does this sound expensive for a water heater?

[NJ856]

We are remodeling and have had a new gas furnace and water heater installed. The furnace was included in the overall bid, but the water heater was an add-on. Recently we've been concerned about costs, so we researched the price of the water heater, which is in the $1300 range. It is power vented.

We were charged $3000, which included venting and installation. Does this sound very high, or is this in range?

We also got a separate bill for $2800 for gas piping for the "furnace and appliances".

Previously we had oil, so this was a new install.

[johnjh2o]

There is no way with out seeing what had to be done to give a answer to your question. It's always wise to get more then one estimate before have the work done.

John

[NJ856]

I agree with you on getting more than one estimate. We are doing a very big project and just trusted our GC to do the right thing. The unit is a Bradford White 75 gallon gas water heater, model number M-2-TW-75T6BN, power vented energy saver residential water heater. I found one with that model number at Pex Supply for $1295, which is what got us wondering about the price.

[havasu]

GC's are there to make money. If this occurred to me, I would sit down and have a chat with him because it obviously is making you uncomfortable and this just may cause you to no longer trust him. If you can't trust the GC, it is time to shop for another one.

[Tech]

Is the furnace high efficiency? If its not, why would you need a power vented water heater? If it is a high efficiency furnace, then I can see why you would need a power vented hwt. When people go to HE, the flue liner in the chimney needs to be smaller. If its not changed to accomodate just the hwt the density of the exhaust gas will cool to quickly and cause the flue gases to come back down into the room.

[NJ856]

Thanks for this information! The furnace is high efficiency. The water heater is vented separately, and does not vent through the flue.

Would the flue need to be smaller for the HE even if the water heater is vented separately? How would we know if any gases were coming back into the room? We have a CO2 detector, and it is not registering anything. My eyes have bothered me since the furnace went in, but I am extremely sensitive, so it's hard to know what the cause could be.

[Tech]

The high efficiency furnace is vented out the side of the house. If the hwt is gas, it is still vented out the roof's chimney. When you have this type of setup, the flue coming out of the roof needs to be smaller. Just to clarify.