Avoid Lowes gas water heaters (Whirlpool by American Water Heaters)

For what it is worth, I bought a Whirlpool flame lock 50 gallon water heater in September 2004. I have had no problems whatsoever. Also, it is efficient, (energy factor is 0.62), and I received a gas company rebate of $75 on it. It has a 12 year tank and parts warranty, although I admit to being skeptical about that. The warranty only covers the original consumer.

 

Our company put in American water heaters for a couple years. We've had incredibly high number of repairs on those units. We don't stock Americans any more.

Rheems are much more reliable. We've had few warranty repairs to this point.

Our 13 year old Rheem at home is still going strong.

 

I was in the market for a gas water heater. I was thinking of getting one of those tankless units

 

Now why didn't you post this three weeks ago when I had to have my water tank replaced?

Normally I go to Home Depot, but I was pressed for time and Lowes was closer. I got a 40 gal. 34,000 BTU tank. I didn't notice if was the Flamelock unit, but it is a Whirlpool water heater. It has the 'gas-grill' igniter for the pilot light and I thought that was pretty neat...not having to use the foot-long matches or rolled-up newspaper to light the pilot.

It was installed by the husband of my daughter's co-worker (and he does good work too). He set-up all the fittings so I could do the job myself next time if I needed to.

 

my 66 gallon Rheem electric unit was installed when the house was built... in 1967

 

Hobbit has a very interesting post on his webpage regarding the water heaters, here:

Water heater

I would definitely consider the Reem "Marathon":

Marathon Water Heaters

if I was an American looking for a water heater .

 

I had a tankless in my last house, loved it! Got all the hot water I could handle (teenage boy=long showers). When the one I have now goes I will go back to a tankless. It was nice not heating water 24 hours a day.

 

I should have stocked up on old fashioned gas water heaters. If I had to deal with a fraction of what you went through, I'd run monkeys*** and bad things could happen, especially to the hot water heater

 

How 'old fashioned' do you mean? When built, the house I'm in had a little hot water tank in the closet next to the stove, which was half electric and half wood-burning. If you wanted a bath, first you had to chop some wood, then make a fire, and wait for the water to heat up. Laundry worked the same way, and was only a marginal improvement over beating the clothes on a rock by the river. The 'modern' boiler in the basement, originally coal-fired, only fed the radiators, and was upgraded to gas a few decades later. About five years ago we installed a real system, with pumps and everything.

 

I want a major appliance that isn't a giant PITA that quits on you when you depend on it the most

Eg: modern gas condensing furnaces. Once the temps are -30 C and colder, folks have reported the intake air pipe freezing. Once the intake pipe freezes, the furnace can't prove combustion and locks out: no heat

Those horrible old gas furnaces with non-sealed combustion and a pilot light, you could actually leave in the middle of winter on a 2 week vacation, and not have to worry about the stupid thing locking out at -30 C and colder.

Last winter, I had to babysit a neighbors house while they were away for a couple of weeks. I got smart, and put a giant outdoor thermometer on the inside of their living room window. All I had to do was look through my window, see the pointer at 60 F, and not worry about it

Until that one very cold -38 C morning, I looked at the thermometer and saw it hovering at 45 F. Uh oh. Went over, sure enough the furnace was locked out. Wouldn't reset either

Went outside, the intake air pipe had an ice plug so that was the obvious problem right there. Trudged back across the street to my house, got the heat gun and an extension cord, and within 5 minutes had the pipe thawed. Then the furnace fired up just fine

Those who use the one-piece termination collar (Intake collar with the exhaust pipe in the center of it) have far fewer problems. The reason is that the slight heat from the exhaust pipe is *just* enough to melt any ice from the combustion air side, and the furnace still runs even at -40 C

Do they even test these things at -40? Or is their idea of "testing" a place where it rarely dips to -18 C??

 

My Kenmore gas furnace has lasted 18 years so far. I'm going to get it replaced because I don't want to press my luck too much. It's probably working on borrowed time now.

 

I am completly sold on the Tankless route. I used to have 2-40 gal heaters in the house, when the first one went I went Gas Tankess, and installation was very easy, takes up 1/4 of the space, and produces ALL the HOT water you coud ever use!!!

It worked out so well, when the other tank unit finally died, you guessed it, another Gas Tankless!!!

Love those units, they just run and run and run....

 

I ask the plumber about going tankless. He told me they would have to do a few extra things to install it. Price around $3000.00 by the time they were done with it.

 

The worst part is that natural gas buring causes moisture ~ then rust eventually, and that rust (holes) can cause carbon monoxide to enter your living area. An old gas furnace? A good reason to have a carbon monoxide tester. C0 can kill. Never mind the inefficiency

Family Survives Bout With Carbon Monoxide - Omaha News Story - KETV Omaha

+1
What brand did you get? We got the Noritz, about 2 years ago ... that means we still have 8 more years on the warranty



.

 

My personal favorite with old gas water heaters is when the bottom of the tank rusts through. With our hard water, all water heaters turn into a limestone cave in short order. With electric units, the lime builds up until the lower element fails, and then you scoop out the lime when replacing the element. If you are good with preventative maintenance, you would scoop it out ahead of time, but most don't.

With the old gas units, the heat is applied at the bottom, like a giant kettle. The lime plates the bottom and acts as an insulator. Eventually the metal burns through and whoosh, you have an indoor waterfall.

Tom

 

Boy there's a plumber who is trying to put his kids thru college on your dime!!! Completly outrageous price!!! The units I purchased were approx $600.00 ea!!! It took 3 hours to install, cutting copper, and sweating the joints.
Same water IN, and OUT as a standard tank. I just added a couple of "Ball" shutoff valves to make servicing easy. Look for a better quote!!!
$3000.00 ...Rip Off!!!