Whirlpool Flame Lock water heaters, reviews, troubleshooting, repair and support.

[Redwood]

My water heater started giving me problems last week. The model # starts with BFG, it's a 30 gallon short tank.
I was told I needed a new thermostat. My question is this - has anyone experienced continued problems after replacing the thermostat.
Thanks for your help.

Colleen,
Read back through this thread...
Your question has been answered a thousand times at least....
As long as you have this water heater installed having hot water available is a crap shoot!

[colleenm248]

Colleen,
Read back through this thread...
Your question has been answered a thousand times at least....
As long as you have this water heater installed having hot water available is a crap shoot!

Thank you for your answer. The thought of reading back thru all those pages was too depressing for me, but I guess I'll give it a shot.

[Redwood]

Many of the people that have these units have spent the amount that would have paid for a replacement just keeping the existing one running...

It is depressing that American Water Heaters and Lowes are doing this to their customers...

[SewerRatz]

also be sure to install the long black lint screen. If you keep the area clean you should be ok. tons of people have these working without trouble. The lint and dust will get you on these heaters though.

Hi there Plumber Jim, I have been getting a rash of Bradford White, Rheem, GE, State, and AO Smith FVIR water heaters failing due to lint getting into the FVIR system. Mostly in town homes where they had the great idea to install the water heater, furnace, Washer and Dryer all in one little room. I explain to these home owners when I replace their heater they need to keep that room lint and dust free from now on. The State heaters have a screen around the intake ports but lots of fine dust can get through. I been wondering how to solve this issue with out relocating the heater.

Oh I checked out your website. You still have a couple of the template place holder pages up. I would put up the info you want go get out there on them pages or remove the place holder Latin speak and put "Page Under Construction please check back later".

[master plumber mark]

[quote=SewerRatz;197027]Hi there Plumber Jim, I have been getting a rash of Bradford White, Rheem, GE, State, and AO Smith FVIR water heaters failing due to lint getting into the FVIR system. Mostly in town homes where they had the great idea to install the water heater, furnace, Washer and Dryer all in one little room. I explain to these home owners when I replace their heater they need to keep that room lint and dust free from now on. The State heaters have a screen around the intake ports but lots of fine dust can get through. I been wondering how to solve this issue with out relocating the heater.

Sewer Ratz, what kind of rash are you getting with the Rheem heaters and the bradford whites????

Neither brands have a screen on them, and that is why I use them... they never have given me a rash yet. They have both performed out-standingly for me

What is the nature of your rash with them???



I am having fits and rashes with the Kenmores, Smiths, and the States...myself.
the lint screens clog up terrible like, and cant be easily repaired

I am carrying around an air compressor with a 150 foot hose to
take into the home and blow out the lint from inside the units...
THEY ARE ALL stinking JUNK



...

takeing out a State select tomorrow afternoon

took out 3 whirlpool gas heaters in the last 10 days...
peopel were just fed up with fooling with them...

this is only gonna get worse....

http://www.weilhammerplumbing.com/products/

[SewerRatz]

Sewer Ratz, what kind of rash are you getting with the Rheem heaters and the Bradford whites????

They suck in the lint and dust and the flame arrester gets clogged enough to starve the burner enough combustion air to where it will put it self out. You can relite the pilot as soon as the burner runs you can see the flame roll and out goes the flame and pilot again. Open up the sealed panel just a little bit and the unit works fine. I tried to blow the flame arrester clean , on some it works others it did not. Already replace 3 Rheims and 2 Bradford Whites this month all in the same subdivision where the units are in the "utility room" a 10' x 10' square room with the washer, dryer, WH, and furnace in the same room with a 8" duct for make up air. Each heater was 2 years old and there was a lot of dust and lint in each of these rooms.

I would think having a filter to clean every three months is a great idea to help prevent the flame arrester from clogging. Yes its a nuisance but a necessary one.

[mattnjodie]

i installed one of these @ a month ago for a couple in our church. too bad i'd not read this earlier. i came upon one of these that is @ 3 years old, it would not keep a pilot so i replaced the thermocoupler, no luck. found this string and i read and i read. next step, i replaced the burner assembly gratis from whirlpool because the big blue box keeps 'em on hand (wonder why). no pilot still... replaced the thermostat and voila! i now have a pilot and it proves the flame so i have fuel for the burner. a funny thing @ these heaters, i know that gas heaters sweat alot, but when this one kicked on i thought it had a leak... lots of condensation! wow! problem solved, thermostat $60, replacement burner assembly FREE, 4 hours of labor $240, remembering this site to gain the knowledge that i needed PRICELESS!!! thanks to all of you before me for your wisdom. oh yeah, the replacement box did not have the wrap around screen that was refered to earlier in this string, but the new one that i installed did, weird...

