to
Malcolm Hoar

More like 3 - 4 hours. Plumbers here are about $75/hr.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

You're nuts. Try that, and people will die. Water heaters are extremely heavy with all that water in them. They are also top heavy so they must be moved with extreme accuracy and precision.

My company will spend at least a week just stabilizing the tank and removing the water and gas pipes. We will then have inspectors insure they are safely removed and capped to prevent an explosion or water leak. Then we will spend another 3 or 4 days analyzing the path of the move, testing for asbestos, radon, carbon monoxide and lead. Every square inch of the floor will be photographed and a computer generated graph of high and low spots will be detected and charted using infared technology. We will also determine any electrical wiring in the path of the move, and have a licensed electrician temporarily disable these circuits.

The third week, we will run a laser across the perimeter of the floor and xray the concrete to insure stability. It may take more than one week to chart everything. The area is charted down to 1/64th of an inch to allow for particles and grains of sand in the concrete which could cause the heater to overturn and cause catastrophic disaster, possibly resulting in death.

The fourth week we build a ramp and scaffolding to assist in making a smooth move. We apply tracks and our electrical magnetic pulse motors which act to move the tank one millimeter per magnetic pulse, and each pulse is computer timed to the chartings of the floor surface. We then apply a silicone coating to the concrete and buff it into the surface. The entire tank is then strapped to the scaffolding and leveled within 99.999965% accuracy.

The fifth week we begin the actual move. The tank is moved no more than 1/4 inch per hour, and an electronic level maintains constant monitoring. If the tank is more than 0.0000000001% out of level accuracy, we shim the tank until it's properly in line. A 66.82% level of helium is pumped to the low end of the tank to lighten the force against the abrasive floor, and all used helium is sent into a special helium recycling plant which is constructed outside the home.

The sixth week we may or may not have the tank to it's new location depending on the distance and condition of floor. If not, the move continues for days or weeks more.......

The last week we move and re-attach the pipes as required. To prevent losing even one drop of water, we use a special chemical compound that causes the water to turn to a gel inside the pipes. Once complete, we begin tp move and replace pipes. Once all pipes are moved and re-attached, we have the system inspected, and bring in our certified team of valve handlers to turn the water back on.

For the following two weeks we have a special team of drip specialists who watch the heater 24/7, to insure there are no drips or other problems. They use highly technical electronics to look inside the tank and the pipes which functions similar to a MRI, which gives xray images of the flow, rates the GPH, pipe wall thickness, thread stress of fittings, and temperature ratings at 200 critical points within the system.

The gas flow is also monitored and any amount of gas exiting any part of the system, even one molecule of gas leaking into the surrounding atmosphere will signal our security team to shut down the entire plumbing system, disable gas within a three miles radius, and shut down all electrical systems to prevent any sparks.

If everything passes with 100% accuracy, the system is given the seal of approval, the building inspectors are called in to approve the work, and the following week is spent dismanteling the scaffolding and electronic monitoring systems. At this point the electricians return to re-power all wiring in the path of the move. We also send in out cleanup crew which removes any marks which may have been left on the floor during the moving process. The concrete floor is them sanitized, and waxed. All walls near the water heater are then painted and sealed to insure that no water enters the structure from the outside, which could cause the water heater to fail.

After this is completed, the homeowner's keys are returned to them, and they are allowed to re-enter their homes.

After this, we have our our inspectors enter the house on a weekly basis for the duration of a year, to insure everything is working perfectly.

Total time period involved to complete job, 11 to 18 weeks. Total cost of job anywhere from $350,000 to $600,000 estimated labor cost. Parts and equipment use are extra. You'll also need a costly building permit.

I'm a professional plumber. This is a professional estimate.

Please send payment in the amount of $12,900 for this estimate, plus $1,689 S+H. Net 10 days. We accept, Cash, Check, Credit, and Money Order. Sorry, no Paypal accepted.

Al (CEO)

Al's Plumbing & Heating

Reply to
alsplbg&htg

alsplbg& snipped-for-privacy@aol.com wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

[snip]

Al - Why no mention of 3rd party inspection during the process? Hmmmm? Afraid of a little oversight?

Reply to
Clark

Yeah, at 1-2 days labor, plus an electrician, I want to be that guys water heater man! This isn't even putting in a new one, which might be slightly different and require more work. It's just temporarily moving it and then putting it back on a second visit.

He can reduce the time by having it drained before they get there.

Reply to
trader4

You forgot about the teflon tape.

