On Dec 21, 9:14*am, terry wrote:
On Dec 21, 10:54*am, Bubba wrote:
On Sat, 20 Dec 2008 18:06:27 -0800 (PST), Steve
wrote:
On Dec 11, 7:26*pm, Scott wrote:
Red Green wrote:
Scott wrote :
I'm replacing my aging (34 year old) AO Smith 52-galelectricwater
heater. I looked at the GE brand at Home Depot. But since mywater
heaterfailed last night, I called a plumber, and he's installing a
50-gal Bradford White today ($360.00 + $250 installation) Is this a
pretty decent brand ofwaterheater?
It has a 6-year warranty. They want another $170 to extend the waranty
to 12 years. Any thoughts?
Thanks!
Scott
...(34 year old) ...
Is that a typo?! You sure you weren't like in the hospital once and to
avoid worrying you because it went out someone had it replaced?
Red Green,
Honest! We live in Central Minnesota. We moved into this house in 1977. The
builder built the house in 1974 as his personal home. This is the water heater
that came with the house. We haven't touched it. Never even drained the sediment
from the bottom. It just kept going and going...until last night when the
thermostat stuck on, and the relief valve opened up.
And that's the whole story. Wow, this must be a world record 
Scott- Hide quoted text -
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Very interesting........... *Our 52 gallon "Rheem" water heater from
1978 (30 years old - but you still have the record!) just went on us
the other night. *Same thing with the thermostat sticking but luckily
I was able to catch it before the relief valve opened. *Good thing it
didn't open as it would have made a big mess because it was never
piped down into a floor drain or sump. *So we went to Home Depot and
bought a new 40 gallon GE (manufactured by Rheem) model. *So we got it
home and I installed it myself. *I was quite proud that when I got the
system filled back up there were no leaks in any of my soldered
joints! *I turned the breaker back on and waited, and waited, and
waited but the heater never made a sound and the water was just as
cold coming out as it went in. *So I double checked for power to the
heater and also rechecked my connections inside the connector box of
the heater and everything seemed to be right. *Still no hot
water...... *So I called the GE service line and the tech guy comes on
and says to troubleshoot I need a digital multimeter. *I told him I
have an analog multimeter only. *He says I need a digital meter to
troubleshoot. *He said we need to check for resistance on the top
element and only a digital multimeter will do this correctly. *Longer
story made shorter I finally asked him what about my warranty? *He
said on homeowner installs that they will mail me a new element if I
can prove that there is a bad one. *I said what about labor warranty..
He said on homeowner installs all they can do is mail me a new element
if I can prove there is a bad one. *So I am stuck with a new Rheem
manufactured for GE water heater that doesn't work and I'm expected to
go and buy a new digital multimeter to troubleshoot the problem????
So I called Home Depot and they said if it doesn't work, to just bring
it back and get a new one. *Fine, after all my extra care taking work
to install this one to just rip it back out and go get a new one....
I do know that things happen these days that aren't supposed to happen
but it just goes to show they don't make them like they used to.
Steve
Any chance you didnt push the red reset button on the heating element
thermostat?
Now you know why they don't pay homeowner labor.
Bubba- Hide quoted text -
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Digital or analog. BS.
You don't need a meter at all if you know what you are doing. A spare
bulb, maybe a bulb socket and couple of wires to use as trouble
tracer.
If you are as unschooled in electricity as most of my neighbours go
find one who knows what they are doing and allow them to help you
trace it through.
It sounds like something simple. Unlikely for a brand new tank to have
a defective element!
Could happen but having replaced quite a few (including our own
personal ones roughly every ten years due to iron and other impurities
in the water etc.) since 1956, never had a new tank with a defective
element.
Our last one was bought in Dec. 2006 for around $200 (40 US gal.) ,
plus a new pressure relief valve, now located on the side of tank for
some reason? The tank, having the same dimensions etc. as the old one,
we installed ourselves. *Total cost; tank, valve and sales taxes
around $240.- Hide quoted text -
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I did my own troubleshooting with my 20+ year old analog cheapo
multimeter and determined the top element had an open circuit - ultra
high ohms to infinity. In comparison, the lower element had about 6
ohms (RX10). So I called the Home Depot (electrical & plumbing depts)
and told them what I had. They said I could either return the whole
heater unit or just bring in the element and they could test it and /
or replace it for free. I figured it's much easier to take out the
element and go that way first. I was amazed to find that the top
element was "fried" when I took it out..... I am absolutely certain
that I had the tank full and the hot water lines full up to the 2nd
story of the house (heater sits in the basement) before even
connecting the wires to the heater and when I turned on the breaker
for the first time there was no sound at all coming from the heater.
When we took the heater from the shelf at the store it appeared the
top of the box had been opened. We asked the clerk about it and she
told us that people are always opening the top of the boxes to look
inside or whatever. When we got it home, we pulled the box apart to
get at the heater to remove it from the box and we noticed the plastic
baggy that had been wrapped around the heater was laying in the bottom
of the box - under the heater. That should have been a red flashing
light right there but without thinking any more about it at the time
we just took it into the basement and did the instal. That heater,
without any doubt in my mind, was bought by someone else who screwed
up the heater probably by not filling it completely with water and
fried the top element. They then just brought it back to the store
and it was put back on the shelf. I brought the fried element into
the store and without questioning they gave me a new element. I
installed the new element, filled up the heater exactly as I first did
and when i turned on the breaker I could immediately hear that little
hissing sound. Within 20 minutes we had all the hot water we could
use. Moral of the story: Don't ever take a product out of a store
that noticeably has had its container opened!
Steve