# Stupid Rheem power vent heater



## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

We get into an air b+b house and its having major troubles with the water heater ......

I talk them into a new Rheem Power vented unit.... The install goes great,,
then about 2 weeks pass and they start having intermittent hot water and the guests that stay there are all peeved about lukewarm water.....

So, Last friday afternoon I race up to the supply house and get the new control that goes on the power vent unit...... It some how clips onto the unit and a special tool will spring it off the body and all you have to do is snap the new one on and you are supposed to be good to go......

the problem with this is I noticed that the brass temperature sensor is not getting changed out when you do this and it is still imbedded in the water heater........ I realize that this is a major flaw just waiting to happen and I try to get the whole part but their are none available in town.... 

if it turns out to be the sensor that is bad you have to special order this 
brass fitting with the sensor inside it....

Anyway , tonight they call and tell me the heater will not heat again....
so this means I get another Warranty service call out of Rheem and now someone has got to cough up a new brass body that goes into the heater....

I get the feeling I will be changing out the heater before they can get this oddball part to show up.....


I really dont understand why they would want to make something so difficult to where you could have just changed out the whole assembly in less than 5 minutes like most common water heaters are set up for....

but instead you have to stand on your head with a special tool and pry the box off the control body and hope that this half assed approach will actually repair the problem....when you gamble on the sensor inside the heater might also be the issue.....

very piss poor design, but my salesman is claiming that they all are going to this honeywell control box only being sent out...

thank you Rheem for making next week a challenge...

I am probably just going to claim the damn thing is leaking and swap it out and save myself a lot of greif and misery...


..







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## ShtRnsdownhill (Jan 13, 2016)

you just answered your own question..they are designed like that NOT to be fixed but easier to replace than try and chase parts and try to explain why they wont have hot water for a week, this one may be under warranty, but when the warranty on those type parts expire( I believe a while before the tank warranty expires), it wont be worth the cost and time of fixing than replacing..and you end up buying more heaters from them..


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## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

ShtRnsdownhill said:


> you just answered your own question..they are designed like that NOT to be fixed but easier to replace than try and chase parts and try to explain why they wont have hot water for a week, this one may be under warranty, but when the warranty on those type parts expire( I believe a while before the tank warranty expires), it wont be worth the cost and time of fixing than replacing..and you end up buying more heaters from them..


Well, that sucks if this is the case... this could be a lot of troubles after the warranty is out on the unit.... and I am being told that ALL of the brands are going to this design....

So, they would rather see me spend my day fooling around with my thumb up my ass attempting to make what they KNOW is probably a half-way repair instead of giving me a complete kit to be 100% sure the problem is resolved....:vs_mad: 

I will be talking to the local Rheem rep real soon , to tell them what I think of their shi//y design ...



I had to raise hell and do about the same thing in 2004 when they increased the size of all their heaters by about 3 inches wider.. I got to talk to one of the head VPs at Rheem and explain why I stopped using their product.....eventually they shrunk the heater back down to a manageable size
..


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## ShtRnsdownhill (Jan 13, 2016)

Master Mark said:


> Well, that sucks if this is the case... this could be a lot of troubles after the warranty is out on the unit.... and I am being told that ALL of the brands are going to this design....
> 
> So, they would rather see me spend my day fooling around with my thumb up my ass attempting to make what they KNOW is probably a half-way repair instead of giving me a complete kit to be 100% sure the problem is resolved....:vs_mad:
> 
> ...


well I think more bad news will follow..with technology getting more complicated...and creaping into every part of life..
did you know skil chainsaws now have computer chips in them, so it took your ability to adjust fuel air mixtures, it has to be programed now...
so the same will happen to all products...
why you ask??? CONTROL....
just imagine all water heaters, boilers or any device having computers in them and hooked up to the internet and are monitored by???? who knows..and if you use too much energy..you get shut down...or what info they collect on your habits by your energy usage...
sound crazy?? just look around you the last few months and you would have said 7 or 8 months ago it would never be like what we are living NOW...


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## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

I’ll ask tomorrow, but I’m pretty sure when we’ve had a heater that goes bad unreasonably quick, that my supply house has forms to fill out and send in. We don’t get as much as we’d normally charge, but it’s something.


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## justme (Jul 4, 2012)

OpenSights said:


> I’ll ask tomorrow, but I’m pretty sure when we’ve had a heater that goes bad unreasonably quick, that my supply house has forms to fill out and send in. We don’t get as much as we’d normally charge, but it’s something.





Yeah it's no where near what a plumber would charge. That's why the warranty plumbers always have to find something wrong with an install in order to charge extra beyond the warranty.


