Sunday 1 April 2018

Buy or Rent Hot Water Tank?

Does it make sense to rent a hot water tank?  Nadia Mendola (Waterdown, Ontario) doesn't think so.  She got stuck with a hot water tank contract when she purchased her home in 2016.  Here are her options:

She can continue paying $56.43 per month for the next 14 years, which works out to $9,480.  Or she get out of the contract by buying the hot water tank for $3,600.  The problem is that the same tank costs $1,000 at Home Depot.

"If you can buy it from Home Depot for $1,000, I just don't understand why you would go renting it." As a first-time homebuyer, she admits she didn't know how much a water heater should cost. "I was paying it for six months and my dad saw one of my bills and thought it was high."

So she called Enercare in August 2017, and was told that her expensive bills were due to having a high-end, energy-efficient tank. That's also when she learned she's locked in for 14 or possibly 18 years.

Enercare also indicates that the higher cost of renting instead of buying includes repairs and maintenance. Mendola feels she had no choice. "It's just an appliance … Your washer and dryer are expensive items but you don't rent them. It just seems like a big scam to me."

Read the full story at cbc.ca

Watch this short video on the benefits of owning a tankless water heater vs. renting:

If you are considering buying a home tied to a similar rental contract, this is what we suggest you do.

Sit down with the company selling the house. Give them your deposit but tell them that you will not sign the rental contract with the hot water heater company.

Then call the hot water rental company and ask them to pick up their hot water heater. When they tell you that you signed a contract, tell them that you haven't, and again ask them to pick up their heater. If they still refuse, tell them that you are putting it by the curb.

Then call your local plumbing company and ask them to install a new hot water tank.

See More Here: Buy or Rent Hot Water Tank?