Burst pipe ruined our water heater, ended up doing both at once
Last month a pipe in the garage decided to give out while we were asleep and by morning there was water everywhere and the water heater was sitting in a puddle. Of course it was ancient anyway so we figured we might as well replace it while dealing with the pipe mess. The tricky part was finding someone who could handle both jobs without charging us two separate emergency fees. We got a few quotes and one guy told us we needed a whole repipe which felt like overkill for one burst section. Eventually we went with a company that did water heater replacement and pipe repair in Palo Alto and they were upfront about what actually needed fixing. They replaced the heater, fixed the split pipe, and even added some insulation on the exposed lines for free. The whole thing took two days and cost less than I feared. My advice is don't wait until a pipe bursts at 3am like ours did. If your water heater is older than your kids maybe just replace it on your own schedule.