7 years, 4 months - a world record?
The FG1F3030S3NOV that my father installed in August '04 finally conked out with the classic deep-fried thermocouple. Imagine my surprise and horror after googling the model number and finding this thread! I had no idea that the "Whirlpool" water heaters were (a) not really made by Whirlpool in the first place, and (b) were a true vortex of suck. It figures that it would have a bizarre, fused left-handed thermocouple, just to make things aggravating and turn a $7 thermocouple replacement into a $35+shipping manifold replacement.
Not wanting to replace the whole tank (knowing that he's planning to get a tankless unit when he returns this summer anyway), I went ahead and ordered the kit. As the tank is out of warranty, no free kit. At least my phone call didn't go to India - but they should either ditch the voice recognition or set it up so it can recognize touch tones so you can just key in the serial number. They provided a new burner orifice in the package, so I didn't have to wrestle with getting the old one out. I vacuumed out the screen with a brush attachment, and the installation went smoothly (though the thick rubber gasket and the tight quarters where the heater is installed made it tricky to get the bolts in).
Once I turned on the gas and double-checked for leaks, the pilot light fired right up and stayed lit. The burner lit up just fine once I turned it on, and additional triple-checking showed no leaks. Overall, it took me about an hour to get it going again.
Judging from the troubles people have been having with these units, I'm amazed we got over 7 years out of it before any problems occurred. I don't recall him ever vacuuming the flame screen, and I wasn't even aware of it until I got room-temperature water out of the tap. The only thing I can figure is that, since it was in an alcove off the kitchen instead of the laundry room, it was a bit less prone to clogging.