Home Depot Gas Water heaters from Rheem

[Master Plumber Mark]

Searched high and low for a customer with a 2 year old Rheem GAS water heater from
Home Depot on friday... Gas valves and thermopyles are not available in their stores..
The HD guy gets on line and finds them on their site but that does not get the problem solved today for this customer..... Parts are supposed to be under warranty for 6 years but if you cant get them FAST you are TOTALLY screwed., screwed, screwed......

Here is a link to my facebook rant about this... just scroll down the page about 6 posts back and you will see it


https://www.facebook.com/Weilhammer...WiFk_ZNcqr-yQmud_Ujl4BXoim-jPbktl07nvJp92e5v4

 

[Dj2]

Getting parts under warranty takes too long. What is the homeowner supposed to do while waiting? how is he/she/they gonna shower in cold water?
And then, if the parts arrive...but they don't include labor.

The manufacturers know that. For them, parts are pennies. However their goal is to sell one more new water heater. They are not interested in fixing water heaters or supplying labor to plumbers. They know that some homeowners will sooner or later get fed up and dump their water heaters for new one. That's their goal...to sell one more water heater.

When I have a broken WH in one of the rentals and wait for parts under warranty, I can't afford to have my tenant wait. To me, the tenant is the most important factor, and I have to act fast. So I drop everything, get over there with a replacement WH, take the broken WH and repair it in my yard when parts arrive.

You'd never hear me rant. For me it's all about the tenant. Happy tenant means uninterrupted cash flow.

Now, when you talk about other customers who are not my tenants, I tell them to make a decision on their own. I just give them the facts. Most ask me to replace.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Master Plumber Mark]

Getting parts under warranty takes too long. What is the homeowner supposed to do while waiting? how is he/she/they gonna shower in cold water?
And then, if the parts arrive...but they don't include labor.

The manufacturers know that. For them, parts are pennies. However their goal is to sell one more new water heater. They are not interested in fixing water heaters or supplying labor to plumbers. They know that some homeowners will sooner or later get fed up and dump their water heaters for new one. That's their goal...to sell one more water heater.

When I have a broken WH in one of the rentals and wait for parts under warranty, I can't afford to have my tenant wait. To me, the tenant is the most important factor, and I have to act fast. So I drop everything, get over there with a replacement WH, take the broken WH and repair it in my yard when parts arrive.

You'd never hear me rant. For me it's all about the tenant. Happy tenant means uninterrupted cash flow.

Now, when you talk about other customers who are not my tenants, I tell them to make a decision on their own. I just give them the facts. Most ask me to replace.

Most water heaters are pretty easy to get parts for unless you have bought your
heater from a hardware store like Lowes, or home depot...

I have never heard of anyone taking out a heater and swapping it in a rental before but
I guess if you want to go to that much trouble .... I say go for it.....
I guess you are probably dealing with the very low end Whirlpool gas water heaters.... I suppose that is one way
to get yourself out of trouble with the tennants fast. ...
I would say it might be easier just to buy a higher
quality rheem Pro heater from a plumbing supply house which has standard universal repair parts on it...


I totally agree with you that the hardware stores only want to sell another unit out the door and dont want to deal
with anyone wanting warranty parts....they lose money dealing with the paperwork ect.... In fact Whirlpools warranty department would rather let you hang on the phone waiting for an hour to get parts hoping you would just finally
hang up and go get another heater....They dont want to deal with their own junk...

People also look at you in dis-belief when you tell them that their 2 year old Rheem HD heater or their Lowes Whirlpool water heater cannot be fixed quickly and they ought to just put in a new unit...

I have dealt with this before and people just think you are a crook and
are trying to pull a fast one on them....
Once I know what brand they have,
I normally dont waste the time going out to look at their hardware store heaters and simply
tell them the sad tale over the phone.....

most of them kick and scream quite a bit about it but its not my fault
that they went the dirt cheap rout....

 

[Master Plumber Mark]

I finally found the parts at Barnett Plumbing.. They are a catalog type plumbing supply house
going to cost about 90 each for the Honeywell control gas valves... still have not found the right thermoplies yet.... You would think that they would have them considering they were bought out by Home depot a while back....

