Complain about a product or service

A. O. Smith Water Heaters

Helen of OFallon , IL March 17, 2010

I had an AO Smith for 14yrs and no problem. It was still working when I replaced it. I was just getting scared of it at that age. I replaced it with a AO Smith Pro Max. Thinking I was buying the best heater. The plumber installed it on 12/22/2007. I have had nothing but trouble from this heater. It will not stay lit! I have come to the conclusion that AO Smith products are Junk. Do not buy an A O Smith Water Heater! You are just asking for trouble.

Wesley of Mason, MI March 13, 2010

I have owned an AO Smith FPSH40261 hot water heater"power vent" that the flame sensor will not work consistently. If I do not take it out every month or so and clean it the heater won't stay lit. I have been told that this is normal. We get a nice cold shower usually on Monday mornings because the heater decides it doesn't want to stay lit. AO has never come up with a solution to the problem.

sylvia of ashland, KY March 4, 2010

I had a new Promax installed & in 3 yrs. the pilot went out & won't relight. The retarded way you clean it didn't help either. What kills me is my 21 yr. old water heater was still working when I replaced it with the Promax & it had never had a repair & only cost a fraction as much. This is the most worthless piece of crap I've ever had. Why are the A.G.'s filing class actions for their consumer protection division? I hope they lose everything since they don't care about their product. I've been w/o hot water for 8 days & it's going to cost me money I can ill afford on a fixed income. I & my son are too disabled to bathe so I have to borrow a friend's shower. They should be ashamed of themselves.

Rick of Forest Hill, MD March 1, 2010

We had a new AO Smith water heater installed in August of 2009. A few days later no hot water. I called the company that installed it and they sent someone out and finally fiqured out that they were not an authorized AO Smith waranty contractor. I had to call the warranty company, another plumber. The valve box was replaced. This is rediculous for a brand new unit to breakdown so soon. Now 5 months later I went through the same thing. No hot water. This time it was the igniter. Had to go through the same BS as the first time, but this time I am being charged 496 for labor. I will never buy another AO Smith product and will spread the word as well. We have sent men to the moon; a water heater is a pretty basic piece of equipment; seems like AO Smith would have their designs down to a science since they have been in business so long. At minimum they should replace the unit or give me a refund.

Janet of San Jose, CA March 1, 2010

I am echoing those who problems with AO Smith gas water heaters. I had mine, a Promax GNR 40 100, installed on emergency on November 16, 2009, at exorbitant weekend prices, since my old one was leaking into the condo below. Aquatek, the local plumber, said this was a great product. On February 21, 2010, I had no hot water as the pilot light went out. I called the installer, Aquatek, on Monday and they informed me that to come out they would have to charge me their 118/hr rate.

I reminded them that this was under warranty and they said they had not been able to negotiate a suitable labor payback rate from AO Smith. I asked them if they were still installing AO Smith heaters and they said, "no." They invited me to call the manufacturer, who referred me to three plumbers in the area that were "trained" in AO Smith heaters. I called the first one and they seemed to indicate that they would pay the labor also under the warranty. The very kind tech that was sent out first adjusted the thermocouple and got the heater lit. It was out again the next day. He returned and adjusted again and got the pilot lit. It was out the next day.

He also noted that there was water underneath the pan. In the process he contacted AO Smith technical support who asked him to check the valve pressure. He reported to me that it was 5.8, when it is recommended that is 5.0. He said that it would have no problem regulating lower pressures; however the manual clearly states that the valve CAN regulate lower pressures, not ones that are too high. They decided it was a faulty gas valve and informed me that I would have to pay for the overnight shipping (which is now at 58) to have this part arrive.

Well, I certainly did not want to wait a week for hot water, so I consented. Gas valve was installed on February 25 and pilot was out again on February 26 and February 28--two times. I relit it all times and noted that there is also water in the pan underneath...perhaps also a slow leak. Having reading about the design flaws in the flame arrestor, I am convinced that this is the problem. I plan to pursue the FTC and several local consumer hotlines and other avenues to pressure the installer into at least replacing with a a better heater. At the very least I want a refund on the original heater under the 1979 Sale of Goods Act. I would be willing pay for labor for a new one but believe that the company, which has divested themselves of this manufacturer, should really install a new one for free--no labor charges.

