After 14 years our pool heater started to fail. When I called the manufacturer to order parts he told me the useful estimated lifetime of these was about 10 years, and although I could replace a part and fix it, the rest of the parts would begin to fail also and recommended a new one. Luckily they still make the unit and it is pretty close to the same, although some of the plumbing was a bit different. It was my first time working with natural gas plumbing, but while I was at it I decided to add a line to go to a fire pit table in our cabana. After 3 trips to the plumbing store I was able to put everything together and was extremely happy to verify that there were no leaks.