Reply to
SteveB

Are you people for real ??? It's a simple hot water tank that is only

1 year old. Yes there is water in it, but how hard can it be to disconnect two flex lines and a gas line and reconnect it all 10 feet away ???
Reply to
car crash

thanks you have now established its one year old, that helps some.

so how does it vent? up a chimney with metal vent pipe? or is it a new tech direct vent using plastic exhaust lines?

given the minimal info some here were pulling your leg.

if it vents up a chimney then moving it from that chimney may cause much grief and costs.

things that can drive up time and costs........

moving tank away from chimney hard location to direct vent like underground basement permits from city inspections for permits how many new lines need run, water and gas tanks leak often meaningless in concret floored basement, big deal if it can damaged finished space. may need floor ripped up to add sewer line right by tanks new location, or alarm and sumpo pump.

draining disconnecting and moving tank is the easy part. the pricey stuff is above.

whil;e your thinking of finishing that space if its a basement whats your cieling plans? consider that theres a forever need to access water, sewer, and wiring in that basement cieling you are likely planning on drywalling need electric at new location?

Reply to
hallerb

The answer is yes, no, maybe, and definitely.

Not a word was said as to whether the pipes are soldered together or threaded. Big difference. Not a word was said about the age of the tank and whether moving would be economically rational if the thing is just going to go poof in two weeks. Not a word was mentioned as to if the new gas pipe was to be surface mounted, or have to go inside the studs. Not a word was mentioned about earthquake strapping. (You might not know it, but in a lot of places that haven't had major earthquakes in centuries, there is now a code requiring earthquake straps.) Not a word was mentioned about a new catch pan to keep a leak or rupture from doing co$tly damage.

With such an exact description, what do you expect? If I was to do it, I wouldn't guess as to cost because once you start to break pipes apart, you may have to replace more than originally anticipated.

AND, tape for gas joints is about double what it is for normal tape.

It's like asking an open question on the Internet of : What's the weather going to be like tomorrow?"

Duh. The Internet is worldwide. How's it going to be where I am really doesn't have anything to do with what the weather of the OP will be.

I will stick with my $500 estimate plus permits if necessary. And that's just to move the old tank and not replace. Let's see who's closest.

Steve

Reply to
SteveB

car crash wrote in news:a9799e7d-8066-4eb5-9488- snipped-for-privacy@c29g2000hsa.googlegroups.com:

Clearly "Al's Plumbing and Heating" isn't for real.

As for the rest, it's an open question. I moved my own gas water heater in a long afternoon. A plumber would have been quicker since (s)he would have just used all new fittings off the truck and I re-used as much as I could. Moving the vent can be just as much or more of a pain than re-locating the gas and water.

Without pictures and a description it's difficult to say how long your particular project would take. I'd think the least amount of time it would take is 3 hours (everything perfect for the move) and hopefully the most it would take is a long day (everything has to be seriously re-routed).

One other thing - in your original post you mention ABS and electrical. What's up with that?

Reply to
Clark

By ABS I meant the ABS pipe that vents outside. There is an ABS pipe that comes off the top of the tank and vents outside. As for electrical I meant just plugging it in.

Reply to
car crash

in Ottawa,

will the vent be shorter good? or longer? longer mightr be bad.

will you need a new electric outlet at the proposed location?

I think the 500 buck estimate is on target or low.

why not call a couple local plumbers and get some quotes

Reply to
hallerb

I think you are most definately a professional since you know the exact procedure that should be used to move this water heater. I have a friend in the plumbing business and I assisted him on a job very much like this, after one of his employees, who was in the army got sent over to Iraq. He did the job just like you, but when he was doing the job, he also had the water tested, both before and after the job was finished. I remember him saying "one spider gets in the tank and the water becomes contaminated and people get sick". One can never be safe enough. You really should include these water tests for that kind of money. Just my un-professional opinion.

Larry

Reply to
larry-olson

Best advise yet. It doesn't matter what people here estimate, it's what you get for local quotes that counts.

I once had a plumber quote me $1200 to replace an electric hot water heater. That's disconnecting & re-connecting two copper pipes and one electrical wire. I had already priced the same unit he was going to use and it was $350 retail, so that was $850 for about two hours of labor. When I told him he was nuts, I called the office and they said they could knock off $100 but that was it. Of course, it was Saturday and they figured they had me over a barrel.

LOL - that was the day I finally bit the bullet and learned how to solder copper pipe.

Reply to
still just me

On Nov 19, 8:25=EF=BF=BDam, still just me wrote= :

lots of companies charge what the market will bear, rather than what its worth:(

Reply to
hallerb

Did the guy who gave you the quote wear a ski mask?

Reply to
Meat Plow

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