Uniformat D2020
Water heater, gas, storage tank
Also called DHW tank, HWT, hot water tank, domestic hot water heater, gas water heater
Service life
Years in service. The band runs from the shortest to the longest life the sources state, so it shows how much they disagree, not how long 80% of units last. The line is the median of the stated lives.
Basis
- 12–15 years · CNA e-Tool Estimated Useful Life Table, p10 · HUD CNA 3.4.1.2.6 “Residential hot water heater, gas or electric” — U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (planning life)Family properties 12 years, elderly 15. US multifamily housing.
- 10 years · Energy Conservation Program: Energy Conservation Standards for Commercial Water Heating Equipment (final rule), 88 FR 69686, October 6, 2023, p70 · IV.F.6 “Table IV.21: "Commercial gas-fired storage water heaters and storage-type instantaneous ... 10" years average lifetime” — U.S. Department of Energy (planning life)Printed page 69755. class: commercial gas-fired storage water heaters (and storage-type instantaneous). Commercial; weighted average of a distribution.
- 12 years · Energy Conservation Program: Energy Conservation Standards for Commercial Water Heating Equipment (final rule), 88 FR 69686, October 6, 2023, p70 · IV.F.6 “Table IV.21: "Residential-duty gas-fired storage water heaters ... 12" years average lifetime” — U.S. Department of Energy (planning life)Printed page 69755. class: residential-duty commercial gas-fired storage water heaters (commercial use of residential-size units).
- 15 years · Energy Conservation Program: Energy Conservation Standards for Consumer Water Heaters (final rule), 89 FR 37778, May 6, 2024, p82 · IV.F.6 “"DOE estimates the average product lifetime to be around 15 years for storage water heaters"” — U.S. Department of Energy (planning life)Printed page 37859. residential: consumer gas-fired storage water heaters. Value is "around 15 years" (a later DOE rule cites about 14.5 years for gas-fired storage). Also on p.4 (printed 37781).
How sources are chosen and recorded: sourcing policy.
Municipal lives for plumbing (D20)
24 municipalities in Ontario and British Columbia state a life for plumbing as a whole, in 17 distinct tables: 15–50 years, median 25. These come from capital asset policies: accounting lives, used for amortization. They describe the system rather than this component, and none is a measured life.
Years. Each dot is one stated life and each bar a stated range; equal values stack. The dashed line is the median. Policies that copy the same table count once.
All 25 stated lives
| Municipality | As written | Years | Kind | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kingston | Building Fixtures | 15 | accounting | p15 · 2016 |
| Meaford | Plumbing - Water Treatment System | 15 | accounting | p17 · 2020 |
| Trent Lakes | Mechanical Systems - Fixtures | 15 | accounting | p10 · 2009 |
| Fort St. James, Revelstoke, Rossland, Tumbler Ridge · same table | Electrical/Plumbing/Fire | 15–20 | accounting | p5, p9, p7, p5 · 2010 |
| Okanagan-Similkameen | Electrical/Plumbing/Fire | 15–20 | accounting | p11 · 2023 |
| Salmo | Electrical/Plumbing/Fire | 15–20 | accounting | p6 · 2016 |
| Comox Valley | HVAC systems, mechanical, plumbing, wiring, etc. | 20 | accounting | p6 · 2010 |
| Cranbrook | HVAC, plumbing, lighting, etc | 20 | accounting | p9 · 2010 |
| Telkwa | Electrical/Plumbing/Fire | 20 | accounting | p8 |
| London | Building Components - Services (HVAC, lighting, communication, plumbing etc.) | 20 | accounting | p2 · 2023 |
| Meaford | Plumbing - Fixtures | 20 | accounting | p16 · 2020 |
| Meaford | Plumbing - Boiler | 20 | accounting | p17 · 2020 |
| Meaford | Plumbing - Septic System | 25 | accounting | p17 · 2020 |
| Rainy River | Building Improvements - Electrical/Plumbing | 25 | accounting | p11 · 2010 |
| The Blue Mountains | Septic System | 25 | accounting | p11 · 2019 |
| Bancroft, Centre Hastings, Hastings Highlands, Wollaston · same table | Electrical/Plumbing | 25–30 | accounting | p5, p4, p6, p5 |
| Greater Napanee | E30 Chillers, Rink Piping, Fuel Storage Tanks | 30 | accounting | p16 · 2012 |
| Grey Highlands | Septic System | 30 | accounting | p11 · 2026 |
| The Blue Mountains | Plumbing System | 30 | accounting | p11 · 2019 |
| Trent Lakes | Mechanical Systems - Piping | 30 | accounting | p10 · 2009 |
| Parksville | Plumbing Infrastructure | 50 | accounting | p9 · 2023 |
| Greater Madawaska, Quinte West · same table | Piping | 50 | accounting | p17, p38 · 2025 |
| Meaford | Plumbing - System | 50 | accounting | p16 · 2020 |
| Meaford | Plumbing - Cistern | 50 | accounting | p16 · 2020 |
| The Blue Mountains | Cistern | 50 | accounting | p11 · 2019 |
Each row was matched to its page automatically: the label and the number appear in the text of the cited page. An editor has not yet compared every row with the table, so follow the page link before relying on one. About the policies · All approved rows as JSON
Preventive maintenance
No maintenance tasks are sourced for this component yet.
Open questions
- HUD's row is for residential water heaters; commercial storage heaters may differ.
- Every source here is a published planning, design or accounting life. None is observed replacement data.
- No preventive maintenance tasks are sourced yet.
Know the answer? Send it with a source to [email protected].
Cite this
Citation
unfinished.one (2026). Water heater, gas, storage tank, v0.2.0. https://unfinished.one/c/water-heater-gas-tank/v/0.2.0BibTeX
@misc{unfinished_water_heater_gas_tank_0_2_0,
title = {Water heater, gas, storage tank},
author = {{unfinished.one}},
year = {2026},
version = {0.2.0},
url = {https://unfinished.one/c/water-heater-gas-tank/v/0.2.0},
note = {CC BY 4.0}
}Licence CC BY 4.0 · How to cite · JSON · Versions: 0.2.0, 0.1.0