Good points about placement tweaks, but honestly, if you're seeing rust, I'd be pretty cautious. Rust usually means corrosion inside the tank, and that's not something you want to gamble with. I had a neighbor whose heater leaked overnight and flooded their basement—total nightmare. If it's just surface rust, maybe sanding and repainting could buy you some time, but if it's deeper, replacing sooner rather than later might save you from bigger headaches down the road. Better safe than sorry...
Had a similar issue at my place last year. Noticed some rust spots near the bottom of the tank, figured I'd just sand and repaint it—easy fix, right? Well, about two months later, woke up to a puddle slowly spreading across the garage floor. Ended up replacing the whole thing anyway. Honestly, if you're already seeing rust, it's probably deeper than you think. Might wanna bite the bullet now rather than deal with cleanup later...
"Honestly, if you're already seeing rust, it's probably deeper than you think."
Yeah, learned this the hard way myself. If you're replacing anyway, might be worth looking into a tankless heater—saves energy, lasts longer, and no more rust puddles to wake up to...
"might be worth looking into a tankless heater—saves energy, lasts longer, and no more rust puddles to wake up to..."
Tankless is great, but just a heads-up from experience: make sure your home's wiring or gas lines can handle it first. Learned this the fun way after buying one and realizing my old wiring wasn’t quite up to snuff... cue unexpected electrician visit. Still worth it in the end though—no more surprise cold showers or rusty water stains on laundry day!
Good point about checking wiring first—I ran into a similar snag with gas lines. Thought it'd be a quick swap, but turns out my older gas pipes weren't sized right for the tankless unit I picked. Had to call in a plumber to upgrade the lines... wasn't exactly cheap, but still glad I did it. No more rusty puddles or waiting forever for hot water, so I'd say it's worth the hassle.
