Dunbar Plumbing
Master Plumber
Any plumbers on this site in the biz on doing the troubleshooting/service and repair on these?
I get about 40-60 calls a year to work on these and every time I refer them away, here's the reasons why:
1. HD no longer sells them because they wasn't making money. Too many callbacks within the warranty periods and killed their profit margins considerably.
2. Sears/Kenmore I believe they may still sell them....but go try to buy one on impulse and you'll be waiting for it to be shipped to that area. I think they do this because of past case histories where servicing them under their warranties (which are long, 9-12) and slicing the profit margin.
3. In my area, there have been 4 different service reps for A.O. Smiths, all of them end up quitting due to frustration and just get fed up with the problems. Some are easy fixes but for example.....I put in a power vent heater and it would delay ignition causing a small "boom!" when lighting....scary at best.
The service rep came out 4 times in total.....3 times replacing the smart valve, adjustments, flame sensor and this is a brand new heater. The 4th was a replacement of that new heater. Granted, defects are uncommon from the start but the rep told me that it is mind grinding of a day to deal with some of those units.....it isn't always cut and dry.
Now when customers call me in regards to replacing these units, I'm having to buy from plumbing supply houses which are fine.....but lack the longer warranty and availability to buy at big box stores and bigger national chains. Okay to a certain degree but the core issue is the problem with repairs.
The people that have these are pushed into a corner since they don't have double wall B-vent going up through their houses. I've done a few gas to electric conversions back in the day but I see a distinct pattern with these devices running error free like we are accustomed to with the non-power vented models. A thermocouple is usually the only call on those.....rarely a gas control valve.
I get about 40-60 calls a year to work on these and every time I refer them away, here's the reasons why:
1. HD no longer sells them because they wasn't making money. Too many callbacks within the warranty periods and killed their profit margins considerably.
2. Sears/Kenmore I believe they may still sell them....but go try to buy one on impulse and you'll be waiting for it to be shipped to that area. I think they do this because of past case histories where servicing them under their warranties (which are long, 9-12) and slicing the profit margin.
3. In my area, there have been 4 different service reps for A.O. Smiths, all of them end up quitting due to frustration and just get fed up with the problems. Some are easy fixes but for example.....I put in a power vent heater and it would delay ignition causing a small "boom!" when lighting....scary at best.
The service rep came out 4 times in total.....3 times replacing the smart valve, adjustments, flame sensor and this is a brand new heater. The 4th was a replacement of that new heater. Granted, defects are uncommon from the start but the rep told me that it is mind grinding of a day to deal with some of those units.....it isn't always cut and dry.
Now when customers call me in regards to replacing these units, I'm having to buy from plumbing supply houses which are fine.....but lack the longer warranty and availability to buy at big box stores and bigger national chains. Okay to a certain degree but the core issue is the problem with repairs.
The people that have these are pushed into a corner since they don't have double wall B-vent going up through their houses. I've done a few gas to electric conversions back in the day but I see a distinct pattern with these devices running error free like we are accustomed to with the non-power vented models. A thermocouple is usually the only call on those.....rarely a gas control valve.