“Buy a new water heater and save it for when your existing one dies.”
Either that or dish out $2,000 plus labor when you replace it 10 years from now (thanks to the Leftist).
For other gas appliance, the best approach is to pre-purchase all the key parts, and have them ready as replacement parts start to disappear, due to the ‘transition’ that the Left is in the process of doing.
Water heaters are remarkably easy to install yourself. Gas and water lines are flex tubing.
It’s more difficult to get the old one up the stairs than it is to install.
I think my last one was about $400 (2-4 years ago)