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I replaced my 2 old water heaters (21 years) with new ones from HD (Rheem) 2 years ago. One year after installation, one morning both of them stopped heating. Called Rheem, they sent out a tech and he replaced the thermo couple and that fixed the problem. He said, so many units were manufactured during covid time with defective components and mine happened to be one of them.
Now one year later, again the heaters are acting up. Water no so hot anymore as it used to be. Turned out the pilot light was off, reignited it and there was hot water for few weeks and again barely lukewarm water now. Re-lit the pilot again and now there is hot water. Called Rheem, they stated it might be a faulty gas control valve and ordered replacements parts as its still under warranty and I have another year of labor covered through warranty as well.
The only problem is when I get hot water, the faucet next to the heater gets burning hot water while the far end of the house gets barely warm water and there is 2-3 minutes delay before it gets warm. Is it normal? I haven't flushed out the unit in 2 years, not sure if that makes any difference considering we have hard water. So, now I am curious if it's a maintenance issue or a defective part.
The units are in the attic so its not easy to drain it as a DIY project.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Unless you have a tankless on-demand water heater, it will always take several minutes for the hot water from the tank to reach the fixtures on the other end of the house.
Like other products, including cars, appliances and RVs, water heaters built during the Covid lockdown period and then after, with the parts and labor shortages are going to unfortunately be less than normal quality. Hopefully as Rheem replaces the defective parts you will eventually get to a more reliable system. I wouldn't expect anyone to get 20+ years out of a water heater as we did in the old days. Our original from 1978 was only replaced in 2015, that's 37 years with no problems.
Since you're in Big D, and the W/H's were 20+yo, I'll assume you're on a slab and probably have PVC for plumbing instead of copper(?).
My sister is in the Dallas area and has the same setup- she's had to replace her W/H 3 times over the past 25yrs. The first time was age, the second was weather related (froze), the 3rd was a ???- she got conflicting answers. The last two involved replacing ceiling, and wall board along with trim, carpet, paint, etc.
I think I might wait until the control unit is replaced before going too deep down the proverbial "rabbit hole"! Generally, W/H's in attics are truly a disaster just waiting to happen-just ask my sister, and countless others! The summer heat in an attic can have an effect on the controller, the pilot light itself, and gas flow. Plus, depending on your roof design, prevailing wind direction, and the attic ventilation, your pilot may actually be getting blown out.
Depending on the type of pipe material your supply lines are and distance traveled, you can loose heat from the water. Hopefully your main trunk line is under the slab- and not one of those crazy above slab/in attic type of plumb jobs!
Sort of a side bar question- Were you effected by the Great Freeze '21? My sister got lucky- she's about 1/8mi (as the crow fly) from a hospital. Apparently is in the same grid, so it's a priority to keep it powered up.
The only problem is when I get hot water, the faucet next to the heater gets burning hot water while the far end of the house gets barely warm water and there is 2-3 minutes delay before it gets warm. Is it normal? I haven't flushed out the unit in 2 years, not sure if that makes any difference considering we have hard water. So, now I am curious if it's a maintenance issue or a defective part.
The units are in the attic so its not easy to drain it as a DIY project.
Yes, this is normal. I have an electric water heater but get instant hot from my laundry room sink but my master bath which is next to it and the kitchen sink which is further away take a while to get the hot water through the pipes. Eventually though it is hot though seriously not as hot as the laundry room sink. It is the way the pipes were run plus I think there is something in the shower faucet that prevents it from being scalding hot as I remember my husband having to adjust it when we put a new faucet on the upstairs shower.
Yes I’m assuming the wind might have blown out the pilot as well since we had around freezing temperature and windy few days . Also I have the plate that covers the pilot window removed for easy access during relighting pilot and visibility. Not sure if the wind gets in through it and blows out the light.
I need to know how important is flushing out the heater on a yearly basis. Not sure if the sediment is what affecting the hotness of the water farther down the pipe. We have copper lines and not PVC.
Also, we were affected by the winter freeze and out of power for 3-4 days.
It would take a lot of sediment over a long period of time to effect the heating efficiency.
Look at the cross-sectional view of a gas-fired W/H below. The fired base is concave- to assist with the convection of the burnt gas. The interior side of the bottom is convex- all/any sediment would fall to the outer most side of the tank. Also, notice the baffle that runs through the exhaust vent? That acts as a heatsink for heat transfer- further increasing the efficiency of the heater.
The only thing that would effect the temperature of the water from point A to point B is the loss of heat molecules through the pipe. Copper does have a bit of retention/ but also quite the conductor.
So, as far as flushing- the rate of flushing would be directly related to the quality of the water.
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