My electric water heater is 9 years old and keeps needing repairs — replace it, and with what?

Question

Our electric storage water heater (the tank in the bathroom ceiling void) is around 9 years old, and it's becoming a money pit — new element last year, thermostat the year before, and now the breaker trips when it heats. Each fix is cheap-ish on its own, but they're adding up and I've lost trust in it.

So two questions:

Where's the line between "keep repairing" and "replace"? Is there an age or a symptom where you just stop throwing money at it?
If I replace it, storage tank again or a smaller instant/tankless one? And what size for a 2-bathroom apartment? I don't want to over- or under-buy.

Trying to make one sensible decision rather than pay for a fourth repair in six months. What would you do?

Yusuf T. · Accepted Answer

Quick answer: at 9 years, with the breaker now tripping, replace it — don't repair again. A repeated earth-leakage trip on a water heater usually means the element is breaking down inside and leaking current into the water, which in a wet area is a genuine shock risk, not just an inconvenience. The decision rule I give people: a storage water heater in the UAE typically lasts 8–10 years, and once the tank itself is that age and you're on your third repair, you're maintaining a unit that's near the end regardless. Elements and thermostats are worth fixing on a 3–4-year-old heater; on a 9-year-old one they're just postponing the tank failing (and a failed tank means a ceiling-void flood, exactly the hidden leak nightmare). Storage vs instant: for a 2-bathroom apartment where two showers can run close together, a storage tank (a right-sized one) is usually the safer choice — instant/tankless units need a lot of instantaneous power and can struggle to supply two hot outlets at once on a typical apartment supply. Instant shines for a single point of use (a guest WC, a kitchen). Size: roughly a 50-litre tank per bathroom in regular use is a sane starting point; a family that showers back-to-back wants more. When to call a pro: a tripping heater is a stop-using-it-now job — switch it off at the isolator and get a licensed plumber to size and fit the replacement with a fresh isolator and safety valve, rather than nursing the old one through another summer.

Bilal H. · Answer

From the electrical side — the tripping is the part I'd act on today. A heater that trips its RCD when it heats is almost always a failed element leaking to earth. On a newer heater I'd just swap the element; on a 9-year-old one, Yusuf's right, replace the unit. Whatever you do, don't "solve" a tripping heater by moving it onto a circuit without earth-leakage protection — I see that bodge and it removes the one thing protecting you from a shock in the shower. New heater, new isolator, proper protection.

Jason S. · Answer

Replaced two of these in my villa last year. One practical tip: while the plumber has it down, get them to check the safety/pressure-relief valve and the isolator and fit a drip tray with a drain if there's a room below. The heaters themselves aren't expensive; the ceiling and the flat below are what cost you if an old tank lets go. Nine years and three repairs — I wouldn't gamble another summer on it.

My electric water heater is 9 years old and keeps needing repairs — replace it, and with what?

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