[master plumber mark]

[quote=SewerRatz;197110]They suck in the lint and dust and the flame arrester gets clogged enough to starve the burner enough combustion air to where it will put it self out. You can relite the pilot as soon as the burner runs you can see the flame roll and out goes the flame and pilot again. Open up the sealed panel just a little bit and the unit works fine. I tried to blow the flame arrester clean , on some it works others it did not. Already replace 3 Rheims and 2 Bradford Whites this month all in the same subdivision where the units are in the "utility room" a 10' x 10' square room with the washer, dryer, WH, and furnace in the same room with a 8" duct for make up air.

Sewer Ratz, Rheem heaters DO NOT have any kind of lint filters on their units.
the Rheems have a spring loaded flame shut down system that snaps shut and
wont allow air into the unit.
..

Bradfords DO NOT have a lint filter on theirs either......


that is why they are both the best brands out there...



and all these are happenning in the same area???
It makes me wonder if you are in a sub-division that has gotten a bad load of gas ???? Are the burner assemblies burning badly???

could that possibly be the casue of your rash???

[Hemmerling]

Yeah problem is still not fixed with the BFG models. We have replaced the theralcouple and the valve 6 months (July 2008) after purchase (12/31/2007 Happy New Year!) Now 04/26/2009 we have been out of hot water since Friday night. Of course it is a weekend and the company isn't available. We have the reset valve and are getting nothing! So aparently we will be replacing another thermalcouple Tuesday. Thankful my hubby is mechanically inclined and can do the work.

Thanks for the tip on the cleaning. I'll make sure I let them know we clean it "religously" every 2 months, LOL. After I clean it the first time! I didn't get that memo.

I'll keep you posted on the reset valve when my hubby gets home. i tried; but i have no clue. i would just as soon go back to the last water heater that was in this house since July of 1977. It was a Whirlpool from Sears. they sure dont make thing the way they used to!

[kingsotall]

Yup, that's right after they get off the phone with the customer shipping them a thermocouple!

[mjjamj]

Have been reading through this forum. I have the same problem. When I called they told me I needed the kit and they are sending it to me. Of course it will not arrive until next Tuesday. Then I heard you can get the kit from Lowes. I went there and they gave me kit C. When I went to install it it does not seem to actually fit. Comparing to my old one the door portion is not as rounded and is a little bigger. Checked with Lowes again and they said it is the correct one. Has anyone else had this problem? MY model number is FG6150T403NOV.

Also does anyone know how to get support from an American. I cannot seem to find a way.

Thanks

Got it to fit. Thanks anyways.

[Redwood]

The part you got from Lowes is for after the kit from Whirlpool arrives...
You're stuck waiting til Tuesday...


Bradford White Doesn't treat their customer like that...

[MichaelRoger]

f you have a Whirlpool Flame Lock Water heater (like model FG1F4040S3NOV I own) you are no doubt aware of the class action suit (Bowen, et al v. Whirlpool Corp., et al) whose deadline just passed. If you went to www.waterheatersettlement.com, downloaded, printed, filled out and mailed in the claim from - I think there’s a better way!

My thermocouple (the part that needed repeated replacement and probably the reason for the lawsuit) just burned out recently and its about the 6th time. But this time when I went out to buy a new one guess what? They don’t sell them any more! So I called Whirlpool’s toll-free number and the recording mentioned www.flamelocksupport.com where you can request that they ship you the flame lock replacement kit (Whirlpool calls it a “Flame Lock Enhancement Kit“) for free. Yes, I said FREE! If you don’t need it right away UPS Ground is even FREE! Those of you that want it shipped faster they offer UPS 2nd Day and UPS Next Day shipping, and you only pay for the shipping.

Parking Sensor

[WPHeaterHater]

So I called Whirlpool’s toll-free number and the recording mentioned www.flamelocksupport.com where you can request that they ship you the flame lock replacement kit (Whirlpool calls it a “Flame Lock Enhancement Kit“) for free.

That URL just goes to a go-daddy placeholder...

Anyway, I have a conflict of interest. I work at Low*s, and I have one of these wonderful water heaters that came with this house when I bought it 2 years ago. I haven't had any problems with it until a couple of days ago.

