Mistaken Identity: Help with Kenmore Water Heater

the Powermiser 6 is a piece. Sears sucks.

It is not sears fault, they buy the WH they sell from the same suppliers that Lowe's and Home Depot do. They all have the same guts, all from the same plants in China or Mexico. Give Sears a break, they are no worse or better than any other retailer. They all suck. But yet we shop there anyway....

These stories are the same as mine! I purchased my hot water heater about two years ago (model # 153.336565) from sears and now the pilot will not stay lit. When I called their teck support number I spoke to an A.O. Smith Rep who was not much help, mostly double talk. (Their story is that the thermocouple is designed to minimize the chances of an explosion if some type of accelerant is exposed to the air intake of the hot water heater in which case it would shut down the pilot instantly. This makes it extremely sensitive to minor changes in the pilot fame. Also they say you need at least 15’’to 18’’ of rise to the flue to obtain the correct draw for the burner assembly. This also eliminates any moister problems)
Overall, I Think A.O. Smith was told by Sears to use a cheap design to reduce their cost and in turn improve their profit margin.
I would love to see a class action suit against Sears regarding this matter!
I cannot see having their repairman come to my house and charge me $85.00 to install a free part. I will review the warranty much closer next time!
So I have ordered a new burner assembly for $85.00 and will install it myself.
Yea I know….what is the difference!

just installed a water softener. now to put water heater tank on but pilot will not light. now no hot water. been a long day - help anyone.

E.

I purchased a Power Miser 6 Sears hot water heater 1n Oct 2004 and it has been repaired a total of 3 times. The first time it was repaired was Sept 2005 less that a year later it cost me $80.00 because this was mu regular plummer. This time the entire polit control val went out and the plummer stated that the part was still under warranty that all I needed to do was call Sears give the part and model # and the part would be shipped to me. Wrong I spent 2hrs on the phone in an effort to get a customer service rep to help with the problem. I spoke to 10 reps were given 6 different phone numbers and hung up on 4 times still no satisfaction from anyone. What I was told was that I needed a service tech to come out and check the part to be sure that it was defected and only he could order the part from the manufacture. Never mind that my plummer was licensed I would have to pay for a second opinion at the cost of $59.00. To order the part my self it would cost $65.00 that included express shipping and handling. I was told that if it was installed by someone other than a Sears repairman that the warranty would not be covered. My response to that was I did not give a rat's @@@@ the warranty was not worth a @@@@. As much as I have spent on this water heater it would not hurt me to buy another from some place else. I will never by another appliance from Sears ever, ever, ever, again will not recommend that any one I know or every come across in this life and any other by a Sears appliance. I also bought a dryer from Sears in Feb of 2006 it stopped heating after one year so you can understand why I never, never, never, want another Sears appliance in my house. Signed pissed off!!!!!