I need to replace my water heater. Any issues with using the GE (brand) water heaters from Home Depot. I can see from the store tags they are made by Rheem.
Thanks!

i've put in 2 electric G E heaters for customers.
one had a leak at the factory installed nipple the other was OK.
google G E water heaters. lots of stuff to read..

If possible, try to deal with local Plumbing supply houses.

e-plumber
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This slow drip will waste 7+ gallons of water per day.

HD nationally probably sell over 50,000 water heaters per WEEK. On that volume, you naturally are not 100% perfect. My main crticism of them has always been not some inherent difference in quality, which I do not believe, but the way the are handled at the store. I believe most of the nipple leaks are attributed to stacking and careless fork lift drivers.

HD will always stand behind it, so the only thing you are out is your time and trouble, if you do it yourself. If you have them install it, their installer is usually on the hook for anything in the first 30 days, and after that you rely on GE warranty service.

If electric, better have a 30 amp breaker and 10-2 wiring or you'll have problems.

Those GE HD water heaters burn at 4500 watts on upper and lower.

ALL normal heaters use 4500 watt upper and lower elements, other than the upgrade ones which are 5500 watts.

With the exception of all Sears/Kenmore water heaters that use the 3800 upper/lower stats with the ability to fire the lower element at 5500 watts with the use of a buss clip.

Sears makes a killing selling these lower wattage heaters because the majority of older homes have a 20 amp service feeding the water heater, not 30.

[www.sears.com] <<< Click on product spec, the website covers nationally. The tank is actually a A.O. Smith tank.


True story: Customer called me wednesday, "Yeah, Home Depot said that you all would come out and look at this water heater. They said that they pay the the plumber. It's not heating and it was installed just a few days ago, it's brand new."

"Sir, go to your breaker box and tell me what size breaker you have for your water heater."

"20"

"That's the problem, you need 30 amps to run that heater with 4500 watt elements."

"Also, Home Depot doesn't *casually* allow customers to call plumbers and say that the plumber is covered for his time. Good try but if we come out you are responsible for the charges incurred, take it up with home depot if you're so sure it's covered."

^^^^As you see, somebody was wanting something for nothing.



Edited 2 times.

You ever try to get a replacement?..talk about jumping thru hoops.

Yeah, chuck or bob or even randy from India always have a different plan other than getting hot water back in a reasonable time.

Is'nt that true...randy and bob also work at the fast food drive thru when there not fixing an error message on your computor...

Keep your receipt in a handy place.

And make a copy of it because the writing on HD reciepts fade away in about 4 years!

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4 years for a receipt to fade. I am lucky when it is tax time that a HD receipt lasts 4 months. In our area the HD contractors are becoming very shady. We have had customers turn away HD installers due to language barriers.

In my opinion, you just CAN'T always trust the big box stores.

I question the use of the word "always" it seems a tad bit on the generous side! I would think "seldom" would be a better choice!

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