I believe State, A O Smith, and Bradford are all made the same, at the same facility. I also believe all water heaters with 5, 7, and 10 year warranties are built the same. You are paying extra money for the manufacturer's "insurance" policy. This was told to me by a large plumbing company who has been a long-term client of mine.
FWIW, I installed an AO Smith electric water heater in our house last summer. It replaced a 12 year old GE. It's got wifi. Which I setup, but never use. So far, no issues with it.
John
Have a 1995 AO smith in our shop, it’s working fine.I have a Proline in my house 2005 model, up here in this area, we always remove the anode rod before installing,they make our water stink.
The warranty deal is correct.Originally Posted by Dmy-rt188p
Replaced our AO Smith that was original to the house, built in '86, with an AO Smith professional series in 2020. I think it had a good run for sure.
Replacing an AO Smith that was installed in 2014 this weekend. Already leaking.
This was going to be a project of mine this weekend. I have a 1996 Sears that randomly has a little weeping I figured I would be proactive and do it while I have the time instead of when its not convenient. I am leaning towards upping the 40 gal to a 50 because I have the room and it would come in handy when I have a full house of guests staying over
With frequent guest I would say up to 50 but if not stay at 40 and save some energy money for boat gas. If you don't have a catch pan I would recommend one. Here my latest install, note the tank blanket.
Last edited by Fireball; 01-24-2024 at 07:29 AM.
If you've never flushed it or did anything after the initial install, 10 years is not too bad.
Ranting incoherently
Actually, this not all, at least with Rheem, Ruud, and Richmond product. True, you are paying for the longer warranty, but there are some differences. The tanks are all the same, same steel thickness, same thickness of porcelain, but on longer warranty units you get larger diameter anodes. The anode is what protects the uncoated portions of the inside of the tank. A 10,12 yr tank would get a .900 dia anode. An 8yr would get a .800 Dia. A 6yr would get a .625 if I remember correctly. Those numbers may be off a hair, it's been a few years. Also on the premium product you get things like brass drain valves (note..due to demand, brass are installed on some 6yr product nowadays), SS elements, and on some, thicker insulation.
I installed a Rheem Performance Platinum (12years) on 4/27/23 and replaced it on 11/22/23........Yes, Lasted almost 7 months and I'm still waiting on a check from Rheem as I had to pay HD for a replacement.
Yeah, that's unfortunate. That happens every now and then. Curious, what happened to it?
Inlet and outlet nipples rotted out and looked like a mold growing out of the vent....... When I called Rheem and sent them pictures they didn't hesitate to replace but HD was another story. They pro-ratyed it and gave me like $400 off a new one. Had Rheem on the phone at HD and HD wouldn't budge on their "so called" policy.
Our Rheem is 18 years old. Still fine
Sounds like leaks around the couplings or if the nipples were installed at the factory, not enough thread compund. Could have been an anode leak. The top is covered in foam and the water from an anode thread leak can show itself at the connections or the flue opening on the top pan. Hard to say without a teardown. Glad they took care of you. HD can be terrible to deal with. Oddly it depends on the region, some HD's will replace a unit in the blink of an eye. You will get your check eventually. The billing department has forever been minimally staffed and they are usually 2-3 months behind.
Just saw these pics. Never seen a copper fitting get ate away like that. Were the inlet/outlet nipples factory installed?
Knock on wood...20yrs and counting with ours.
The girl I spoke with at Rheem was very nice and it almost sounded like they had an issue with a few of them, bad batch or something. I actually got an email from them on Monday for mr to send more pics of the new unit....... I'm not to happy with HD though but they really don't care and I'm ok with that. I just had a feeling HD wasn't going to play nice and didn't want to end up with no water heater over Thanksgiving so I went there first before removing this unit, gave them my case number, they looked online and said, yup, go home and get the heater for an exchange. Well, everything changed when I went back with the heater on the evening before Thanksgiving. Had no choice but to pay for a new one, take it home and install.
Yes....... And I think the whole problem was with these factory fittings. They look different on the new heater.
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