Good water heater brands?

October 25, 2015 8:52 PM

Our water heater has started making some noises, and it's 13-14 years old, so probably time to think about replacing it. Unfortunately, it looks like the brand (American Water Heater Company) may have taken a turn for the worse; all the reviews I find online are exceedingly negative, mostly regarding faulty parts and terrible customer service. This is a basic electric water heater and we'd like to replace it with the same sort, since it works well for us. What are the best companies to buy from?
posted by curious nu to Home & Garden (5 answers total)

Electric water heaters are pretty much a commodity. I wouldn't worry about the brand at all as they are all very similar, especially the big brands (Whirlpool, Kenmore, GE, Rheem, etc.). I also would not put much stock in online reviews. No one posts a positive review of their electric hot water heater, but they do post negative reviews when something goes wrong.

What you should look at is the energy rating of the water heater (better insulation means less heat loss and lower operating costs) and the warranty (you pay more for a longer warranty and a longer lasting tank, but it is generally worthwhile once you factor in the hassle and cost of replacement).

Also, you may want to consider a heat pump model (like the GE Geospring). Depending on your water usage and electricity cost, the much higher efficiency may pay off the higher initial cost quite quickly. There are government rebates for these in some areas as well.
posted by ssg at 10:53 PM on October 25, 2015 [4 favorites]

I have a GE Geospring and would not recommend for reliability reasons.
posted by LoveHam at 4:45 AM on October 26, 2015

I couldn't even tell you the brand name of our water heater without going to look at it. Unless you're looking for some sort of very specific feature, electric water heaters are generally a commodity item.

When our water heater died five or six years ago, we called Home Depot, they called a guy, that guy showed up, and installed a new water heater. I don't even recall if we discussed the model or brand name, it was just a water heater. Like ssg says, you can look at the energy ratings and warranty, but outside of that a water heater is a water heater.
posted by ralan at 8:14 AM on October 26, 2015

What you should look at is the energy rating of the water heater

Yes. New regulations require twice the insulation of the old ones, and most manufacturers probably have a ship load full of the older models. I would look for one built after April 2015.
posted by Gungho at 10:26 AM on October 26, 2015

Replaced ours a couple of years ago with an A O Smith gas heater. Compared to the original one we had, it's a bit better on efficiency, but rated for a lesser period of time.
posted by CincyBlues at 10:54 AM on October 26, 2015