DIYbanter - View Single Post - Quick basic advice on a dripping gas 40-gal hot-water heater

Donna Ohl, Grady Volunteer Coordinator

On Sun, 17 Feb 2008 05:44:55 -0800 (PST), wrote:
I don't know why you continue to dismiss a 12 year warranty on the
water heater as useless. You seem to be saying that because that is
about the typical life of a water heater, that the warranty is of no
value. Yet you value a 1 year warranty on labor?

Hi Trader,

Thanks for keeping up on this. Maybe I'm wrong on the warrantee but I took
logic in college and the warrantee seems like a useless marketing tool to
me when I read through what I have to do in order to "make good" on it.

It's hard for me to write this reply because I feel the warranty is only an
advertising gimmick which, to me, is only useful for the first year, mainly
because I'm never going to take the water heater apart and bring it to the
store to obtain the "free" replacement after the first year - and - the
alternative is to pay as much for the labor as the entire water heater cost
in the first place - so the "free" replacement costs just as much as the
original parts if I have a plumber come to me to inspect, diagnose, and
replace it. The warrantee seems absolutely useless to me, after the first
year given those realistic concerns.

Worse than that, I read the entire text of the Sears "12-year limited
warranty" which intimates Sears will replace parts that are defective and
the water heater itself *only* if it develops a leak (no other replacement
is warranted).

installing it yourself, there is no labor anyway,
so why is that even an issue?

This is the ENTIRE issue! If I have to remove the entire water heater in
order to bring it to the store just to see if they'll warrant the parts or
the leaking tank, that's absolutely crazy! Do people really remove their
water heater, truck it in the back of their car to the store, have someone
at the store look at it and decide whether or not to replace the parts,
then, if they decide not to, you truck it back home and re-install it? Or,
if they decide to replace the parts, they hand you the new parts and you
truck the whole drippy thing back home to re-install it? I think not.

If I need to make good on the warrantee, the only way I'll ever do it is to
call a Sears plumber at 800-469-4663 who will likely charge me as much for
the visit as the thing cost in the first place. Sure, I'll get a new water
heater - and it will cost me exactly what it cost when I bought it
considering I MUST use their labor. I have no choice this second time
around.

My whole point is the automobile analogy you provided is exactly opposite
of reality! You can easily DRIVE the car to the dealership to get a part
diagnosed and fixed but to drive your water heater to the Sears store would
be ludicrous (for me).

Do you see why the automobile analogy doesn't apply for a water heater?
Bringing the water heater to the dealer isn't an option.
To bring the dealer to the water heater costs as much as the water heater.
It's that simple to me.

Donna