The water heater that came with my house I bought in '98 lasted 20 years.
And by the time you got rid of it it was criminally inefficient.
How can a resistive water heater be inefficient? (other than not being a heat pump?)
Where did OP say what type of water heater it was?
As recently as the 1990s, even the most efficient gas water heaters only had a UEF of around 0.70 (i.e., 70%), meaning that at least 30% of the fuel used (or 30 cents of every dollar spent) was wasted and not producing usable hot water.
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And by the time you got rid of it it was criminally inefficient.
How can a resistive water heater be inefficient? (other than not being a heat pump?)
Where did OP say what type of water heater it was?
As recently as the 1990s, even the most efficient gas water heaters only had a UEF of around 0.70 (i.e., 70%), meaning that at least 30% of the fuel used (or 30 cents of every dollar spent) was wasted and not producing usable hot water.