# A>O>SMITH at LOWES......



## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

Just found out today that Smith is now being sold at LOWES 
and the Whirlpool brand is being fazed out..........at least around here

Smith owns whirlpool anyway, so I figure they will keep making the same junk in the same factory...just putting the SMITH name on the Whirlpool junk and putting it in a smith box......

gonna have to buy one and see if it is a lower quality unit than can be bought in the plumbing supply house........


----------



## ace4548 (Feb 10, 2015)

Saw that the other day too.. Just rolled my eyes and walked away.


----------



## mtfallsmikey (Jan 11, 2010)

What a tragedy. Dad sold A.O. Smith for many years, were available wholesale only, was the best on the market.:sad:


----------



## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

I have heard that Lowes pushed for this because their reputation has gone to hell because of the 
whirlpool fiasco over the past 15 years... They were sick and tired of this mess that has played out
right in their stores... Its like someone took a huge dump right in the water heater isle of their stores..and the STINK just wont go away ....... 

I am gonna buy a Smith from Lowes and get a Smith from my local plumbing supplier and I am gonna break them apart to see if they actually are the same..

I am willing to bet that the Smith from the plumbing supply house will be a much higher grade
of water heater versus what they are dumping in LOWES and claiming to be Smiths....

I would bet that the LOWES --Smith heater is gonna be a Whirlpool heater with a Smith decal on it.
basically the same old crap with a new label on it.......

this could be a whole new mess for lowes to deal with if they have not actually up-graded the
quality of the heater itself... 

Inquiring minds want to know


----------



## smoldrn (Oct 4, 2010)

I put one in last Sun. Wasn't paying much attention to the differences, but did note that the drain was plastic instead of brass.


----------



## cmh (Jul 29, 2016)

I noticed the plastic drain too. Very typical Whirlpool drain


----------



## dhal22 (Jul 30, 2010)

smoldrn said:


> I put one in last Sun. Wasn't paying much attention to the differences, but did note that the drain was plastic instead of brass.


Why not buy it from the plumbing supply house?


----------



## sparky (Jan 8, 2014)

cmh said:


> I noticed the plastic drain too. Very typical Whirlpool drain


Hell,Bradford white has plastic drain valves now also,they are all cheap junk not worthy of what they cost


----------



## smoldrn (Oct 4, 2010)

dhal22 said:


> Why not buy it from the plumbing supply house?


Because it was Sunday.


----------



## Tommy plumber (Feb 19, 2010)

smoldrn said:


> Because it was Sunday.














Sometimes we have to do what we have to do. 

My local plumbing supply house will open up and sell us plumbing professionals what we need in a pinch when they are closed. 

Case in point: Last new year's eve {Dec. 31, 2016} an elderly lady who is a regular customer of mine called with her W/H leaking all over the garage. In fact, it was running out of the garage into the driveway. She called me. I showed up at her house aroung 3:00 PM. By then the supply was closed. I phoned the owner, he met me at his supply house, sold me a 50 gallon electric, then closed up and left to finish his holiday weekend. 

I finished up with her about 6:00 or so.


----------



## sparky (Jan 8, 2014)

Tommy plumber said:


> Sometimes we have to do what we have to do.
> 
> My local plumbing supply house will open up and sell us plumbing professionals what we need in a pinch when they are closed.
> 
> ...


how much you charge her??


----------



## Fatpat (Nov 1, 2015)

sparky said:


> Tommy plumber said:
> 
> 
> > Sometimes we have to do what we have to do.
> ...



That's what I wanna know too


----------



## Tommy plumber (Feb 19, 2010)

sparky said:


> how much you charge her??












I charged my regular rate for a 50 gallon elec. W/H plus an extra holiday charge. My flat rate book has a "National holiday rate" of $68.75 as an add-on. 

Other add-ons are:

Late night surcharge,
Long distance job site,
Inspection requires someone at site,
Special order materials,
Leave job for parts,
Have equip. delivered to job,
Job requires an assistant.

Flat rate books have all these built in.

Without looking up the customer's invoice, I'm thinking somewhere in the neighborhood of $1100.

