water heater leaked, what do i do now?

[pelligrini]

Of course for 6-8 months out of the year in Minnesota the "wasted" heat is only partially wasted since it's dumped into air you'd otherwise be heating.

A large percentage of the "wasted" heat will be dumped outside via the vent pipe.

[natausch]

I wish we could go tankless, but our heat system is based on a recirculating heat pump/forced air. There simply isn't any way to force more effeciency out of the system, on the bright side our heating bills for a 3BR Colonial average $60 a month, in Chicago.

Bad news though is we're on year 8 of the current water heater and they run around $1,900 installed.