Mistaken Identity: Help with Kenmore Water Heater

Bought the power miser 9 in 2006. After 11 months, the entire outer surface of the tank(inside the housing)rusted and flakes of rusted metal fell down onto the burner. This occurred even with good ventilation. Eventually a large piece landed right on the pilot and thermocouple making it impossible to keep the pilot lit. Since I was barely within the 1 yr labor warranty, it was free to fix. Now just a year or so later, the pilot is out and won't start. There's no more rust falling off the tank. Call me a conspiracy freak, but I'm convinced they use an outer layer of metal on the tank that is prone to rusting just so a service call will likely be required within the first year. Anyway, now the pilot won't stay lit. This is a strong indication that the thermocouple is bad... after just a couple years. My father-in-law said it should be easy to replace yourself. But the metal plate inner "door" (to the burner chamber) doesn't come off without disconnecting a whole bunch of stuff that you really shouldn't need to eff around with just to change the thermocouple. I came online to see what the story is with these water heaters and here I am. I'm actually shocked that SEARS is selling lemon water heaters after generations of quality. The greedy think that they can change the expectations of society by making a product that requires expensive service calls once a year or so. With a young generation of kids coming up, they won't be any wiser and just think this is normal. "Oh, it's time for our annual screw job on the water heater, honey. Get out the checkbook." This just seems to be happening in too many facets of society where the greedy can take advantage of the average citizens.

This may help some of you who are a little handy with a wrench. Kenmore is a Sears exclusive brand, if you did buy a warranty no other contractor will touch it or it will void your warranty. If you do not have a warranty, you can usually get the parts you need from any HVAC or plumbing supply company. Kenmore, Whirlpool, GE, Ruud & Rheem water heaters are all made by Rheem, the parts are all about the same depending on your model. Even though it's a kenmore you can get the parts elsewhere besides Sears and at half the price they charge. Thermocouples you can usually even get at a local hardware store. Gas Valve assemblies are generally Robertshaw or White-Rogers and can be purchased at any HVAC/Plumbing store.
Buying a Kenmore anything, especially appliances are all made by Whirlpool. Buying Kenmore just adds a new world of pain when something goes wrong, for no one will touch a Sears Exclusive except Sears. Take a better look before buying Kenmore products.

Where is the screen located. Sears has replaced the burner assembly and after a very short time my water doesn't stay lit. Now they can't even find any information that I even purchased the water heater at sears. I would just like a working heater. Thanks.

Echoing the comment above, I can tell you I'm having the exact same problem with my Whirlpool water heater right now.... There's been a class action suit a local plumber told us about (don't know if this will help anyone), so when my wife called Whirlpool a replacement 'flame kit' was sent to us with no charge (though we paid for overnight shipping). We then paid another $85 for a plumber to come out, who vaccuumed the thing thoroughly but wasn't optimistic the unit didn't have an interior slow leak--you can hear hissing and small droplets of water burning up, which may be just condensation but...you guessed it, the pilot still won't stay lit. Whirlpool says that unless you see water leaking out on the floor, it's not a leak and isn't subject to replacement according to the warranty. Oh, and since we bought the house from the people who bought the water heater (now 4 years old), it isn't covered anyway. Thanks, Whirlpool. My wife really enjoyed that conversation. So, there's no way I'm throwing any more money at this monstrosity, but the question remains: what can I replace it with? This is a starter house for us, and I'm not sure we'll be here more than another 1-3 years, so it's a little hard to pony up for a tankless, which would be my preference otherwise. Are there any reliable old-style gas water heaters out there? Until I figure it out, I'll be joining with the rest of you each morning in my daily devotions, hopeful of a hot shower, bowing at the feet of my special white friend in the closet... Kenmore...Whirlpool... there is only one. :-)

take them to small claims court if they dont replace it

I am having the same problem with my 2 years old power miser 6. The pilot light will not just stay on. A plumber offered to cleaned the ceramic filter for $200 which I refused. I vacuumed the fire arrestor screen using 1/2 pipe and a 1/2 elbow attached to a vacuum cleaner. So far the pilot is OK, but I need more time to verify the problem is 100% fixed. I will *never* buy another WH from Sears. The Power Mizer series are either defective or very poorly designed.

We also have a kenmore water heater and the pilot will not stay lit. The service call was terrible. We had to wait over one week for the service call. He wanted $165 without even looking at the water heater. Even though this unit is not even two years old Sears will not stand behind the parts warranty. I also will never purchase another Sears product.