Water Heater Removal in Boise: Getting the Old Tank Out

Most of the water heater removal texts I get show up on a cold morning. Somebody stepped into the shower, got hit with ice water, and found a puddle creeping out from under the tank in the garage.

By the next day a new one's installed, and the old tank is parked by the garage door with nowhere to go. Nobody thinks about this part until it's suddenly their problem.

The cold morning part isn't a coincidence. Colder water coming in means the heater works harder, and a tank that limped through a hot Boise summer tends to quit around the first real freeze.

Who has to unhook it first?

I haul. I don't do plumbing, and I really don't do gas lines. If your water heater runs on natural gas, which plenty of homes in Boise and Meridian do, the gas has to be shut off and capped by someone qualified.

Same goes for an electric unit that's wired straight into the wall. Once it's disconnected, getting it out of the house is my part.

Most of the time this sorts itself out. You're getting a new water heater anyway, so the plumber unhooks the old one while they're there.

The part people miss is what happens next. Some plumbers include haul-away in the install price, some charge extra, and some just set the old tank on the driveway and leave.

Ask before they start, not after they've packed up.

So should you just pay the plumber's fee? Sometimes. Sure, I'd take the job, but honestly, if the tank is the only thing going and their price is fair, let them haul it.

That math changes when there's also a dead dryer, a sagging couch, or a stack of boxes you've been stepping around since spring cleanup. Then it usually makes more sense to put it all in one load.

Why water heater removal takes more muscle than you'd think

An empty 40 or 50 gallon tank isn't bad. It's awkward, but one person with a dolly can handle it.

A full one is a different story. Water weighs a little over eight pounds a gallon, so a 50 gallon tank that never got drained is carrying around 400 pounds of water before you count the steel.

Then there's the sediment. Treasure Valley water is hard, and after ten or fifteen years the minerals settle into a crusty layer of scale at the bottom of the tank.

I've tipped supposedly empty tanks and heard what sounds like a bucket of gravel sliding around inside. That buildup adds weight, and it clogs the drain valve, which is usually why a tank won't drain all the way.

Where the tank lives matters too. The newer subdivisions out in Star, Middleton and south Meridian mostly put the water heater in the garage, which is about as easy as it gets.

Older houses on the Boise Bench and in the North End are a different deal. The tank might be down in a basement, or squeezed into a closet that was clearly built around it. Those take a dolly, a strap and some patience.

Heads up: Draining it yourself? Turn the gas control to off or flip the breaker, then let it cool for a few hours, because that water can still burn you. Close the cold supply valve, run a hose from the drain valve to a floor drain or the driveway, and open a hot faucet inside so the tank actually empties.

What water heater removal costs around Boise

I won't toss out a number here. It really depends on what I'm looking at.

A drained tank sitting just inside a garage in Eagle is a quick grab. A full one wedged in a North End basement at the bottom of steep stairs is a lot more work, and those two jobs shouldn't cost the same.

A few things move the price: whether it's drained, how far it is to the trailer, and whether there are stairs in the way. The other big one is whether it's riding alone or with other stuff.

On its own, a single water heater is one of the smaller jobs I do. Tacked onto a garage cleanout, it barely moves the total.

The quickest way to find out is to snap a photo of the tank and the path out of the house, then text it over. You'll get a real price back.

Where the old tank ends up

Can you donate it? Probably not.

Idaho Youth Ranch and St. Vincent de Paul are great for furniture and household stuff, but they can't resell a water heater that just quit.

What it is, though, is a big steel can. So instead of getting buried at the Ada County landfill, the tank goes to scrap metal recycling, where the steel actually gets used again.

Want to haul it yourself? That's fair. Most scrap yards around Boise and Nampa take water heaters, and the county landfill takes appliances too, so just check their current rules before you load up.

Drain it first and bring a second person. A tank that tips over in the bed of a pickup is how tailgates get dented.

The bottom line

Get someone qualified to disconnect it, and drain it if you can. After that, it's really just deciding whether the plumber's haul-away fee beats adding the tank to a bigger load.

Nothing complicated here. It's a heavy steel tank nobody wants to lift.

If the old one's sitting in your garage right now, text a photo to (208) 391-0221. I'll tell you what it'll cost, and it's usually gone within a couple of days.