Water Heater Replacement Cost Tool: Tank and Tankless, Installed

A replacement quote means nothing until you know which heater you are pricing. A 50-gallon gas tank swapped into the same spot is one job. A tankless unit with new venting and a gas line upsized is a different job at three times the money — and both get called “water heater replacement” on the phone. This tool prices the job you actually have: pick the heater type, the size, and how much install work is involved, and it returns a 2026 installed range built from the same numbers the cost guides on this site use.

What moves the price is rarely the tank itself. It is the venting (a power-vent or a chimney liner can add real money), the gas line (tankless units often need a larger line than the old tank used), and code items that ride along — an expansion tank, a drain pan, a new shutoff. If a quote lands far outside the range this tool gives you for the same scope, the right move is not to argue: it is to ask what is in the quote that is not in the scope you picked, line by line. Sometimes there is a good answer. Sometimes the answer is the reason to get a second quote.

Ranges are planning numbers, not bids. A heater that has been leaking onto a finished floor, or a gas line that fails a pressure test, changes the job while it is open — no tool can see inside your walls.