Sandra of Norfolk, NE February 10, 2010

I built my house in 2007 and had an A.O. Smith Promax power vent water heater installed. Late in 2008 started having problems with pilot light not staying lit--would power up, flame would come on and then go out within seconds. After three startups and failures it puts a code on the control panel.

Plumber came out and checked thermocouple and continued with this same problem. Would work for a day, maybe several days and then right back. Plumber replaced several parts and eventually pulled the thing and replaced it under warranty with me having to pay labor. I just wanted to have constant hot water and not worry about the thing. I thought after replacement that maybe I'd just gotten a lemon, but no, after just over one year later--SAME PROBLEMS!

I'm so mad right now I want to scream. So much for a hot shower in the morning. Sounds like this a very common problem among AO users. Sure wish the company would fix the design flaws. I have never had problems with a water heater before in any home I've lived in. If I didn't have to pay the plumbing fees for repair or install on a problem fixture I wouldn't be as upset--the company should warranty it with parts AND labor....

Ben of walnut, CA January 26, 2010

I am disappointed of A. O. Smith water heater has not performed as it should after four years. I discovered the pilot of my water heater was off. I tried to light up the pilot but it wouldn't work. I called in a plumber and found out that the pilot was defected and there was a slow tank leaking at manifold. Most water heaters do last for ten or more years.

I send my plumber to the store for a warranty replacement. The store charged me 130 for a different model GCNH-50 because GCV-50 was no longer available in California. I spend 600 to replace my water heater that is still under warranty. It doesn't sound right to me. I am stuck with the service call (120), installation cost (350), and cost of the warranty replacement water heater (130). I will never buy A. O. Smith water heater again. Their warranty sucks

Royce of Worthington, MN December 31, 2009

My plumber installed an A.O. Smith Promax 50 gallon natural gas water heater in our home when it was built in January 2005. It worked perfectly for 4.5 years and then it began to leak water. Our plumber replaced it under warranty with a like water heater. I paid only for the plumber's labor, which isn't too bad, but even that doesn't seem right. A. O. Smith should pay for the labor.

Regardless, within 3 weeks of installation the new water heater pilot light went out. My plumber came and re-lit it. And thus began the constant problem of the pilot light going out time after time. As others have stated, it might go out twice in one day, it might go out after 3 days, or after 1 week. You never know when, but it always went out. Often we'd not realize it was out until late at night (I got in the habit of checking for hot water before I went to bed each night) or sometimes when I got in the shower in the morning. My plumber worked on it multiple times and tried to get a resolution from A.O. Smith, all to no avail.

My patience ran out with 3 pilot light outs in the 3 days. I called my plaumber and told him to replace the A.O. Smith piece of crap with a different vendor's water heater that actually works. We reached a reasonable agreement on a new water heater where we shared the cost and he installed it at no charge.

Absolutely do not buy an A.O. Smith water heater. They have a serious engineering defect and they apparently either have no idea how to fix it, despite all the complaints, or have no intention of fixing it. I hope the company goes bankrupt. They sell an inferior product, that costs too much to begin with. Until this water heater I never lit a water heater pilot light in my 56 years of life. A.O. Smith is a terrible coompany with a terrible product. Stay away!

keith of angola, IN December 7, 2009

I, through a pair of contractors , own 3 ao smith electric water heaters. All three produce a horrible sulphur smell. our cold water is good-only water heated in these heaters smell. All three are connected to soft water

Mark of stuart, FL December 3, 2009

Model ECT-55200. Installed hot water heater in 3/09 and heater failed within 6 months. We found out when we went into the garage and the entire garage was flooded. After close inspection it was noted that the tank had ruptured/leaked and the water was coming out of the top. We dried out the garage and started our contact process with warranty. We could not get an immediate answer from the plumber other than they stopped using A. O. Smith products because they were failing rapidly. I choose not to use their replacement heater for fear of another failure. My concern now is that I have the same hot water heater in our closet for the other side of the house. I can only hope that it will not fail. We chose to replace it with a Rheam product.

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