Avoid Lowes gas water heaters (Whirlpool by American Water Heaters)

[Shawn Clark]

I'm posting this as a helpful warning to others. These water heaters are not worth the resources used in making them and will fail early, VERY early. American Water Heaters (aka U.S. Craftmaster, etc.) produces water heaters for Whirlpool which are then sold through Lowes. I guess if you really want to conserve on hot water this might be the brand to buy...since you won't have any hot water eventually.

Ever since the FVIR regs took effect several years ago these new "Flamelock" systems from American Water Heaters have had problems. What happens is that typically in about 1-2 years the pilot becomes unreliable and the owner finds him/herself manually lighting it each time the hot water runs out. This doesn't last long, since soon the pilot won't light either. Then the fun begins...as the owner either has to hire a plumber, or do it him/herself while trying to get warranty parts sent.

With luck a simple thermocouple replacement will get it going...for awhile. Of course it isn't that "simple" because one has to disconnect the gas line, pilot line, igniter, a safety switch, plus the thermocouple. Then one must remove the burner assembly, install the new part (Unitrol Robert Shaw valve), reassemble, leak check, and cross fingers hoping the pilot will work.

If it doesn't work (about 50% of the time) then one must replace the whole gas control valve/thermostat. That means draining the tank, pulling things loose again, installing the new parts, leak checking again, and again crossing the fingers.

Sometimes this doesn't work either. One might then be tempted to make modfications to the burner assembly and partcularly the flame arrestor (there is some indication that the flame arrestor is ruining the draft...all the old units I had without flame arrestors worked flawlessly for decades...if I had one of those old burners handy I would Jerry rig it in place and cut ventilation ports like my old heaters had.) Or one might succeed in RMA'ing the whole unit under warranty. At any rate the plumbing costs will eat them alive. Some have actually gotten full store credit from Lowes. Many eventually purchase a new water heater from another manufacturer.

In my case the burner stopped firing sometime overnight on Friday. I succeeded in relighting the pilot twice on Saturday. Sunday the pilot failed and would not work with any amount of persuasion. The local Lowes to their credit had the thermocouple and gas control valve/thermostat, and the appliance manager told me I could take both (the last ones) figure out which one(s) I needed, then bring back the old parts for credit. Turns out I needed both as the thermocouple didn't do the trick. He owns one of these as well so it was a pretty easy conversation. I've got it running again and the pilot is staying lit.

For the record, I didn't buy this 16 month old water heater, it was selected by the previous homeowner. When I researched it later I realized we were in for exactly this sort of trouble, but I kept my fingers crossed hoping that routine maintenance and our reduced water heating demand would prolong its life.

If you want to learn more, check out this thread over at Terry Love's about the update kit (with a pilot reset), the class action lawsuit (Whirlpool settled), and the many theories about what is wrong and how it might be fixed. Whirlpool Flame Lock water heaters, reviews, troubleshooting, repair and support. - Terry Love's Plumbing & Remodel DIY forum

As to what to buy in place of this? So far the water heaters made by Rheem/Bradford White (including GE's at Home Depot) have gotten high marks. The thing that concerns me is that when I was buying a new gas fitting today I noticed the GE's use a Unitrol thermostat/gas valve that looked just like the Unitrol I had in my hand...except for a different colored knob.

I'm feeling a lot better about not going to gas with the dryer. Right now it appears that buying the cheapest, shortest warranty tanks might be the best bet until the FVIR market becomes reliable. Better to spend half as much on something you expect a short life on, then replace it when the products mature rather than spend twice as much expecting a 15 year life and only getting a small fraction of that.

[oxnardprof]

For what it is worth, I bought a Whirlpool flame lock 50 gallon water heater in September 2004. I have had no problems whatsoever. Also, it is efficient, (energy factor is 0.62), and I received a gas company rebate of $75 on it. It has a 12 year tank and parts warranty, although I admit to being skeptical about that. The warranty only covers the original consumer.

[cycledrum]

Our company put in American water heaters for a couple years. We've had incredibly high number of repairs on those units. We don't stock Americans any more.

Rheems are much more reliable. We've had few warranty repairs to this point.

Our 13 year old Rheem at home is still going strong.

[blippo]

I was in the market for a gas water heater. I was thinking of getting one of those tankless units

[MJFrog]

Originally Posted by Shawn Clark

I'm posting this as a helpful warning to others. These water heaters are not worth the resources used in making them and will fail early, VERY early. American Water Heaters (aka U.S. Craftmaster, etc.) produces water heaters for Whirlpool which are then sold through Lowes. I guess if you really want to conserve on hot water this might be the brand to buy...since you won't have any hot water eventually.

Now why didn't you post this three weeks ago when I had to have my water tank replaced?

Normally I go to Home Depot, but I was pressed for time and Lowes was closer. I got a 40 gal. 34,000 BTU tank. I didn't notice if was the Flamelock unit, but it is a Whirlpool water heater. It has the 'gas-grill' igniter for the pilot light and I thought that was pretty neat...not having to use the foot-long matches or rolled-up newspaper to light the pilot.

It was installed by the husband of my daughter's co-worker (and he does good work too). He set-up all the fittings so I could do the job myself next time if I needed to.

[mgb4tim]

my 66 gallon Rheem electric unit was installed when the house was built... in 1967

[spinkao]

Hobbit has a very interesting post on his webpage regarding the water heaters, here:

Water heater

I would definitely consider the Reem "Marathon":

Marathon Water Heaters

if I was an American looking for a water heater .

[blamy]

Originally Posted by blippo

I was in the market for a gas water heater. I was thinking of getting one of those tankless units

I had a tankless in my last house, loved it! Got all the hot water I could handle (teenage boy=long showers). When the one I have now goes I will go back to a tankless. It was nice not heating water 24 hours a day.

[Shawn Clark]

Originally Posted by blamy

I had a tankless in my last house, loved it! Got all the hot water I could handle (teenage boy=long showers). When the one I have now goes I will go back to a tankless. It was nice not heating water 24 hours a day.

Not arguing against the tankless, but the burner for my tank isn't running very frequently (post repair...it wasn't running at all this weekend.) It pretty much ran on demand for large users (showers and such), didn't need to kick in for small uses. I think what you intended to say is "It was nice not storing hot water 24 hours a day." My tank losses work out to about mid-30's therms/yr.

[Shawn Clark]

Originally Posted by spinkao

Hobbit has a very interesting post on his webpage regarding the water heaters, here:

Water heater

I would definitely consider the Reem "Marathon":

Marathon Water Heaters

if I was an American looking for a water heater .

That's electric though.

Looks like he has soft water. When we had electric water heaters as a kid I was the one who changed elements and scooped out buckets of encrusted lime from the tank. Our water was about as hard as it comes. Still, the tanks lasted a long time and never recall replacing one. I just was accustomed to frequent element swaps. On the other hand, the one I had in Georgia ran fine for several years with I think only one element changeout--the water wasn't as hard.

I wouldn't touch electric water heaters now unless that was the only option. It's inefficient to produce electricity by boiling water then use that electricity to heat water...about mid-30's on the thermal efficiency. This makes it relatively expensive to operate compared to gas. Don't be fooled by the high energy factor of the electric unit vs. the gas unit.