I'm pretty sure my hot water heater just quit. Replacement suggestions?

[rgG]

macphanatic wrote:
It might be an issue with the thermocouple. If it's a Whirlpool model, there have been a slew of problems with their thermocouples and one of the reasons that I trashed a 2 yr old model and replaced it with a GE. (Do a google search for the issues and Whirlpool's crappy response to a design issue).

Had that issue just last week. My Whirlpool worked fine for 8.5 years then the thermocouple burned out last week. It is a thermocouple that is no longer manufactured, so I had to call Whirlpool to get a replacement part. They sent out a whole new burner assembly, with a new resettable thermocouple built-in. I had to remover the old burner assembly, remove the burner and then attach it to the new assembly and then put that back into the water heater. Luckily we have a second water heater, so being without this one for a couple of days wasn't as bad as it could have been. The water heater is a 12 year warranty one, so the new part was free. They were supposed to charge me for the overnight shipping, according to one customer service rep, but when I called back to order the part, the new rep didn't mention a charge, and I was smart enough not to bring it up, so the shipping and part were free. The disassembly and reassembly were somewhat of a pain, but I saved about $250, which is what the plumber quoted.

I would have loved to have gotten a tankless water heater, but they are between $1,500 and $2,000 installed, and that doesn't included any additional for new flue and venting, if you need that and most likely you will. A new regular water heater was going to be about $450 for the water heater and about that to have it installed because of all the codes and permits and such. Obviously if you could install it yourself, you could save a lot of money.