Does this take the record?

I thought this was interesting enough to share, I found a water heater still in use, dated 1974… this thing is older than I am! (Not by much though…) Just curious, what’s the oldest unit still in service that anyone else has seen?

It’s up there.

Not sure of the actual date, but the house was 1903 and the last patent date was 1908.

Wow, that is awesome, typically you only get to see things like that in a museum anymore.

I have seen older water heaters, usually Ruud, that have exceeded 50 years of age, still working. When I moved into my Gramps house he had a 51 year old Ruud heater that was still working. He maintained and the quality was way better in his day. I made the mistake of replacing with with a cheap Envirotemp tank that lasted 6 years. (he has rolled over in his grave a few times from some of the dumb stuff I did to his home)

I had a general contractor at my home last year that when he had his home inspected he was told to replace his 17 year old water heater, 12 years later he still has the same one.

Just because a water heater is older does not mean it needs to be replaced.

Don’t write it up. Just ask D. Anderson. He says the age of an appliance doesn’t matter. He’s an expert.

My last home, sold 2 years ago, had the original water heater - built in 1977. I had replaced the dip tube and anode rod. Thought many times about replacing it, but never had any problems with it (besides dip tube) and didn’t want to regret fixing something that wasn’t broken. Lived there 17 years and always had hot water.

Currently in a condo that was built in 1974. Have the original furnace. Again, I’ve thought about replacing it, but it works fine. Even has a good flame pattern. It may help that we are in an inside townhouse and it doesn’t see a lot of use (thank you neighbors). The most our electric/gas bill has ever been is $180. That was during a cold spell with many days below zero.

You win:D

The oldest working water heater I’ve ever seen was also a Ruud.
It was from the 40’s and the tank was made out of Monel, a mixture
of nickel and copper. The lucky plumber who takes that out will get
a nice scrap value for that.

Question, did it have any kind of pressure relief valve?

Don’t make them like they used to!

They used a lot of Ruud around here.
Many old ones still doing their job…