 

[SWong]

Picture above is definitely one of the newest high efficiency Rheem water heaters with their sealed combustion chamber. Fantastic when they work however a PITA when you have to service it as a homeowner. I've made it a point to keep a spare thermopile assembly along with a "new in the box" gas valve which is my stash to support 4 family homes. Home Depot doesn't normally stock oem thermopiles which these new Rheem water heaters require. We installed a replacement Rheem early this year purchased from HD however it was not a problem free install..... thermopile intermittently went out so we notified Rheem. They had us troubleshoot then decide they wanted to "go cheap" first and just change the thermopile assembly. Took over a week to get the warrantied part delivered. Swapped it out however the new thermopile assembly still went out so I kept the original as a spare. Rheem reluctantly sent out the new (failure prone gas valve) and after swapping it out the water heater has been performing flawlessly. 90% of all new water heaters use this style gas valve and if you search all the forums you will see there is a frightening high failure rate. To prevent debacles such as this I managed to snag a brand new spare gas valve on eBay.

I'm a retiree homeowner and manage to do most maintenance myself or with a friend assisting. Hardest thing about a water heater replacement is getting a new one home. After that it's fairly easy. Only advice I can give is when your high efficiency tank finally fails due to a leak be sure and keep both the thermopile assembly, gas valve but more importantly the FV vial sensor

 

[Michael Young]

Model and serial number for the heater is helpful, but I have found snapping a picture on the right side of the gas valve to get the information on the specific gas valve allows me to source the valve by calling the mfg. for the gas control valve (not the water heater). It saves a lot of time and aggravation to match the valve.

 

[Master Plumber Mark]

Picture above is definitely one of the newest high efficiency Rheem water heaters with their sealed combustion chamber. Fantastic when they work however a PITA when you have to service it as a homeowner. I've made it a point to keep a spare thermopile assembly along with a "new in the box" gas valve which is my stash to support 4 family homes. Home Depot doesn't normally stock oem thermopiles which these new Rheem water heaters require. We installed a replacement Rheem early this year purchased from HD however it was not a problem free install..... thermopile intermittently went out so we notified Rheem. They had us troubleshoot then decide they wanted to "go cheap" first and just change the thermopile assembly. Took over a week to get the warrantied part delivered. Swapped it out however the new thermopile assembly still went out so I kept the original as a spare. Rheem reluctantly sent out the new (failure prone gas valve) and after swapping it out the water heater has been performing flawlessly. 90% of all new water heaters use this style gas valve and if you search all the forums you will see there is a frightening high failure rate. To prevent debacles such as this I managed to snag a brand new spare gas valve on eBay.

I'm a retiree homeowner and manage to do most maintenance myself or with a friend assisting. Hardest thing about a water heater replacement is getting a new one home. After that it's fairly easy. Only advice I can give is when your high efficiency tank finally fails due to a leak be sure and keep both the thermopile assembly, gas valve but more importantly the FV vial sensor

Thank you for your information , very informative

I have been able to find the Rheem honey well gas valve from Barnettes .. Bought 2 of them for 85 each... much cheaper than what I have seen on E-bay... The Thermopyle has been a problem... Barnettes does not have them at this time and it is sold through HD on their web site for about $117 each which I think is way overpriced....

My barnette salesman is having a great time trying to match up the correct thermopyle to this Honeywell
gas valve....and cannot find for sure the correct one..
According to him , there are only 4 places that make them
in the USA so the odds are 1 in 4 which will work... . A certain millivolt level is required for the gas valve to work properly... I have not researched this any further this week but it appears you already know what brand it takes cause you have a few in hand......


update...
I have found something today that is supposed to work .... I guess you have to cut off the ends and wire nut it into the plugs that go to the gas valve...

They cost about 50 bucks each.... and I took the last ones they had

https://photos.app.goo.gl/kWtUXo1sydnqxarW2



Thank you

 

[hj]

I do NOT repair heaters. When they go bad, if they are under warranty the heater comes out and is returned for a replacement.

 

[Master Plumber Mark]

I do NOT repair heaters. When they go bad, if they are under warranty the heater comes out and is returned for a replacement.

It dont sound like you do a lot of water heater repairs for people

Well, I guess if you say to the store that the water heater is leaking, you can get the customer a new heater....
but if its only the parts , you already know they are not gonna just hand you over a free heater....
so its more a question of weither they believe you or not..

So, do you just walk away if it need a new thermostat or thermopile...??..