If it's me I do this:
-watch youtubes
-watch more youtubes
-take a look around my existing heater. Are there good condition shutoffs for the water lines and gas lines?
-Review the venting system, and google what code requirements are, see if they match. If unsure take photos and post here
-Buy the new water heater. Shlep it down to your basement, next to existing
-Make a parts list, buy the parts. If unsure post here.
-Pick a day where you will have no hot water for the day, make it clear to family. Turn off unit before going to bed.
-Wake up early, drain the lukewarm water off with hose to sink. Disconnect / cut pipes after isolating all valves, and haul the thing to the backyard.
-Line up new, use sharkbite fittings and flex cxns to join up.
-Test all cxns (water leaks are visible, use snoop / soapy water for gas leaks)
-Somewhere in here crack a beer
-Pat yourself on the back
I just replaced my hot water heater this past weekend and this advice helped... so thanks! I know you said A.O. Smith was garbage but that is what I ended up getting. I bought it from a local plumbing and heating supply company. I didn't go to Lowe's. Places like this always claim their stuff is better compared to Lowe's and HD. I have no idea if that is true or not. This is the kind of place that mostly sells stuff to contractors, but also has a showroom for the public too. It is definitely not a superstore.
Between my wife, step-son, and myself we have all had times where we ran out of hot water during a shower so we were thinking about getting a new one. I finally went to the basement and found out the tank we had was 50 gallons and about 22 years old... so we decided to get a new one. The one thing I liked about AO Smith is they had 55 gallon tanks. The little bit extra capacity kind of felt like that little bit of extra we needed to not run out of hot water.
The cool thing about this place is when I went in and ordered the unit, the guy at the counter pretty much put together an order of all the parts I would need for the install while I was standing there. I got one of those circular pans for the bottom, shark bite flex connections, T&P copper drain tube, and a shark bite piece to install and hold the drain tube. I walked out with all the parts I needed. Delivery was free.
I had it delivered on a Thursday and picked Friday night to drain the old one. My wife and step-son helped me move it to the basement with the use of a dolly. Since it was in the basement I used two 5 gallon buckets to drain it. As one was filling, I dumped the other. I do not have a drain or utility sink in my basement so I had to carry the water buckets outside. It was kind of a pain but I thought of it as a workout. Luckily it drained pretty easily. Some sediment, but no clogging.
I was planning to drain it Friday night then install the new one Saturday morning... but the draining part went so well I was kind of on a roll so I kept going. I ended up installing everything Friday night, and only had the cleanup left to do Saturday morning. It was electric, which appears easier to install compared to gas. I pretty much followed each step along the way in the instruction manual to make sure I didn't miss anything or screw up. In the end there were no major problems. I won't say it was easy, but it wasn't that difficult.
After I got done we noticed that the water got hotter compared to the old unit. We are wondering if maybe one of the elements in the old one died out. The temp. settings on the new one was the same as the old, so we are thinking the old one was on it's last legs anyway. Since I got done earlier than expected... my wife and I had time to visit a brewery Saturday afternoon and followed your second to last bullet point. It was delicious.
