Water Heater - Buy VS Rent ?

[Axel Lafortune]

Hi BP,

I need to replace 3 water heaters in my building and considering wether I should rent or buy new ones. 

On one side, I could buy and instal new ones ; in terms of cost it's gonna be a 1 time expense and if anything happens I will deal with it and pay a plumber.

On the flip side, with renting, one argument I received is that I will have peace of mind in case anything happens as tenants can call the company 24/7 and support will be free of charge. However, by renting them I would have to pay nearly twice the price over a 10 year course.

I am leaning more towards the buying option, as it reduces my costs and in my situation, the water heaters will be installed in the crawlspace where there is a pit and a sump pump ; therefore, if anything would to happen and water starts to leak, it would simply go inside the pit and get flushed by the sump pump. What's the big deal?

What would you recommend?

Thank you,

[Chris Baxter]

@Axel Lafortune  hot water heaters don't really fail easily and don't cost a lot.  Assuming a rental rate of $35/month, you could install a brand new HWH every 3 years (which would be ridiculous) and still come out way ahead.