re: THANKS! Gas Hot Water Heater IS Replaced

do everything fish just said...nice direction fish, couldn't have said it batter myself.

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Before trying to remove the old one, drain it. There should be a drain valve at the bottom. Hook a hose pipe and run that to a drain or outside. Close off the inlet valve and open a few house water valves to vent the water out the lines.
Close the gas valve and before disconnecting, check for a gas leak on the valve itself. Use a mixture like QT said. Once that is done, disconnect the gas line. That old, I would replace that line and the inlet/outlet water lines with flex lines. of course you will need Teflon tape too! If the tank is piped in with unions, good pipe wrenches will be needed along with a hammer and something to back it up. Hit the union a couple times to help break it free then use the wrenches to unscrew.

Inspect the vent exhaust pipe. That old, I would replace it. Cheap insurance.

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I would go tankless quick.

The savings are huge and the water is always hot.

Before you go through all this, its worth it to change the thermocoupling on the ignitor (it goes bad over time as resistance builds up on the wire) ...I changed out quite a few heaters back when I was a plumber's helper but there were Rheem units from the 60's that only needed that $3 piece of copper to run like they had been for years. It takes two minutes and all you need is a crescent wrench, you can find therms at any plumbing/hardware store or Lowe's if need be. (Sounds crazy but 90%+ of HW heater calls were solved with this)

If you just want the comfort of having a new unit up there then fish's advice is as good as any plumber can give you. You're gonna need 2 strong backs getting that sucker out of the attic, those old units were built to last, and the deposits give you a little extra dead weight to throw around.
Teflon and pipe dope are your best friends to avoid future leaks, and when you get flex pipe connections make sure they're copper...not plastic. Plenty of videos out there if you aren't totally confident, it took me and a plumber around 2 hours to take out the old, put in the new and connect everything so you can estimate how long it may take based off of that.

My reasoning behind not getting tankless was because they do not flow as high as tanked ones. I like my showers to be like a fire hose, and have a modded shower head that gets 6.5gpm. Not willing to give that up

For a case of Bud Light and some gas money, you might be able to talk Fishfighter into an afternoon as a Technical Advisor. As an added bonus, he can answer any pirogue construction questions you might have!

ya gotta love the guy...

old...check the first page...

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old...check the first page...

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Scanned fast - that was an early response.

If FishFighter says it, you can pretty much take it to the bank. His word is golden.

Good luck with your HOT water heater replacement. I'm a DIY kind of guy, but I'm fundamentally opposed to asphyxiation by combustion gases, or any other form. Be careful and be smart!

Ace: It's the colloquial vernacular of southern LA. We all know what a "hot" water heater is.

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It's the colloquial vernacular of southern LA. We all know what a "hot" water heater is.

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Same here. I just went down to the freezer and got some pork chops out so they could unthaw for supper.