Mistaken Identity: Help with Kenmore Water Heater

$350 is actually not a bad price for an installation, you won't find it much cheaper from plumbers, although I did see a guy on Craigs List in my area who will do it for $250 and another guy who is licensed, bonded and insured advertising the installation of either an A.O. Smith PROMAX or Bradford White natural gas water heaters with new ball valve and copper flex connectors for $650 (40 Gallon) or $695 (50 Gallon). He will even remove and dispose of the old water heater at no charge. That's a pretty good deal.

As far as just lasting two years, that's pretty sad and they should offer at least 2 or 3 years. Some stores don't even offer the 1 year warranty for labor that Sears/Kenmore does, like Lowes for one, but they're happy to sell you an extended warranty to cover labor. I rarely buy insurance for electronics, appliances, etc. I'd rather take the chance and not pay for it. Of course it's great when you need it but only 3% of extended warranties are ever paid out so that's pure profit to all the businesses that sell them and a waste of money for the rest of us. I just ordered a new water heaters (Whirlpool) and got one with only a 6 year warranty (no labor) and I'll install it myself. My waste management service (garbage collection!) will haul off the old heater at no cost and I get a $75 rebate from my gas company because the heaters efficiency factor(EF) is 0.63. So the heater ended up costing me $274 with tax. Water heaters typically last 13 years with no problems so even a heater with a 12 year warranty (you notice that's as high as they offer) is usually a waste of money. The people on this site and others having problems are a very small minority, most will never have a problem. My American Water Heater had a leak at 14 years old but when I noticed it, from some rust on the bottom, it had stopped leaking. It lasted up until a week and a half ago, so over 15 years. I'm not one to replace something still working good! I never flushed it out or change the anode rod in 15 years.

I talked to American Water Heater [AWH is a division of A.O. Smith as is State, Reliance, Apollo, Maytag and GSW and there are over 100 brands that sell water heaters and put their name on them like Kenmore] and Whirlpool about the class-action lawsuit (since settled) and Kenmore about the pilot lite/filter problem people are having. AWH and Whirlpool both said the problem was with the fuseable link integrated into the thermocouple and that they solved the problem by using a standard right-handed threaded thermostat and a reset switch/circuit instead of the fuseable link. Since then everyone else has copied them. They both also said that their heaters do not use a ceramic filter and the heater is designed to burn-off lint. They do have a flame arrestor in the bottom of the heater with a screen on that outside bottom that they recommend brushing with a tooth brush if necessary. Kemore said you just need to clean the ceramic filter once in a while. They now also have the reset switch.

After my research I've come to the conclusion, just as Consumer Research and Consumer Digest did, that water heaters are all VERY similar and pretty much the same, including Bradford White water heaters. I don't care what the licensed plumbers say, after all, they are pretty biased since they are the only ones that Brandford Whites are sold to so if you want one you have to buy it and have it installed from them. Hmmmmm that's a pretty nice setup.

It's actually a manufacturer warranty not a sear's warranty and they do not include labour...it sucks, but that's how it goes. And do understand, just because it's new, you no longer have a 9 year warranty...your warranty continues from your ORIGINAL purchase.

I don't know but since American Water Heater is a division of AO Smith and they have I would think that AO Smith has also. Why don't you call them. I called AWH/US Craftsmaster, Kenmore and Whirlpool. With the new Vapor Lock safety systems it seems that they all can have problems with their filters plugging up but I think the ones with ceramic filters like Sears/Kenmore are even worse. Of course you can defeat the system and open up a "breathing hole". With my AWH I am using extra filtering, underneath the vent screen, that I make from the same filters I buy for my AC unit. I just cut them to fit and can remove it and put another one in its' place whenever it starts getting too dirty. It's going to save a lot of time and prevent problems. They don't cost that much and one AC filter will make quite a few heater filters. As far as two Anode rods, I haven't found anything that really proves that two are better than one or that they make the heater last any longer. And as I said two posts up from yours, when you need the warranty it's great but most people do not. My last heater had 1 year on parts and 5 1/2 years on the tank and it lasted over 15 years without any problems. I do think that the 2" insulation is a good idea and got my new heater with 2". I don't believe that BW heaters are any better than any other.

No problems, and mine's at least 14 years old. i would like to know the R-value of the as-supplied jacket. From looking at the specs for the newer Miser 9 models, I assume it's about R-8. local code require R-12, so i think i need to add insulation.