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## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

OpenSights said:


> I’ll ask tomorrow, but I’m pretty sure when we’ve had a heater that goes bad unreasonably quick, that my supply house has forms to fill out and send in. We don’t get as much as we’d normally charge, but it’s something.



I give them a bill for 150 to pick up the part and change it out.....
today I talked to our Rheem guy and basically I told him I was probably
just gonna change out the heater and warranty it out completely....

he was ok , fine with that...... or he said they would just throw me another 150 to change the shank out..... 

of course this does not necessarily mean the heater will straighten out and fly right after doing this...

I prefer just changeing it


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## Plumbus (Aug 4, 2008)

I'd think about changing more than the heater, like changing brands.


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## Tango (Jan 13, 2018)

justme said:


> Yeah it's no where near what a plumber would charge. That's why the warranty plumbers always have to find something wrong with an install in order to charge extra beyond the warranty.


Ha one of the reps is always on my case saying I'll put you on my list for water heater repair or a replacement. Then I asked how much it paid, I laughed at him outright. The repair paid less than my service call without adding my 1hr minimum, it just covered gas and I'd be working for free . 

The replacement was about (after taxes) 80$. so basically they are idiots. No one is buying their stuff anyways.


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## Tommy plumber (Feb 19, 2010)

Mark, can you post any pictures or a video next time?

Thanks. I have not run into this...............yet.


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## justme (Jul 4, 2012)

Tango said:


> Ha one of the reps is always on my case saying I'll put you on my list for water heater repair or a replacement. Then I asked how much it paid, I laughed at him outright. The repair paid less than my service call without adding my 1hr minimum, it just covered gas and I'd be working for free .
> 
> The replacement was about (after taxes) 80$. so basically they are idiots. No one is buying their stuff anyways.


 I've dealt with the warranty plumbers in my area a few times and if he can find ANYTHING wrong with the install the warranty work can not be done until the problems are repaired and he hits you with a 300 dollar show up charge. That's how they make their money on warranty work in commercial .


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## justme (Jul 4, 2012)

Tommy plumber said:


> Mark, can you post any pictures or a video next time?
> 
> Thanks. I have not run into this...............yet.





I have some pictures of a AO Smith that has a similar damn sensor buried in the tank but it's a commercial heater and I had to wait a week to get this damn sensor to get the heater working on a brand new project. It's the BTH high efficiency model, I will see if I can find the pics. You have to drain over half the tank down just to change the sensor.


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## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

Plumbus said:


> I'd think about changing more than the heater, like changing brands.


They claim that even bradford white is using the very same honeywell valve...with no brass insert into the heater....

If it gives me any more issues, I will switch it out to a bradford and just warranty out the heater later in the year....


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## Dpeckplb (Sep 20, 2013)

Master Mark said:


> Plumbus said:
> 
> 
> > I'd think about changing more than the heater, like changing brands.
> ...


I install Bradford. I’ve yet to see the chinsey valve on them.


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## sparky (Jan 8, 2014)

Master Mark said:


> We get into an air b+b house and its having major troubles with the water heater ......
> 
> I talk them into a new Rheem Power vented unit.... The install goes great,,
> then about 2 weeks pass and they start having intermittent hot water and the guests that stay there are all peeved about lukewarm water.....
> ...


The solution is simple and you already know what to do,take your 440 channel locks and beat the crap out of the pieces,then it will come into compliance and work correctly:biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:


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## ShtRnsdownhill (Jan 13, 2016)

sparky said:


> The solution is simple and you already know what to do,take your 440 channel locks and beat the crap out of the pieces,then it will come into compliance and work correctly:biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:


2 foot rigid pipe wrench is easier on the hands while beating controls into submission to work...


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## sparky (Jan 8, 2014)

ShtRnsdownhill said:


> 2 foot rigid pipe wrench is easier on the hands while beating controls into submission to work...


Exactly lolololololololololololo


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## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

ShtRnsdownhill said:


> 2 foot rigid pipe wrench is easier on the hands while beating controls into submission to work...


I took the heater out last week on a Sat afternoon , got tired of messing with it and people were staying at this Air B+b place.....

its Rheems problem now


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## Tommy plumber (Feb 19, 2010)

Master Mark said:


> I took the heater out last week on a Sat afternoon , got tired of messing with it and people were staying at this Air B+b place.....
> 
> its Rheems problem now












Next time please post a video or photos of the offending parts.


