Replacing a tankless in Matthews
A tankless that has failed is not automatically a tankless that needs replacing. Heat exchangers commonly carry twelve to fifteen year cover while the rest of the unit carries around five, and the exchanger is the most common terminal failure. We run the serial and check the warranty before quoting you for a new unit, because the part is frequently covered even when the labour is not.
Where a replacement is genuinely warranted, the second unit is usually a much simpler job than the first was: the gas line, the venting and the condensate route already exist and were sized once. In Matthews the permit goes through Mecklenburg County, and a like-for-like swap in the same location is a considerably lighter permit question than the original conversion was.
Matthews is older than its reputation. The peak build decade is the 1980s at 23.1%, and 1980 to 1999 together account for 45.3% of the housing stock. That makes Matthews a third-cycle replacement market rather than a first-failure one: most of these homes are on their second or third water heater already, and the tanks going in now are replacing tanks that themselves replaced the original.
What Matthews itself changes
Where the heaters sit
Garage and crawlspace both common given the build era, with closet installs in the newer infill. Access is generally reasonable but the older subdivisions have tighter crawlspaces than the 2000s stock.
The pipe era
Matthews sits squarely in the polybutylene window, with 45.3% of the stock built between 1980 and 1999. If you have grey plastic supply pipe, that is a planning and insurance question worth separating from whatever your water heater is doing today.