GE (Rheem) or State 40 gal short gas - which one?

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cycloxer

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I need a new gas water heater as my 19yo Bradford White has developed a tank leak. I am considering a GE with a 9 year warranty from HD or a State Select with a 6 year warranty from a local plumbing supply house. They are both 40 gallon, short style, gas heaters. They are priced within $40 of one another.

They are both very similar heaters with a .59 efficiency rating. I would consider one of the .62 Energy Star versions except that I would have to re-route my copper water connectors, an air make-up pipe, and my gas line in order to fit a tall style. It just seems like a lot of work for not much gain.

Also, while Energy Star models are available in a short design, I cannot find any of them stocked locally. I am in the Boston area.
 

Jadnashua

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Hummm, the GE is actually made by Rheem, if you call the 800 number in the manual, they answer Rheem, not GE. This is generally considered a better unit than those from State, at least by people here for the most part.

If you buy the say 6-year version and opt for the optional extended warranty (if you want one anyways), it ends up cheaper than buying the (essentially same thing) with the longer warranty.
 

cycloxer

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I'd get another Bradford White if I could find a supply house who would sell me one. I am not too concerned with the warranty, rather I am looking to buy the highest quality unit I can at a reasonable price. I will be installing the unit myself. So one says GE/Rheem and the other says State = what to do.
 

SewerRatz

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I have had more calls on warranties for a Rheem/GE than I have for State, less warranty calls on the Bradford White, and even less on AO Smith. I cover three large counties in the Chicago area, and all four brands are widely sold around here.
 

cycloxer

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Okay that is good to know. My local supply house has a State Select 40 gallon short style tank for a very reasonable price. It does appear to be a well built unit with brass valves. It is only the 6 year warranty, but I take very good care of my equipment and I will be flushing it and checking the anode periodically. I am always a little leery of purchasing large appliances from the big box stores. It really seems to be hit or miss.
 

Master Plumber Mark

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state select is junk

state select is made by Smith and it is junk

it has the air filter underneath it that will eventually cause you trouble and clog up... I doubt the tank will last the warranty either...


Stick with the GE over the State.... at least it has the Rheem FVIR technology on it...





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Cass

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I second or 3rd the GE / Rheem...I replace Smiths constantly that are still under warranty and they have a new warranty policy...

if the heater fails under warranty you must have proof of purchase...they will no longer go by an inspection sticker date...so that means that if the house gets sold and the buyer doesn't get the receipt from when the heater was bought or installed by the plumber, from the seller and the heater leaks...to bad pal...no replacement heater for you...

now thats what I call a nice, customer friendly company, that backs their products...NOT...
 

SewerRatz

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I second or 3rd the GE / Rheem...I replace Smiths constantly that are still under warranty and they have a new warranty policy...

if the heater fails under warranty you must have proof of purchase...they will no longer go by an inspection sticker date...so that means that if the house gets sold and the buyer doesn't get the receipt from when the heater was bought or installed by the plumber, from the seller and the heater leaks...to bad pal...no replacement heater for you...

now thats what I call a nice, customer friendly company, that backs their products...NOT...

Thats odd, I had no idea State and AO Smith are the same. I always thought they where two separate manufacturers.

I just did a warranty call on a State that had one month left on its warranty. They took the sticker no questions asked. And they are the only manufacturer that does not have the supply house charge me for the tank and then reimburse me when they reimburse the supply house, same supply house carries Rheem, which when I do warranty calls on them I have to front the money on the tank and wait 3 months for them to reimburse me.
 

cycloxer

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Okay well the GE (Rheem) 9yr unit that fits my application is the PG40S09AVJ00 available at HD. I have read a few positive reviews of this unit. If I install this unit correctly and properly maintain it, will I get 10+ years of service? FWIW, it is $40 more than the State Select 6yr unit I am considering. I am not an expert on WH's at all, but I want to purchase a good quality unit.
 

Cass

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Lets see for $40.00 more I get 4 years more warranty...ahhhhh yup it is a no brainer...if you need more convincing check consumer reports about Rheem/Rudd/GE heaters...
 

Cass

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Thats odd, I had no idea State and AO Smith are the same. I always thought they where two separate manufacturers.

I just did a warranty call on a State that had one month left on its warranty. They took the sticker no questions asked. And they are the only manufacturer that does not have the supply house charge me for the tank and then reimburse me when they reimburse the supply house, same supply house carries Rheem, which when I do warranty calls on them I have to front the money on the tank and wait 3 months for them to reimburse me.

Your supply house is sticking it to you...I deal with 3 different supply houses and none charge me anything when I am warranting a heater...It was my Smith dealer that told me about the warranty change...the State dealer is like the others and will use a inspection sticker for warranty purposes
 

cycloxer

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Okay I will go with the GE/Rheem. It is an easy swap. I'd prefer to get an Energy Star model, but the re-routing required doesn't seem worth the effort. Also, when you compare the actual annual operating costs, there doesn't seem to be any difference between a .59 and .62 efficiency unit. They both have a $231 estimated annual operating cost on the yellow sticker. I found that odd.
 

Master Plumber Mark

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state in Indy

In AZ, State had so many problems with one model that they pulled out and no longer sell heaters in Arizona.


Their was no one in town even willing to carry State
for a long time, then Stupid Fergusons took the line back on...... and dropped Rheem to do it!!!




o
 

SewerRatz

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Out here there is only 1 supply house that carry the Rheem, most carry Bradford White around here, then there is a few AO Smith, and a few carry State. The one that carries Rheem also carries State which is 30 miles from me.
 

cycloxer

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I installed the GE (Rheem) 9yr unit PG40S09AVJ00 last evening. It seems like it is a well built unit. It certainly appears to work less than my 19yo Bradford White of course, in fairness, I think the BW had a fair amount of sediment built up in there and the tank was rusting out at the top. Going with this short style tank made my installation fairly uneventful. I had to shorten my water lines by a couple of inches, shorten the vent pipe, and raise the gas line an inch as well. I plumbed everything rigid. The unit came up to temperature quick.

When did they start adding anode rods to water heaters? I do not believe my BW had one. How often do you typically have to replace these and how often should they be inspected?

I'll be interested to see if my water heating bill decreases. I will be able to tell come spring/summer as that is the only gas appliance I run at that time and I can compare my therms from the last 2 years.
 

SewerRatz

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Your old Bradford had an anode rod, I know they put their anode rod on the hot side nipple where some manufactures had a port for their anode rod, which would just have a hex head on the top of it for removal.

Around here most anode rods need replacing every 5 years or so. It all depends on the impurities of your water.
 
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cycloxer

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My water hardness is about 8 (primarily from manganese). I installed a softener on the system (1mo ago) as well as a sediment filter (2 yrs ago). My recharge rate is about once a week as we don't use too much water in the household. I also flushed all of the lines as best I could after this install. My furnace is a Burnham forced hot water baseboard unit installed in '05. I flush the lines on that one once per year, though that may be overkill. The water heater was the last old unit in my system. I was not the original owner of the house so I have been replacing and improving components as they wear out. The goal is to do everything I can to get the full life (and more) out of the components, minimize energy usage, and provide clean and hot water to the household.

Thanks for all of the help. You have all been informative.
 
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