[Myrddin]

I considered a flash style heater as an upgrade to
my 50 gas, 50,000 BTU unit. The flash burner is
128,000 BTU. It requires significant upgrades to
the vent. The vent upgrades alone would have
been $1,000. I replaced the heater with another
50 gal, 50,000 BTU from Lowe’s. Did all the labor
myself. Carted the old tank to the local recycler.
Total cost around $300 in parts.

[steve86]

My goodness, the labor for venting my 175,000 BTU Bosch AquaStar was only $100 (new vent through the roof), but that was in 1999. My, how labor costs have increased.