Water needs to be at least 117 ° F to kill bed bugs. Soap won’t do it. Washing bed linens in hot (really hot) water will keep any bed bugs you bring in the house from building a condo in your bed. I travel a lot, and I’ve to deal with this issue. In the summer I wrap my still packed luggage in black trash bags and set it on the back porch in the sun. In the winter, every thing in the case, plus the clothes I’m wearing go in the hot water wash.
Regularly washing linens in hot water catches the leakers I miss.
Although the OP is referencing a natural gas water heater, if one has a need for an electric, consider the heat pump models. I was skeptical, but after reviewing the electricity bills I decided to switch to heat pump only for a while. It made a significant difference, naturally.
They are a bit noisy. If you happen to have a water heater in the attic they would be very efficient, for example.
They don’t run out for any one thing, but you’re limited in how many concurrent devices you can use; you may not be able to, say, start the dishwasher & then go take a hot shower while the dishwasher is running or have two hot showers in different bathrooms at the same time.
Correct, though like everything, this comes down to planning. Many of the gas fired one (the Takagi ones I mentioned are included) will be able to supply several showers and a couple sinks simultaneously in most climate zones. There’s a chart that you can consult that will tell you what size you need.
The gas fired ones do have a problem - they have a minimum flow rate (about 0.4 gpm) before they will start at all. Some bathroom sinks may not have enough flow and you’d have to change the faucet strainer to allow more flow. The electric ones tend to regulate better, but of course electricity is triple or more the cost of the same BTUs of gas, and the bigger electric ones need significant rewiring to install.
Sounds like you should go dispose of the old heater in someone else’s dumpster.
I always did wonder what happens if you have unpermitted work in a house. I’ve read it’s extremely common - many cases, if you do hire a pro and they are doing work that requires a permit but it’s not large job, the pro will not go pull a permit unless they are forced to or you instruct them to. (they might be forced to pull a permit if they need the utility company to turn off the power, etc)
So there doesn’t sound like there’s some inspection where the inspectors look at each and every appliance and outlet and wiring run your house has and then they go look up which of them were permitted.
The whole permit thing stinks. Homeowners can’t pull most of them, a pro will tack on an extra $300-$500 to go through the hassle of pulling one, and at least where I live, the actual permit fee for a new electrical outlet is $0.70 but the minimum permitting fee is $75.
So it screws over small jobs completely. A big job, like building a new house or a new addon, the marginal cost added by permitting is small. But if you just need 1 new electrical outlet or a new hot water heater, these fees screw you. They can dwarf the cost of materials and the couple hours of labor.