• The TUGBBS forums are completely free and open to the public and exist as the absolute best place for owners to get help and advice about their timeshares for more than 30 years!

    Join Tens of Thousands of other Owners just like you here to get any and all Timeshare questions answered 24 hours a day!
  • TUG started 30 years ago in October 1993 as a group of regular Timeshare owners just like you!

    Read about our 30th anniversary: Happy 30th Birthday TUG!
  • TUG has a YouTube Channel to produce weekly short informative videos on popular Timeshare topics!

    Free memberships for every 50 subscribers!

    Visit TUG on Youtube!
  • TUG has now saved timeshare owners more than $21,000,000 dollars just by finding us in time to rescind a new Timeshare purchase! A truly incredible milestone!

    Read more here: TUG saves owners more than $21 Million dollars
  • Sign up to get the TUG Newsletter for free!

    60,000+ subscribing owners! A weekly recap of the best Timeshare resort reviews and the most popular topics discussed by owners!
  • Our official "end my sales presentation early" T-shirts are available again! Also come with the option for a free membership extension with purchase to offset the cost!

    All T-shirt options here!
  • A few of the most common links here on the forums for newbies and guests!

electric hot water heater

w.bob

Tug Review Crew: Rookie
TUG Member
Joined
Jun 7, 2005
Messages
517
Reaction score
0
Points
16
Location
CT
I am in the market for a 50 gallon electric hot water heater. Narrowed the search down to an A O Smith, Whirlpool or GE made by Rheem.

All of the prices, ratings and warranties are about the same. Does anyone have any experience with any of these brands, good or bad. Thanks
 

ljwhit

TUG Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2008
Messages
36
Reaction score
0
Points
6
Location
florida
I had a Rheem which rusted out in 5 years ---at the top---- and just replaced with a Whirlpool.
 

UWSurfer

Tug Review Crew
TUG Member
Joined
Feb 10, 2007
Messages
2,439
Reaction score
64
Points
408
Location
Los Angeles
Father-in-Law used to install water heaters here for Sears. He got us a blemished one at our old home with the Sears label which we used for 12 years. Ended up replacing it with a GE, just prior to listing the house for sale to make the house more attractive to potential buyer (along with copper repipe, new roof, carpet, paint inside and out, updated kitchen bathroom, landscaping....).

Moved to the new house which had a 16 y/o water heater and he & my wife declared we should get ahead of the curve and replace it. It was a little undersized for our household.

He specified the AO Smith for our new home and felt very strongly that it was better quality than the GE. We've had it for 2-1/2 years with no issues.

All of these water heaters however are natural gas units, which is fairly typical here in SoCal.
 

sandcastles

TUG Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
457
Reaction score
0
Points
226
Location
Indiana
I was a service manager for a plumbing and heating co. for 17 years and I always recommended the AO Smith. I'm sure the others are good also but my plumbers had a preference for AO Smith and the company was so easy to deal with on warranties. I replaced my AOSmith about 2 years ago. My old heater was around 22 years old.
 

Htoo0

TUG Member
Joined
Sep 6, 2005
Messages
1,320
Reaction score
9
Points
248
Location
Oklahoma
I have a 50 gallon Whirlpool 5500 Watt Lifetime which has a 'programmable' control board on it. (Has different modes of operation.) IMHO, this has been a big mistake. It died on me in less than a year and although a new one arrived the very next day, it simply doesn't do a good job of maintaining temperature anymore.
 

AwayWeGo

TUG Review Crew: Expert
TUG Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
15,686
Reaction score
1,630
Points
699
Location
McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.
Resorts Owned
Grandview At Las Vegas

[triennial - points]
All U. S. Gas Water Heaters Come From Just 2 Factories -- True Or False ?

I was told -- seriously -- that all Made In USA gas water heaters, regardless of brand, come from just 2 manufacturing facilities, & 1 of those is in Johnson City, Tennessee.

Is that for real ?

Or is that just local Johnson City boosterism -- i.e., baloney ?

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​
 

SherryS

TUG Review Crew: Expert
TUG Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
777
Reaction score
4
Points
18
Location
Siesta Key, FL and Grandville, MI
Our condo repairman just told us last week that there were just 2 water heater manufacturers.....Didn't say where they were located......
 

somerville

TUG Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
899
Reaction score
4
Points
378
Location
Dallas, TX
I can't help you on the electric, but I replaced my gas water heater a few months ago. The old one was a Bradford-White and was 15 years old. It was not leaking at the time. I replaced it with another Bradford-White, because my plumber told me that it was 100% American made. He also recommended AO Smith, which he said was made in the US, but contained some foreign parts. He also said that he had his best experience with the Bradford-White heaters.
 

suzanne

Tug Review Crew: Rookie
TUG Member
Joined
Jun 7, 2005
Messages
1,694
Reaction score
44
Points
258
Location
Las Vegas, NV
We just replaced our old heater with a Whirpool this week. It was the best price. As I have owned Whirlpool appliances for years with good luck on them all, we decided to go with it for the hot water heater. Our old one rusted and blew out the bottom. It was over 10 years old and an off brand that came with the house.

We have always had electric heaters, never had a gas one so can't say if one is better than the other. I do know that we replaced the heating elements in the old one with ones that were always ready, thats not what the technical name is, but they kept us from running out of hot water. Which we were always doing with the old elements that were in the heater. We will do the same with the new one if we find we are not having enough hot water. We have problems with this since we live in an older mobile home and have to use a smaller tank size than a traditional or newer mobile home takes.

Suzanne
 
Top