Guys would a Rheem or a A.O. Smith be a better water heater? Electric. I figure Rheem would win but the Smiths have way better reviews. Going to buy 1 tomorrow. Any input anyone has would be helpful. 40 gallons is what I'm getting. Thanks.
Good Hot Water Heater?
- Thread starter Honda2003
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Reliability or energy savings? Rheem Marathon if you want reliability and high electric usage. I have a Rheem heat pump water heater which uses much less electricity.
Had a new home built last year and went with geothermal HVAC, despite having natural gas available. Didn't go with a desuperheater hot water system. The heat pump water heater is a lot more costly but pays for itself. It has a air filter you gotta clean every couple of months.
Look at the energy labels between electric heat pump water heaters and the traditional ones.
Had a new home built last year and went with geothermal HVAC, despite having natural gas available. Didn't go with a desuperheater hot water system. The heat pump water heater is a lot more costly but pays for itself. It has a air filter you gotta clean every couple of months.
Look at the energy labels between electric heat pump water heaters and the traditional ones.
Skip the Rheem. Not sure about their electric heaters but when I did maintenance we had ALOT of the gas ones fail 6-12 months after installation fairly constantly
Bradford White
The Bradford White water heaters can usually be found at dedicated plumbing supply wholesalers
The rheem gasser in this house is 10 years old, infant mortality on the relief valve which was a leaker months after purchase
If you Google "Best electric water heater site:terrylove.com" you will find your answer, which is "it depends". Anecdotal experiences might be biased because of local water quality (early failure), a bad batch run, etc.. Except for the Marathon and other specialty ones, the basic water heaters are all very similar. Maybe compare price and warranty of the 3 major brands. When checked a few years ago, Rheem had a tad better warranty process (maybe changed?)
While I like supporting Middleville, Michigan built Bradford Whites, their one caveat I detest is that the anode rod is connected to the hot water outlet, making it more difficult to replace. I installed a gas Bradford White about 5 years ago. No problems so far.
While I like supporting Middleville, Michigan built Bradford Whites, their one caveat I detest is that the anode rod is connected to the hot water outlet, making it more difficult to replace. I installed a gas Bradford White about 5 years ago. No problems so far.
About Us - Bradford White Corporation
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www.bradfordwhitecorporation.com
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My Rheem lifetime is over 20 years old. Extremely hard water. Never touched it except to replace a leaky supply line. It's made me incredibly ignorant to water heater maintenance.
Whirlpool, A.O. Smith, Kenmore. If you an spring for it go with a self-cleaning water heater. Skip the Home Depot Brand. According to several maintenance people that I've worked with and the guy that looked at my old water heater years ago said that the Home Depot brand use reverse fittings that aren't compatible.
Home Depot carries the Rheem brand. I installed their cheapest Rheem 40 gallon model with the 6 year warranty in June, 2010 in my house and have done ZERO maintenance. Works like new today even though our public municipal water system supplies very hard water. The fittings are not reverse from any other conventional water heater sold in the U.S., including the A.O. Smith water heater I installed in my parents' home last week. The only difference is the pressure relief safety valve is on top of the Rheem unit while it protrudes from the right front side of the A.O. Smith unit. If the O.P. is DIY, it will typically be easier to replace the current unit with one that has the same dimensions and pipe configuration. I prefer to buy the simplest, most basic water heater since the upper models contain too many gadget features (e.g., Wi-Fi monitoring, Digital Temperature control panels, Energy Monitoring displays) that increase the potential for failure.
Ive installed a ton of rheem and AO Smith without issue.
Can't recommend Bradford white because the company I used to work for was a dealer for them. We always had a pile of them behind the shop that were replaced under warranty.
Can't recommend Bradford white because the company I used to work for was a dealer for them. We always had a pile of them behind the shop that were replaced under warranty.
That I don't know.
..."Do you know if the Rheem come with copper elements like the AO Smith?"...
Neither Rheem or AO Smith use copper heating elements. According to the AO Smith spec sheet shown below, they use Incoloy (stainless steel) elements, which is what my Rheem has. AO Smith states that Incoloy is more durable than copper.
Neither Rheem or AO Smith use copper heating elements. According to the AO Smith spec sheet shown below, they use Incoloy (stainless steel) elements, which is what my Rheem has. AO Smith states that Incoloy is more durable than copper.
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