While some people collect cars or stamps, or coins, Shane Foster is a collector of water heaters.

“It’s a bit like collecting old cars,” he says when asked about the reason behind his unusual collection.

“Over the years, we’ve been called out to replace hundreds of very old water heaters, Rheem mainly, but also old brands such as Braemar, Swiftsure and Langco that aren’t even made anymore. Once they started to get rare we began to keep some of them.”

Recently, Shane added another prize to his collection – the six millionth heater to roll off the production line at Rheem Australia’s Rydalmere factory, which was presented to Shane at a special presentation at the company.

“We’re very pleased the system has gone to a good ‘home’,” says Rheem general manager of sales Paul McInnes.

“This year Rheem celebrates its 80th anniversary since Rheem began manufacturing in Australia, so it’s great to have an aficionado like Shane who is helping maintain Rheem’s history.

“Rheem is the main brand we collect. As Rheem is obviously the biggest and most common, there was more around to collect.”

Shane, who owns Sydney-based Affordable Hot Water, has been collecting water heaters for nearly 30 years and now owns around 20 complete heaters dating back to 1956. He also has up to 150 badges dating back to WWII, including a badge from a 1940s heater made from wartime materials.

“The old metal badges were pretty cool, but since the 1980s, they’ve been replaced by stickers, so it’s harder to find interesting bits and pieces for our collection. The guys from work enjoy it because little has changed from 1982 to 2017,” says Shane.

Shane is also the proud owner of the three millionth Rheem water heater, which he purchased in December 2005, and although he also tried to buy the fourth and fifth millionth he narrowly missed out.

So how did Shane come to be the proud owner of the six millionth Rheem heater?

“I just watched the serial numbers and, as it got close, asked if I could have it,” he says.