On Feb 10, 12:25*pm, "Donna Ohl, Grady Volunteer Coordinator"
wrote:
On Sun, 10 Feb 2008 09:45:37 -0800 (PST), N8N wrote:
Most water heaters have a 6 year warranty; that means that anything
over 10 years or so without regular maintenance is borrowed time. *

Hi Nate,
Thanks for the continued advice.
This "warranty" stuff always confused me.
On the one hand, Consumer Reports says never buy the extended warranties
for electronics and the like and on the other hand, for their hot-water
heaters, they say get the ones with the longest warrantee because they
"tend to be insulated better".

Since a warrantee is merely a marketing gimmick, I find the fact that there
is any correlation between warrantee and actual product quality suspicious..

I'm an old(er) woman and I've *never* made good on any warrantee for
anything sizeable ever. I remember muffler warrantees in the 80's where by
the time I needed a new muffler, I didn't even remember where I bought the
last one. Same with automotive batteries and brake pads. Sure, they're
warranted, but, when your tire blows, you need a new tire and you can't
shop around for the store that sold you the warrantee.

Since a warrantee is merely a marketing gimmick, how can there be *any*
correlation between warrantee and actual quality?

Donna

As far as water heaters go, the only difference I'm aware of is extra
anodes for the 10 or 12 year warranty models. If you're checking them
every year when you flush and replacing when necessary, it doesn't
matter. I'd pick 'em based on efficiency ratings, BTU/hr ratings, and
price.

nate