My dad, Neil, recently had to replace his own water heater, so I gave him a hand with the project and recorded the whole thing from start to finish. Well, mostly. I skipped over a few of the more boring parts like draining the water heater, and fast forwarded through some of the more tedious parts like soldering the pipes to make the entire video about thirteen minutes long.

I used a GoPro camera because I thought it would be helpful to have a wide-angle view of the process, but that was clearly a mistake because the audio didn't turn out too great. Nevertheless, you'll get the point. This isn't supposed to be a start-to-finish "how-to" video, but rather an overview of what's involved.

Any time a water heater is replaced, a plumbing permit should be obtained beforehand if possible, and the work should be inspected by the authority having jurisdiction. In the case of this video, that meant the City of Saint Louis Park. Neil pulled a permit before doing the work, and the city approved the new installation about a week after the work was complete. Enjoy!

Author: Reuben Saltzman, Structure Tech Home Inspections

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