# Rheem Water Heaters



## Phat Cat (Apr 1, 2009)

One of our suppliers is dropping one manufacturer and adding Rheem Water heaters.

Opinions please. The sales rep for Rheem came to our office and left us with a lot of reading material. We are considering changing over to support our supplier; however, we would never switch over to an inferior product.

Our research is just beginning.


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## Ron (Jun 12, 2008)

Don't do it, use Bradford White, stay all professional as BW's are not sold to just anyone, but only to us pros.


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## user4 (Jun 12, 2008)

Almost all Rheem residential water heaters are made in Mexico.


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## Phat Cat (Apr 1, 2009)

The first truckload is definitely coming from Alabama. I should have asked the rep. if they can guarantee that or could the next shipment be from Mexico. We like to buy American when we can! On monday, I'll ask our supplier.

Ron - Bradford White - Is that a fact they don't sell to the general public? Rheems website suggests their 8 year heater is for pros only; however, the rep said our supplier can sell to anyone off the street. They just won't get the 8 year warranty if a pro doesn't install it. 

Same problem with Fluidmaster Pro Series - they advertise all over the place that it is for Professionals only - yet we have a supplier that sells them to local hotels. 

Professional only materials - I'm skeptical because so many have sold out.


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## Redwood (Sep 8, 2008)

It is true Bradford White is supposed to be sold to pro's only.
However, there are supply houses that do not honor their agreement with Bradford White.

IMHO Bradford White has the best FVIR design there is on the market followed by Rheem....

The water heaters manufactured by American Water Heaters sold under various labels has the worst with A.O.Smith being only slightly better...


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## user823 (Feb 3, 2009)

Are you talking about switching from Bradford White to Rheem? Wow, that's the first time I'ver ever heard that! Good luck!
Ask your rep where the safety system reset button is on the Rheem gas heater, like the one on Bradford White. :whistling2:


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## Redwood (Sep 8, 2008)

ironranger said:


> Ask your rep where the safety system reset button is on the Rheem gas heater, like the one on Bradford White. :whistling2:


Ahhh just one of the things that make Bradford White the better design...:thumbup:


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## Ron (Jun 12, 2008)

Rheem does not and I mean does not have good tech support. They failed to solve a problem I had not long ago on a gas water heater.


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## KratzerPlumbing (Feb 23, 2009)

We used to be the Rheem warranty rep in the SF Bay area. Their product really sucks. We were doing 5-6 warranty calls a day and that was before Home Cheapo started carrying them under the GE label. Rheem tries to be the company who sells the most and f... the quality. As far as I am concerned Bradford White is hands down what I would install in my own families houses.


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## Herk (Jun 12, 2008)

I've had nothing but trouble with BW heaters. I've yet to see one where they line up the thermostats with the hole in the side of the case. I've had to replace the thermostats the same day I installed the heater after flooding a house.

I've used Rheems exclusively for years. At least they put the manufacture date in the serial number and you don't need a manual to decipher it.

I have a Rheem in my own house. Here, with the vile hard water, a heater typically ruins the bottom element and needs cleaned in about three years. Mine has never had anything done to it, still works fine, and is over ten years old. 

I used AO Smith for a while and got tired of chiseling out the top of the case so I could get the nipples to fit. And I saw them failing at about seven years - in one the bottom blew right out.

The Homey version of Rheem, Reliance or GE, does not have whatever mechanism that keeps the sediment in suspension and I've cleaned them at three years. 

BTW - we use mostly electric heaters here - only a few gas.

Many Sears need a odd-sized element and I keep those in stock.

For my money, you can't go wrong with Rheem. I've never had a bad one. I don't want to tell you how many problems I had with State before they stopped selling them in the area.


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## Phat Cat (Apr 1, 2009)

IR - Never said switching from BW to Rheem.

Like Herk - majority of water heaters are electric. Only two gas water heater calls in five years. 

I do believe where they are manufactured makes a huge difference. 

We have had very little trouble with A.O. Smith and have had no hassles when replacing a water heater under warranty. That said, one of the new home communities had a lot of AOS WH that were not at all like ours and they did have trouble with them. Glad we didn't install them:yes:. 

Different Models can be a night & day difference in overall quality. Why do you think Lowes/H.Depot water heaters are cheap? They are made cheap and in the long run will probably cost more than a quality water heater.


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## user823 (Feb 3, 2009)

PlumbCrazy said:


> IR - Never said switching from BW to Rheem.
> 
> Like Herk - majority of water heaters are electric. Only two gas water heater calls in five years.
> 
> ...


My bust, for some reason I thought you were switching from Bradford White, sorry, please forgive me.


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## Nevada Plumber (Jan 3, 2009)

I use Rheem and Bradford White water heaters, 99% are electrics. I have the same amount of problems with both of them, less then 1%. For the last few years, all my Rheem water heaters say made in Mexico on them.

As for your comment about these professional only products being sold to non-professionals, that upsets me also. My local supply house sells everything they can to the homeowners. My out of town supplier that was a lot stricter about who they would sell to has really loosened up on selling to homeowners since the economy died. I expect all the supply houses to really try and gain the homeowner business to offset the money they lost from the plumbers slowing down.


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## stillaround (Mar 11, 2009)

BW has decent tech support. Rheem used to have a name--not so much south.Ferguson sells State. I think they are all pretty similar with electric. I asked BW why they dont put a full port drain on their heaters inasmuch as they use brass with a screwdriver slot. The answer I got was because of liability-they dont want homeowners to flip a lever and flood a house. Not the answer I wanted but it showed thought .


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