Water Heater Brand?

[toledo]

Plumbers have lost their minds with current install prices. $2500+ for a unit in an open garage. Literally a 2 hour job. Going back to doing them myself.

Whats the best brand for a house I plan to keep forever?

[Bill M]

Yeh, that is ridiculous. Sounds like a big mark up. Rheem is a good brand or has been. AO Smith brand has also been used buy plumbers quite a bit in new builds. An electric at Lowe's, https://www.lowes.com/pd/A-O-Smith-A...3247&gclsrc=ds .

[Greenheadless]

Takagi

[Pstraw]

I had a Polaris 100 gal. for 25 yrs. It was flawless as I used it to heat the house as well.
During Covid, the fan on the burner went out. Got a new one in from the factory, 3 wks., and it was out of balance. Called and got another one on warranty, and it was worse. No more Polaris/American standard for me.
Went with Rhinai and it has worked like a champ for our setup.

[Backwoods101]

Didn’t have luck with the Rheem on demand unit. Killed 3 in as many years. Just had a Stiebel Eltron installed along with isolation valve’s so I can flush it quarterly…we shall see


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[rjet]

Put a marathon in my last home. Used to have a lifetime warrany, not sure if they still do. They are super insulated and the tank is fiberglass so will not rust out.

[Pintail45]

Plumbers have lost their minds with current install prices. $2500+ for a unit in an open garage. Literally a 2 hour job. Going back to doing them myself.

Whats the best brand for a house I plan to keep forever?

Prices have gotten crazy. I paid 2400 last month but that was for a second floor attic install.

If it were in my garage I’d dang sure do it myself.

If I remember right there’s only like two WH manufacturers in the US and they do private labels for everybody else. In other words I think they’re pretty much all the same and would go with whatever’s most convenient.

[GA Bowhunter]

One of my two Rheems finally died this week. They are 20 years old. I never changed the anode rods in them.

I went to Home Depot and bought two new Rheems for the house. While I was there, I picked up the Rheem heat pump water heater I ordered for the new house last week.

The two standard Rheems set me back $1,200 or so total.

The Hybrid water heater for the new house was $1,851 with tax. Caught it on a one-day sale.

Unfortunately, the leaking water heater required some damage control in the basement.

[White Falcon]

Easy to replace your self.

[Man]

Im about to go down this road. Our water heater cant even make a full bathtub of hot water anymore. Figured we are just going to get whatever home depot has to offer and try to install ourselves using Youtube.

Is there anything i need to be real cautious of while removing old one/installing new one?

[Lee230]

Our house is 17 years old. Our water softener eats the rods in 6-7 years. When the house was new, they put in A.O. Smith and they lasted 7 years. I replaced them with two Rheems. Those two Rheems lasted 8 years and I went back with two more Rheems last year. I will replace the rods in the newer heaters to see if that makes a difference. My local plumbing company's commercial brand started at 2k per heater. The biggest price difference on the Rheems are all the electric/digital extras. The base models work just as well IMO. Good luck OP, I think a lot depends on the quality of your water as well.

[Toney198]

Had good luck with the AO Smith

[Choppa311]

I went with Bradford White about a year ago. Replaced both with this brand. So far they’ve been great.

[hunt777]

AO Smith. Buy larger than you think you need

[friscopaint]

I've done quite a few in garage ones for friends and family, all were gas. I did try and find ones the same height so I didn't have to mess with changing vent pipes. I also put shut off valves on both pipes inlet and outlet which made the second swap out at my sisters very easy by not shutting off water to the house just the 2 quarter turn valves, Shark Bites. For the life of me I can't understand why a water heater would be in an attic or in the house at all. My current house doesn't have a garage but they could have just as easily built a room with a door from the exterior.

The plastic drain valves suck, drain as much as possible with a garden house to the outside and get a cap to place on the drain since more times than not I haven't been able to get it to completely close, not a huge deal in the garage but why deal with a bigger mess than you have to.