I am behind you . Will turn 67 this month .

I have gotten where I try to have new parts on hand , before I take stuff apart .

Best of luck , :-)

Wyr
God bless

If it's not too late (scrapped tank), we used what they called (wickin) to help seal sloppy threads. This was candle wicking (cotton thread) which was wrapped around the male threads and covered with pipe dope. Never had a leaking thread that coud not be repaired with this. In an emergency we use a wet mop thread which has been unwound to get a smaller thread and it usually works great, cotton preferred.

Well now... Main question is how much water heater do you want? If you eventually buy another water heater, get one that has a warranty that will outlive you. Sounds like you originally found a landlord special on sale. The "economical" models have a 2 or 1 year replacement warranty, and up to 7 years of defect coverage. Some are prorated like batteries. Not bad if you don't mind changing it every 7 years or less. The idea of affordable durable goods is so 1960's. Way deprecated. A water heater rated for more than 10 years is going to drain the wallet, as they're now considered industrial duty.

Then again, what's wrong with using what you have? The combo boiler seems to be super durable. Don't know how much fun it would be to rig the heat pump, but I imagine it would out live you.

Not good..
 

Well, it looks like the A7 heat pump HX copper isn't coming out of the tank..
It stuck at about 2 feet.. A very difficult two feet. I guess I can seal (pinch) off the lines and cut them..

https://ecorenovator.org/forum/attac...1&d=1560455836

I learned about using cotton string around sink drain couplings a few years ago.
The Ace Hardware guy told me the old plumbers trick of over-wrapping the threads in string,
and the water would make it swell up, to stop the leakage..
It works great on low pressure drains.. But for 50 to 100 PSI? I don't know.

In any event, I'm gonna be heating with the old oil burner for a while..
It's uses oil, but not a lot. Plus, it's a HS Tarm multi-fuel and can
run on wood, coal, propane & etc. If the grid fails us again, we're good..

We don't need a lot of hot water, so running on oil for a while is the plan.
If oil get's too costly, I'll use that a reason to move to Texas.. LOL!

Streach out som black plastic pipe , outside , in the sun light & solar heat water ?

Wyr
God bless

That might be better than using oil. I just did the math. Oil stinks!

https://ecorenovator.org/forum/showt...0962#post60962

At least until winter ?

Wyr
God bless

Waiting for the crazy guy
 

The tank is out on the sidewalk, waiting to be adopted.
The hot water manifold has been replaced by 1' of 3/4" Pex.

There's this weird guy who picks up anything that has any metal in it.
I'm giving him a week, then I'll pay the city $30 to take it away.