10 years on a water heater? Give me a break!
I do not understand the obsession with water heaters since I moved to Florida. My insurance company forced me to spend $1500 to replace a perfectly serviceable 18-year-old water heater that was located in my garage, for crying out loud! How much damage can a burst water heater do in a garage? If your water heater fails by developing a leak, you will most likely just have a leak dribbling into the leak-pan and drained away. What do you think that pan is for? On the one-in-a-1000 chance it actually does split a seam and burst -- so what? You've got 40 gallons of clean water dumped on your garage floor and sloshing against your metal garage door before it drains into the street! Big whoop!
The only other time in my life I have ever replaced a serviceable water heater was a house in Houston, where they idiotically allow them to be installed in the attic. When I bought the house, I removed the 25-year-old, 50 gallon monster in my attic because I knew it would be full of calcium and difficult to remove if I let it go any longer. It was --- three burly plumbers could hardly lift the empty tank to get it down from the attic. And then they thanked me by installing a faulty CPVC fitting that failed, which squirted water in the attic for who knows how long until the sheetrock over my bathroom tub fell in, thereby producing the exact calamity I was trying to avoid!
Why would you risk disturbing functional plastic plumbing in your garage any more often than necessary? I say replace your hot water tank when it quits working and fire your insurance company if they complain.
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