Your wife...? Mine was actually standing over my sholder as I was doing it. Crack'n that whip!
Your wife...? Mine was actually standing over my sholder as I was doing it. Crack'n that whip!
My thought exactly! LOL.
I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger....then it hit me.
I just replaced my water heater with a Whirlpool about 3-4 months ago. I looks like I may be OK, at least according to the links. I'm holding my breath!
I went through 3 Whirlpool water heaters in under 4 years time. The last time we just called our local plumber and they replaced it with one they install, service, and warranty. Haven't had a problem with our water heater in about 2 years now. Besides, if anything goes wrong with it in 10 years time? They come and fix/replace it at no cost to be. New premium WH, installation, hauling off the old one, and labor cost? $724.00
Very well worth it for no more cold showers and no more worrying about why the WH ain't working AGAIN.
Thanks & Happy Wood Chips,
Dennis -
Get the Benefits of Being an SMC Contributor..!
....DEBT is nothing more than yesterday's spending taken from tomorrow's income.
Other than that one problem, which was a design defect, I have not had any problems with my Whirlpool water heater. Whirlpool water heaters are made by American Water Heaters, which is a reputable company who makes heaters under a variety of names. I fully expect to get 20 years of service from the unit.
I might add that when I called American (who answers the number listed for Whirlpool WHs) about the problem I had, they responded quickly, politely, and without any questions.
Mike
Last edited by Mike Henderson; 12-04-2008 at 12:27 AM.
Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good.
My sons water heater had a gas valve that said it had a one shot deal that you had to replace it if you lost gas pressure after it had been used. I ended up replacing the gas valve because I could no keep it lit. Now it stays lit and works fine I got a used gas valve from a place for free.
This thread has had a long life. I occasionally get a message from someone not associated with SawMill Creek who found this thread and fixed their water heater problem. If I had known it would be that valuable to others, I would have taken better pictures in the beginning and described the fix better. But I suppose people have been able to figure it out. I suppose when you have the pieces in your hands my description is more understandable.
Anyway, glad it helped people. Waking up to cold water for a shower is not pleasant.
Mike
Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good.
Mike,
Let me add one more problem to avoid.
During the same time as your original post, I had a Lowes (I think it was Whirlpool, but not sure) water heater in a rental. Within a year the thermocouple went out, and I replaced it. Within six months or so, it went out again. Now, this water heater had the air intake on the BOTTOM, with a very fine mesh plate for air.
It turns out that the intake would clog, and it was almost impossible to vacuum off the mesh, as it was in a closet, and had a pan under it. The unit would fire up, starve for air, and turn off. I replaced it in less than two years. The new one has air intake on the SIDE of the heater, and the holes are large enough that they don't clog.
Five years or so later...no problems, happy tenant, happier landlord.
Rick Potter
Rick,
I'm in the market for a new water heater. We have a good ole Kenmore from Sears. It says 1996 on it and we bought the house in 1999. So, it is doing well and there are no leaks (replaced the thermocouple twice) but I see a lot of rust on the stand (dunno about the tank...again, no leaks that I can see/detect) so I figure I have some time to look around and educate myself. Up here in the BA, I'm lucky to live in a county that has restrictions on water heater emissions so I can only use ULN (ultra low NOx) qualified water heaters and thus, my choices get narrowed. I had thought to simply replace it with another Kenmore but the ULN version is not energy star and still has a standing pilot (probably why it is not energy star). AO Smith and Bradford-White seem to be reputable but to get those, I have to pay the plumbing outfit to install it for me so I'm looking at a grand minimum depending on which w/h I go for. For some of these ULN, I've heard about this mesh screen getting clogged but it isn't only on the ULN designs. In CA, the w/h must be placed on a stand/box/whathaveyou that is 12" off the floor so I had thought to cut a hole in the stand to make cleaning this screen easier. This would be easier to do if I could install the w/h I want myself instead of taking apart someone else's work that I paid for. Still looking around....
Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good.
I have a Rheem. And you're correct, from just a dollars and cents point of view, it's hard to justify a tankless. You'll almost certainly have to do some plumbing work and you need electricity at the tankless (there's a lot of electronics in a tankless). But there's two things that make it attractive: You never run out of hot water. With our tank, I'd get in the shower first and my wife might put in a load of wash. By the time she got to shower, there was no hot water (and happy wife, happy life). Second, they do use significantly less gas, I guess mainly because they don't have to keep a tank of water hot 24 hours a day.
One other thing that might help is that most gas companies offer rebates to install a tankless.
Mike
[Check your usage, but for many houses, this one may do the job. Mine is installed on the side of the house. If you want to go with an exterior one, look at this one. I don't know if prices went up, but I paid $800 for that exterior one in August 2012.]
Last edited by Mike Henderson; 02-06-2013 at 2:56 PM.
Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good.
Hi Chris,
That bit about the pilot is certainly ironic, considering that the WH is probably the only gas appliance that actually benefits from a pilot, keeping the water warmer longer before big bertha kicks in.
I hope you are able to find a WH with a side air inlet rather than the bottom one, it will certainly save you grief.
BTW, it is apparantly illegal to buy a normal heater in your area, it may be illegal for a licensed plumber to install one also, but........is it illegal for a homeowner to own one if he buys it in another county and installs it himself?? Kind of like me buying oil based varnish when I go to Arizona in a few days. There is no law that I know of prohibiting non comercial use of it for homeowners. Shhhh, don't give Gov. Moonbeam any ideas.
Rick P.