The reason we are considering replacing the water heater is b/c we woke up this morning to no hot water. Had some trouble getting the pilot to light. Plumber got it up and running. The pilot blew out shortly after he left. He did come back and got it back up and running and he thought that either the thermal couple is going or condensation hit the pilot and it went out.
I have no idea why it went out in the first place (we think it went out last night at some point). Unsure if it's still up and running. I guess I'll see when I get home.
None-the-less, we've also been dealing with black specs that we can't seem to get rid of. We've replaced the expansion tank, anode rod and PRV. Plumber checked the expansion tank and he said that it seemed fine. So we figured that if we in fact have an issue and need to replace parts that maybe we need to consider replacing the entire tank b/c of this other issue. The tank is only 4 years old.
Although, we aren't guaranteed replacing the tank will resolve the problem. He then suggested putting a filter on the hot water line leading into the home.
He said that they don't deal with whirlpool heaters at all b/c it's so hard to get parts and they don't recommend them b/c they aren't great heaters.
His recommendation was State. Knowing nothing about water heaters, I thought I'd seek additional input re: the product or perhaps get other recommendations that we need to consider.