W5 did a great report on door to door salespeople selling rental plans on Furnaces and Air Conditioners. In the Ottawa area the majority of these salespeople seem to be selling hot water tank rentals. While it’s common to see hot water heater rentals in Ottawa, from time to time we hear stories and meet clients who have been taken advantage of with bills twice as high as what they should be. All of the furnace rental plans I have seen so far involve the renter paying paying 2 to 3 times what the furnace would be worth new and installed. The real problem with these plans is that they take advantage people who are down on their luck and often behind on payments. In my opinion for anyone considering one of these plans one should exhaust every other option first. While there are some companies who are not ripping people off on hot water heaters you should be very careful anytime someone shows up at your door asking you to sign something.
Typically we expect to see a range of $18 a month for an older hot water tank to the high $30 range for a newer hot water tank. As for hot water on demand or tankless hot water systems we often see these in the mid $40 range per month.
Click here to view the W5 report.