I just bought a condo that uses this kind of heating system. There was a very slight leak in the gas connection of the water heater when I moved in. The gas company shut me down and I was in a hurry to get hot water in the place I was moving into in a few days. The plumbing company claimed that the part was no longer available. Now I've noticed the fine print that they don't deal with aftermarket companies.I probably could have gotten the old one to run for under a hundred bucks. Instead, they sold me on a new water heater for several thousand. At the time I thought I was just going to switch to a heat pump, but now that I've learned more about this, I'm regretting I let them put a conventional water heater in. Everyone in the building has this heating system, and they're working fine.
I'm now being told that if I just had piping put in to re-connect to the air handler, I'd be back in business. Conventional water heaters can run these systems.
Is that true? Are there problems doing this? Will the new, conventional water heater have a shorter life span?