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## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

Tommy plumber said:


> Next time please post a video or photos of the offending parts.





actually I tore out an 8 year old rheem tankless water heater that was venting out the side of the house in a triple wall vent system ...Only went about a foot up and 2 foot out the side of the home.... It turned out that the heater was scaling up and clogging up all the hot water lines in the home.... and they did not want to invest in a water softener or attempt to de-lime the unit.... so out it went

I threw in this power vent unit and it gave me fits every time someone came to stay at the home on friday and satrudays......



after changing out the control only , and also the pressure switch, and I could not get the shank with the heat sensor which screwed into the tank, I totally lost my cool and just tore it out and installed a standard rheem water heater and it goes out the side of the house through the triple wall vent system.... 

it is venting perfectly and it is what I should have installed in the first place...


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## Tommy plumber (Feb 19, 2010)

Master Mark said:


> actually I tore out an 8 year old rheem tankless water heater that was venting out the side of the house in a triple wall vent system ...Only went about a foot up and 2 foot out the side of the home.... It turned out that the heater was scaling up and clogging up all the hot water lines in the home.... and they did not want to invest in a water softener or attempt to de-lime the unit.... so out it went
> 
> I threw in this power vent unit and it gave me fits every time someone came to stay at the home on friday and satrudays......
> 
> ...











Forgive my ignorance Mark, what is a triple wall vent? Is that new? I've never heard of that.

Did that unit only have a 3 ft. vertical rise? Tank type gas W/H's need a minimum of 5 ft. of rise. I'm not an expert with tankless.


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## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

Tommy plumber said:


> Forgive my ignorance Mark, what is a triple wall vent? Is that new? I've never heard of that.
> 
> Did that unit only have a 3 ft. vertical rise? Tank type gas W/H's need a minimum of 5 ft. of rise. I'm not an expert with tankless.



I had to go back out there yesterday because a bunch of ladies 
looked like they were having a party this weekend... 
a bootie call most likely for their clients.....:vs_laugh: 

The heater was working just fine , 
but the crummy pressure balanced tub faucets were all acting up
due to the scale still lurking on the hot side of the system
they are some odd ball hardware store brand 
I cant get the handles
off so they will have to be drilled or broken.. and changed .later next week

The pipe going out the wall is 6 inch SS with one or two inner liners..
double wall or 3 wall.... 
probably 3 wal cause it served a scaled up tannkless Rheem heater..

The pressure is very low coming into the home so I did not throw a 
thermal tank on this one..... 

the vent works very well and it goes up about 3 feet an out...

sometimes you do what you got to do ....to win.....
(thats is what the Democrats say anyway) .

.https://photos.app.goo.gl/gHKyg9VdFXSw9GvJ6


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## skoronesa (Oct 27, 2015)

Master Mark said:


> The pressure is very low coming into the home so I did not throw a
> thermal tank on this one.....


Are you calling an expansion tank a thermal tank?

What is the static pressure?

.


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## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

skoronesa said:


> Are you calling an expansion tank a thermal tank?
> 
> What is the static pressure?
> 
> .


The proper definition is expansion tank.... the pressure coming into the home
was around 50psi


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## skoronesa (Oct 27, 2015)

Master Mark said:


> The proper definition is expansion tank.... the pressure coming into the home
> was around 50psi



Thermal tank is fine too, just wanted to be clear what you meant. We call them thermal expansion tanks but they are very rarely installed around here, even on city pressure of 120psi, which is just dumb because half these cheap phucks don't have prv's.

50psi should be fine so I assume you mean they have low flow. 

You could kind of treat it like a low output well, install a check valve on the incoming line and then some large expansion tanks for storage. The tanks would have to be large enough to satisfy demand for the duration of peak usage to keep their pressure from dropping significantly. This would be a good passive system. I actually intend to do something similar to our water. We share the well with another house and when they use water when we shower the flow sucks.

A more practical solution for your case would be a large storage tank hooked to a booster pump and a large expansion tank. But then you'd have the expense of a booster pump.

.


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## cyrus799 (7 mo ago)

I have a AO Smith power vent water heater. I love its three-position blower because you can orient your flue ducts in any direction. It simplifies installation, requiring no significant modifications in your space.
I especially appreciate its DynaClean II dip tube, which optimizes incoming water pressure to increase energy efficiency. The business also abandoned the traditional pilot light in favor of a hot-surface igniter, which is more dependable. It's simple to adjust your fuel use thanks to the computerized gas control.


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## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

cyrus799 said:


> I have a AO Smith power vent water heater. I love its three-position blower because you can orient your flue ducts in any direction. It simplifies installation, requiring no significant modifications in your space.
> I especially appreciate its DynaClean II dip tube, which optimizes incoming water pressure to increase energy efficiency. The business also abandoned the traditional pilot light in favor of a hot-surface igniter, which is more dependable. It's simple to adjust your fuel use thanks to the computerized gas control.


Last chance for a proper introduction before the hammer.


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