The Evil Tank
Oh my dears! What horrors we have discovered lurking in our basement that aren't locked in their cell!
About 20 months ago, husband and I had to replace our old gas hot water tank, which just gave out after 10 years of service. Because we had no time to lose, we were flying out to see his family in two days, we did what lots of consumers do when they panic - we went to Lowe's.
While there, we bought a 40 gal., gas water heater with the Whirlpool brand on it. We thought, well, its a Whirlpool, what could go wrong. We as we just found out, PLENTY!
The beast just stopped working one morning before work, so I girded my loins, went down stairs, and tried to relight the thing. But what was this? No way to light the pilot light! The workings were concealed behind a small glass window! So I called Whirlpool and found out that the unit is sealed and that you have to twist all sorts of dials and click an electronic spark thingy and it relights. Well that was fine and dandy because that means no more singed eyebrows. Wonderful!
Until the next morning when it did it again. So we called Whirlpool and nice lady helped me relight the thing and that was that. Right? Wrong, it did it again the next day.
Well my dears when I say that I conveyed my concerns, I did so in a calm manner and they agreed to fix it - parts and labor. However when the repairman got to our house, we learned an ugly, ugly secret: these tanks are lemons and break down frequently! How frequently? Class Action Lawsuit Frequently, thats how frequent.
We are besides ourselves with grief because now the morning drama is no longer "I'm I awake or does death just feel like life?" to "Will we have wonderful hot water shower or tepid showers?"
So we beg and implore you that before you run out and do what we did, call a plumber and have them install a Bradford White Hot Water Tank, which is the top rated tank and apparently never fails as our Whirlpool (an AOSmith product) did and will do.
This makes sense to me because we have replaced the hot water tank in my apartment building three times in the five years that I have lived here.
ReplyDeleteEvidently these tanks are complete CRAP.
ReplyDeleteBelieve me, it could be worse. I came home last month to find water pouring down the driveway. No water damage, thankfully, but because my house was built in the 50's, the new, fancy scmancy water heaters with the sealed burner units don't fit into the existing space. I had to upgrade to a tankless water heater -- a $4,000 expense I wasn't expecting.
ReplyDeleteThe Other Michael