My 12 year old Bradford White is leaking. I asked my plumber to replace it with the same and he delivers a Rheem. I had three Bradfords and never had an issue. I am relectant to switch the brand and try something new. Rheem is also bigger than Bradford. It makes it a bit crowded. Have you used a Rheem? What are your thoughts?
We had to replace our wh last year after 15 years. It was a Bradford White. After poking around we decided to go with another Bradford White because of reliability.
Be sure to check that yourhouse water pressure regulator is still working, if you have one.
Our house was equipped with a Rheem water heater and nat gas furnace when it was built. The water heater is almost 16 years old… outlived its life expectancy, and knock on wood, still heats. I will replace it with another Rheem in a heartbeat. The one feature that kept it from croaking is the water circulation system (a side benefit from having hot water as soon as you turn it on).
The nat. gas heater needed the blower motor replaced (also almost 16 years old; never had it “serviced”). The Rheem tech was quick, professional, and impressed Mr. B with the speed and quality of the work).
I feel better hearing your experience, BB. Did you ever have to service it or replace a part?
@scholarme, where is water pressure regulator located? I don’t see anything other than the meter.
Not every house has it - it’s usually installed in houses where the street pressure is too high. Typically installed near the meter. Might look like a brass bell. Ask your plumber when he comes back since getting the wh replaced is a great time to have that replaced too if necessary.
House water pressure should only be around 50 psi - if it is much higher than that the water fixtures & appliances break down more quickly.
It’s an old house we don’t have that. A straight line come to the meter and out. What do you think of a flexible rubber gas line. I much prefer the metal pipe.
We had a Rheem. It lasted 16 years no problems until the end when it started leaking. We replaced it with another Rheem. IMO It a good brand.
Water heaters are like tin cans. Nothing serviceable. When it dies, it dies.
On average, water heaters “live” 8-10 years.
We never serviced the furnace either. The annual PM “requirement” is a load of crap. The tech said that the motor would be dead anyway - it is a mechanical part.
Another vore for Rheem. I am feeling better. It’s big but I can live with that. In my lifetime, I had 4 water heaters, 3 Bradford, 1 mor-flo(?) Mor-flo had a couple of switch/fuse problems. It won’t ignite. When it was 14 years old, something had to be repaired for $300. We got a new one.
I think you are supposed to drain the water heater once a year to prevent sediment build up. We never did with the old one, but I think H does with the new one now.
^Oh, we didn’t know. We leave it untouched unless it stops working.
“I think you are supposed to drain the water heater once a year to prevent sediment build up. We never did with the old one, but I think H does with the new one now.”
If you have a whole house circulation system in place, this exercise is not needed. It achieves the same thing.
What is a whole house circulation system? Whatever it is, I am sure we don’t have it.
We have two water heaters for our house. We had Rheem water heaters but had some early-and-consistent trouble with one of them. No problem as the heaters were under warranty (4 years old) - we had the paperwork - we’ve used the same plumbers for years. Well, Rheem did not live up to warranty. First, they insisted the plumbing company rinse the water heater with vinegar - said we should have done so each of its 4 or so years. The plumbing company did so but it didn’t solve the problem. The plumbing company kept trying to work with them for us - explaining the problem over and over to different people. Finally, Rheem sent a replacement part rather than a water heater. Problem - not solved. We replaced that water heater and the other, earlier than we should have.
Our plumbing company no longer recommends Rheem - basically because getting Rheem to live up to their warranty turned out to be a problem - not just in our case but for other customers also. When it works, great; but if you have a problem, you’re on your own.
Three different houses, or you had to replace them three times? If the latter, seems like there were issues…
We just replaced a Kenmore after 10 years. It probably could have been repaired, but the cost of repair plus potential additional life made us decide to replace it.
I just went and looked at mine. It is a Rheem. It was in the house when we bought it 24 years ago. By the looks of the paint splattered on it, it looks like it may be original to the house…1978. Never have had a problem with it.
Here is the usual problem… Excellent performance of older products is not a guarantee that the newly redesigned ones will last as long as the “dinausaurs” by the same maker did.
I remember looking at reviews on all the most popular brands when replacing one in our last house. I found positive reviews and negative reviews on all. The one thing I would recommend is if installing in the garage or basement where there may be an interior room wall next to the water heater, add a Smitty pan under it. If it should leak in time, you don’t want the water going into your house. Also, if you have a water circulator on the old heater, replace that as well when the new water heater is installed. We now have a tankless hot water heater.
If/when mine goes out, I would consider a tankless heater, simply because I covet the closet the current water heater occupies!
I know what you mean about the old appliances being better than the new. I have a 24-year-old Kenmore refrigerator that runs like a top, but I understand the new Kenmores are manufactured by a different company and not as reliable.