This past new year's eve was on a Saturday. And if memory serves, the supply house wasn't even open that particular Saturday on account of the holiday.

Some plumbing professionals will see the price of $1100 and ask, "Is that all?"

Others will say, "Wow, that is a lot!"

If you are reading this and think that $1100 is waaaaay more than you are charging, then you need new customers. Seriously.


----------



## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

I have a customer who had their power vent go out on a weekend about three years ago. They had family from out town who convinced them he knew how to hook one up. Two shark bite branded lines and a very skewed gas line later and they were up and running... for about two years. Now every 3-6 months we're making two trips to their house. One to call the 800# and one to install the warranty part. I'm pretty sure the only part we haven't replaced at least once is the tank itself.

Never heard of this blowes brand before. They now have two years left on the mfg warranty, obviously we charge for each trip, but they are seriously thinking of replacing it, however they live on SS.


----------



## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

Tommy plumber said:


> I charged my regular rate for a 50 gallon elec. W/H plus an extra holiday charge. My flat rate book has a "National holiday rate" of $68.75 as an add-on.
> 
> Other add-ons are:
> 
> ...


For a Saturday holiday, $1100 sounds about right to me. After 4pm I charge an extra $50, between 9pm and 8am it's an extra $100. Extra $100 for a holiday. 

$850 for electric, $950 for gas and $1500 for a 40gal power vent. Our prices are much lower than the big guys and not quite double then the hacks. I've actually seen a heater install where the guy made less than $50 labor after materials. No need to mention he's unlicensed. 

It's been heater season, 12 in two weeks. One truck, just my Master and me. Average heater is an hour give or take depending on clutter in the basement, gas line, 3" vent replacement....


----------



## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

OpenSights said:


> For a Saturday holiday, $1100 sounds about right to me. After 4pm I charge an extra $50, between 9pm and 8am it's an extra $100. Extra $100 for a holiday.
> 
> $850 for electric, $950 for gas and $1500 for a 40gal power vent. Our prices are much lower than the big guys and not quite double then the hacks. I've actually seen a heater install where the guy made less than $50 labor after materials. No need to mention he's unlicensed.
> 
> It's been heater season, 12 in two weeks. One truck, just my Master and me. Average heater is an hour give or take depending on clutter in the basement, gas line, 3" vent replacement....



you are a little low, by a few hundred... but your region of the country is still basically in a depression compared to LA or other hot regions...... 
Whatever your price is, doing the heaters is all good easy work compared to crawling around in someones crawl space all day long or dealing with cleaning out sewers ..... If it keeps going eventually your master will get spoiled with it and not want to do other kinds of work.....:yes:..


----------



## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

Sometimes he bids high just because he wants no part in it, more often than not we get the job anyway just because of reputation.


----------



## dhal22 (Jul 30, 2010)

smoldrn said:


> Because it was Sunday.


We keep at least 10 heaters at the shop.


----------



## dhal22 (Jul 30, 2010)

We are $1500 +/- installed for a gas 50 gal. You're going to spend a grand or so installing it. Why not get rewarded for your troubles to start and organize a company with quality craftsmanship, insurance and a warranty.


----------



## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

*more fun information about Lowes*

I talked to My SMITH dealer in town and they are pretty pissed off about LOWES getting to use the SMITH name on their products.... 

I asked them if they would warranty parts if someone were to walk in and try to get "hardware store smith parts" directly from them...??

. He tells me that this has already happenned to them with dumbasses showing up with "lowes Smith heaters " and expecting them to bail them out of trouble .....

According to this SMITH supplier , all that has happenned is they have put a WHIRLPOOL heater into a box that says Smith on it......its exactly the same Whirlpool heater and just the name has changed .. the parts are the same ... And they are sub standard parts compaired to what goes on a SMITH water heater

I then asked him if this was deceptive and wont it sort of drag down the Smith name over time once the Whirlpool--Smith heaters begin to fail and they get a bad name ??? 

This supply house is something that this fellow owns himself and has attempted to build up for well over 15 years now and said he was not very happy about how Smith has pissed in his face and any of this mess that has landed on his doorstep.......f


----------

