Comments on: What the Manufacturers Won’t Tell You About Water Heaters http://toolmonger.com/2007/12/10/what-the-manufacturers-wont-tell-you-about-water-heaters/ All tools. All the time. Your source for news, information, and reviews of hand tools, power tools, and tools of all kinds. Sun, 12 Oct 2008 04:42:46 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 By: Water Heater Guide http://toolmonger.com/2007/12/10/what-the-manufacturers-wont-tell-you-about-water-heaters/#comment-181070 Water Heater Guide Sun, 16 Dec 2007 17:18:21 +0000 http://toolmonger.com/2007/12/10/what-the-manufacturers-wont-tell-you-about-water-heaters/#comment-181070 Wow! Great piece of advise! I never knew that! Thank you! Wow! Great piece of advise! I never knew that! Thank you!

]]> By: Benjamen Johnson http://toolmonger.com/2007/12/10/what-the-manufacturers-wont-tell-you-about-water-heaters/#comment-177429 Benjamen Johnson Tue, 11 Dec 2007 14:46:03 +0000 http://toolmonger.com/2007/12/10/what-the-manufacturers-wont-tell-you-about-water-heaters/#comment-177429 Yeah, unfortunately the plastic hater heaters are only electric. Menards carries the Richmond version (made by Rheem), I looked at them when I was buying my gas water heater. I don't know why it seems that hot water heaters are such a crap shoot. I read a lot of stories about people having failures after the first year to 18 months (even with the 12 year water heaters). Contrastingly some people have no problems. My old water heater laster 17 years, I never did any maintenance, and there was zero sediment in the tank when I removed it. Maybe one of the problems is softened water, the site did mention that softened water, especially if you completely softened it (according to them you should really leave the water a little hard) was corrosive to the tanks. Maybe the stuff they sell to consumers (read people who buy at Big Box Stores) just isn't the greatest quality. One note, not all the 12 year warranty heaters have 2 anode rods, the one I bought has a larger diameter rod. This achieves the same effect as two rods. Yeah, unfortunately the plastic hater heaters are only electric. Menards carries the Richmond version (made by Rheem), I looked at them when I was buying my gas water heater.

I don’t know why it seems that hot water heaters are such a crap shoot. I read a lot of stories about people having failures after the first year to 18 months (even with the 12 year water heaters). Contrastingly some people have no problems. My old water heater laster 17 years, I never did any maintenance, and there was zero sediment in the tank when I removed it.

Maybe one of the problems is softened water, the site did mention that softened water, especially if you completely softened it (according to them you should really leave the water a little hard) was corrosive to the tanks. Maybe the stuff they sell to consumers (read people who buy at Big Box Stores) just isn’t the greatest quality.

One note, not all the 12 year warranty heaters have 2 anode rods, the one I bought has a larger diameter rod. This achieves the same effect as two rods.

]]> By: AZ_Engineer http://toolmonger.com/2007/12/10/what-the-manufacturers-wont-tell-you-about-water-heaters/#comment-177179 AZ_Engineer Tue, 11 Dec 2007 05:30:16 +0000 http://toolmonger.com/2007/12/10/what-the-manufacturers-wont-tell-you-about-water-heaters/#comment-177179 We must have bad water. We went through 3 water heaters in the first 12 years after our house was built. First was the cheapie the developer put in. The second had a 12 year warranty and we bought at HD. That one failed in a couple of years and they replaced under warranty. The replacement failed 2 years later. Since HD no longer carried that top end model they upgraded me (for free) to an all plastic one make by Rhem. This one has an ABS tank, and an ABS shell. No anode rods or anthing. I drain regularly and I have never had a single particle of sediment. We've had this plastic Rehm for over 8 years and it's like brand new. HD no longer sells them, but others do. Search for Rehm water heaters. As a plus, it's a lot more energy conserving than all the others. I think the current price is around $400 so it's a lot more, but if I remember right, the energy savings gave a payback of like 6 years compared to the HD top steel tank model. We must have bad water. We went through 3 water heaters in the first 12 years after our house was built. First was the cheapie the developer put in. The second had a 12 year warranty and we bought at HD. That one failed in a couple of years and they replaced under warranty. The replacement failed 2 years later. Since HD no longer carried that top end model they upgraded me (for free) to an all plastic one make by Rhem. This one has an ABS tank, and an ABS shell. No anode rods or anthing. I drain regularly and I have never had a single particle of sediment. We’ve had this plastic Rehm for over 8 years and it’s like brand new. HD no longer sells them, but others do. Search for Rehm water heaters. As a plus, it’s a lot more energy conserving than all the others. I think the current price is around $400 so it’s a lot more, but if I remember right, the energy savings gave a payback of like 6 years compared to the HD top steel tank model.

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