Is a Water Heater an Appliance or a Plumbing Fixture?

There are a few common household items that may be defined in multiple ways simultaneously, and a great example is the water heater. While most think of their water heater as primarily a plumbing fixture, there are also many situations – including appliance repair – where it can be considered an appliance as well.

At All Pro Appliance Service, we’re proud to offer a huge range of water heater repairs for all our clients, including repairing current water heaters or installing a new one. We provide numerous areas of expertise here, plus a full one-year warranty for any parts and labor. When does it matter whether your water heater is considered an appliance or a plumbing fixture, and how does this relate to any potential repair needs? Here’s a quick primer.

Water Heater as a Plumbing Fixture

In most situations, a water heater will be categorized as a plumbing fixture. It will usually be installed by a plumber during new home construction, for instance, so there’s a good reason for this.

One specific area we wanted to note when it comes to water heater categorization: Taxes. Where the IRS is concerned, your water heater is considered a plumbing fixture that’s part of your pluming system, which has a depreciation period of 27.5 years – this means that if it needs to be replaced within this time, you will receive the rest of the deduction when the old model is removed. This kind of tax deduction is possible even if you use an appliance service like ours for the replacement in question, as we’ll go over below.

Water Heater as an Appliance

On the flip side, there are several situations where a water heater will be considered as an appliance if all parties agree to this. These include:

• When signing or writing a rental property lease
• When entering expenses for a rental property on tax documents
• When entering value of a rental property on tax documents
• When managing appliance inventory for a rental property
• When buying homeowners’ insurance

There are also a few others down these lines. As we alluded to, however, the heater can maintain multiple designations at once – these appliance designations will help determine who is responsible for coverage or repairs in case of issues.

General Tips

Some general tips for water heater maintenance, no matter its designation:

• Temperature setting: If your temperature setting is too high, you both use unneeded energy and risk scalding. In most cases, 120 degrees Fahrenheit is the hottest you’ll need.
• Valve: Check and test your water heater’s temperature and pressure release valve at least once annually.
• Flushing: Flush at least a couple gallons from the tank at least a few times a year to remove sediment and other debris.

Our pros will be happy to help with any of these maintenance areas or repairs required. For more on this or any of our appliance repair services, including emergency appliance repair, speak to the staff at All Pro Appliance Service today.