Not working anywhere near the plumbing section, I never knew of any issues with these things before mine went out. I didn't even know WP water heaters were exclusive to low*s. After asking around the plumbing dept, information starts to trickle down about the Kits, they have some in stock that they could give me, but not the one I need (the A kit). That is apparently their most common kit, and it goes fast once it comes in.

I ask why I can't just replace the thermocouple, and they start telling me about how it's reverse threaded, and they don't sell those anymore. I asked how we can sell the water heater, but not sell the part to fix it. I received a shrug.

So I call the WP help line during my lunch break, and I'm very quickly greeted by a nice fellow from India apparently named Stan. Stan begins to ramble his way through the "choose your own adventure" book known as their customer service script, and I start getting annoyed. After getting nowhere with this guy. It will take a week for the part. That's unacceptable to me. I make sure Stan is well aware of how unacceptable it is.

So I head back in to the store with a fresh idea on my mind. I'm looking at the immediate problem, I hate cold showers. To fix this problem, I need a reverse-thread thermocouple. The store (and everyone else) only sells right hand thread thermocouples. So I decide to just re-use the old left hand nut.

I buy a new TC for $7, go home and detach and remove my burner assembly. I take the old TC out of the assembly, and put the nut in my vise with a flat edge sticking up. I then put a wafer wheel in my drimmel and started cutting the nut in-line with one edge if the TC tube. then cut along the other edge. I then cut the tube and knocked it out with a small screwdriver. At this point, I had a slot that would almost slip the new TC through, I just had to clean it up a bit more with the drimmel. once I cleaned it up, I inspected the threads closely and hit them with a wire brush to take off any boogers. I replace the TC with the new one, making sure to pop it all the way into that hole so it's positioned right. then I just pull the new nut down out of the way (no need to cut it off) and put the newly-slotted old nut on the new TC... hand tight + 1/4 turn, and I'm done, and I've got hot water until the new kit arrives.

As far as low*s being at fault goes, I can't buy that because I work there and I really do think it's a great company to work for, and we typically go out of our way to help a customer. Now, the corporate side of things, that's another story. There's no doubt that low*s and whirlpool have some sort of deal going on, for low*s to stock them exclusively, and to not dump them after this whole fiasco, it has to involve some serious money. But it could also involve an investment or contract by low*s that they can't back out of.

That does put those store employees in an awkward situation, because they can't just tell a customer that the product is junk. Though one manager over in that area DID tell me that he had talked a few customers OUT of buying a WP water heater.

Long Story Short, Just don't buy your Water Heater from low*s until they get a new brand. It doesn't mean that everything from low*s is junk, it doesn't even mean that everything from WP is junk. Though it's difficult to convince someone who has already been deeply burned. I DO know from experience though that Low*s will go above and beyond to keep you as a customer. So go back to Low*s, stay calm, but don't be a pushover. And get your money back, or at least store credit. 99 times out of 100, they will take care of someone if their loyalty as a customer comes into question...

[master plumber mark]

That does put those store employees in an awkward situation, because they can't just tell a customer that the product is junk. Though one manager over in that area DID tell me that he had talked a few customers OUT of buying a WP water heater.

Long Story Short, Just don't buy your Water Heater from low*s until they get a new brand. It doesn't mean that everything from low*s is junk, it doesn't even mean that everything from WP is junk. Though it's difficult to convince someone who has already been deeply burned. I DO know from experience though that Low*s will go above and beyond to keep you as a customer. So go back to Low*s, stay calm, but don't be a pushover. And get your money back, or at least store credit. 99 times out of 100, they will take care of someone if their loyalty as a customer comes into question...

I think that their is a gag order in place that Lowes has made
their employees take if they want to keep their jobs.


they simply are not supposed to speak about it,
which to me is rather deceitful....

the new improved whirlpool design that they have half --assed put together
to weasel out of this class action lawsuit is actually worse then the original problem ..

check out the dates on this long list of complaints, most are on heaters that are less than a year old.......

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/homeo...r_heaters.html


you will notice that 90% of these complaints are NOT on the old style units,
most are on the 2007,8,9 brands...






in my honest opinion, Lowes and Whirlpool -- American Water heaters ----simply MUST be owned by the same larger conglomerate, and LOWES is simply being forced to sell this junk by the higher powers running the whole show...

Lowes is not a bad place to buy materials from, but when you have a situation like this where they cannot dump a product that is 100% junk probably under threat of losing their jobs,
and they are forced tho sell another divisions trash,


then no one wins...

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