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Electric Water heater started leaking. It has a 6 year tank and parts warranty. 3 years left on the warranty. It's leaking at the top where hot water comes out. Warranty people said check the dioelectric union first. I had already done that but ok, looked again, there's nothing between the union and the tanks fitting. It leaks around the tanks fitting and fiberglass insulation. Called them back and they said I had to have a plumber come out and inspect it. I asked, do I get my money back from the plumber when its your defect, answer no. Can I send you pictures or a video of the leak? No. $130 for a plumber to tell them what I'm already telling them. Screw you, I'm gone even though the $130'd be cheaper since it would be under warranty. They're not getting another dime from me, directly or indirectly.

Going electric tankless Ecosmart 27kw, Lifetime warranty.

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Ya no, it was a 40 gallon electric. I tore the lid off the top off it and cut away the insulation. It leaked where the threaded fitting was molded to the steel tank. I imagine that's a connection point for the bladder as well. I'll take some foamy water, fill it full of air, and video it and send them a nice email.

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We have a 50 gallon electric here (I rent, so not my responsibility) and when it had problems earlier in the year, I looked up the model number and let's just say that the results weren't exactly great.  Now, when it comes to something like a water heater, something out of sight, out of mind, how many people are going to give good reviews of them, unless it's something interesting like a tankless?  

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We'lll find out. Expensive for the #8 awg wire since I need  almost 35' x3 to get to my electrical panel and connecting to 3, 40amp double pole breakers. You need to have 200amp service for most whole house tankless heaters. Should pay off, the less people the better and I'm hardly home.

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Tankless appears to be the way to go.

Anyone heard anything bad?

Tankless are great for continuous supply of hot water and efficiency. They also take up much less room in your utility room. However there are a couple use differences.

First it takes a few seconds for the unit to warm up when you turn on the water. This means hot water will take a little longer to get to the tap. In addition if you use hot water in bursts like when washing dishes you will get pulses of hot and cool water as the unit shuts off every time you turn off the water. Also they will not heat the water if you are running it slowing, like some people do when washing dishes or shaving. 

Gas units work great for a whole house supply. Ours will run 2 showers even in the winter. However electric units are not as powerful and may not be able to heat our cold winter ground water sufficiently for a hot shower. They definitely will not run multiple sources at the same time. In addition there is not much energy savings for an electric compared to a tank as an electric tank can be very well insulated unlike a gas tank unit which must have an exhaust. 

We have been very pleased with ours but they do require some adjustment.

Craig

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Electric Water heater started leaking. It has a 6 year tank and parts warranty. 3 years left on the warranty. It's leaking at the top where hot water comes out. Warranty people said check the dioelectric union first. I had already done that but ok, looked again, there's nothing between the union and the tanks fitting. It leaks around the tanks fitting and fiberglass insulation. Called them back and they said I had to have a plumber come out and inspect it. I asked, do I get my money back from the plumber when its your defect, answer no. Can I send you pictures or a video of the leak? No. $130 for a plumber to tell them what I'm already telling them. Screw you, I'm gone even though the $130'd be cheaper since it would be under warranty. They're not getting another dime from me, directly or indirectly.

Going electric tankless Ecosmart 27kw, Lifetime warranty.

 

After you get your tankless, box up the old one and ship it to the CEO of Whirlpool. Cut it up first so it fits in a small box.

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I am on my 3rd Whirlpool hot water tank in 4 years! absolute junk! they keep replacing for free but I have to eat the labor each time.

Come to think of it, this is my second one. The first time I just took it back to Lowes and picked up another. No charges or bs.

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When I installed my current one 6 years and 20 days ago (6 year warranty by the way) I put a drain pan underneath it. Because my water heater is on the first floor the last time it leaked it went everywhere. But I neverpiped it away so it was kind of worthless. Due to all this talk I have now to the initiative to run the pipe so in case it leaks I'm good now I guess I just got lucky last 6 years.

Edited by 2talltim
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Get-r-done Tim.

Ouch. Spent about $200 for 105' of #8 2 wire with ground, some flex water heater hose and misc clamps and anchors. This bitch better work for a while. I could have moved the heater closer to the panel sweating some pipes, saving on wire but I'm lazy, it's already centrally located to the spigots, and it may have only saved $50 upfront but a longer hot plumbing line prolly would have cost more to heat over the years.

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After you get your tankless, box up the old one and ship it to the CEO of Whirlpool. Cut it up first so it fits in a small box.

Good idea. I was going to pressurize it and video the leak. I had to tear the top of the tank off and cut out the insulation to get to the base of the fitting where the leak is. I put in a short video clip of me blowing holes in it while bump firing the AR. Either way I should get $20 for it at the scrap yard.

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There it is, in all it's glory. Waters hot. Still hot with a pencil sized trickle also. The unit and the fuse panel hum a little when it's pulling all that power. 115's hot enough for me. You set it so your hot shower is only using hot water and nothing from the cold side. AKA, not like a tanked unit where you set it really really hot so you can mix in cold and get it to last longer. I can't wait to bathe.

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Yep, the house has always had one. The only thing not filtered, are the outside spigots. Its spring water off the side of the hill that comes out of the ground thru a underground pipe into a 3 compartment concrete below ground holding tank. Water comes in, fills up that shallow compartment, then overflows thru a pipe to the main large compartment which has a hd submersible pump at the bottom, then when that is full, it goes thru another pipe that dumps it into the other compartment which has a floor drain in it and it gets discharged out down the hill. Pretty neat, it continuously flows in and back down the hill. Often, salamanders and crawfish are swimming around in there year round, but if its good for them its good for me. The water itself and the movement keep it from freezing.

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Do you have a softener? I've heard reports of even with a softener, having to descale the unit ever. 6-12 months. No softener, good luck. I'll stick with my 50 gallon tank. Gas is still cheap here, so cheap in fact during April-August we use so little gas we build up enough of a credit on budget that we don't have a bill September, October and November,

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