A. O. Smith Water Heaters Reviews

10 days after my warranty expired I noticed the pan underneath was full of water, I removed all of the water to find a small leak at the bottom call the warranty department and was told there was nothing they could do because my warranty had expired.. Just found out today after talking to a few neighbors several people in our neighborhood has had the same problem. Stay away. You have been warned.

I was researching to see if I wanted to switch brands. I read so many of these complaints on here. However, we have used AO Smith for the last 25 years and have never had a problem. They have worked great and lasted well beyond their warranties. We decided to go ahead and stay with our trusted brand. The install scheduling was easy and done the next day. The guys were professional and did a great job. It is really sad that the only time people come to the internet is to complain. Wish more people would think to share their good experiences.

Very hard to do regular maintenance on. They've torqued the anode down to where you can't get it off to replace it. Even the plumber can't get it off. The only reason for this is so you have to buy a new one. We've only had our water heater for two years and need to replace it. This is unacceptable and we'll never purchase an A.O. Smith heater again.

Buying an A.O. Smith Hot water heater was an absolute mistake! In 2019 I purchase what I thought to be a superior product and had my plumber professionally install it., That unit lasted until 2023..Barely 4 years! It was under warranty so it was replaced. However I still needed to pay my plumber to install it. Well that unit only lasted until 2026...3 years!! This weekend I again had to purchase a new water heater and chose a different brand and once again paid my plumber to install! I knew it wasn't under warranty but called AO Smith to talk to a supervisor and tell my story and was told "it's not under warranty". No apology or even trying to explain why. Overall my experience with this company has been Horrible and I'm glad I will never have to deal with them again!

My mom had an A. O. smith water heater installed professionally, and it failed in just over 6 years. Absolutely the worst water heater experience I have ever had. If I could give them 0 stars I would. Garbage!!

Never buy an AO Smith water heater. Just don't. If it doesn't work, the store will not take it back without an authorization code from the company, and the company will not give one. They want you to troubleshoot and even then will try to ship you parts that you will wait two weeks for. Horrible customer service with sarcastic attitudes. Trust the reviews. Learn from our hard lessons.

Bought water heater connected lines and thermostat work for 2 days after converting to propane, quit working, call customer service and was going through the steps and was told the heater would not work on bottled gas. All propane is in a bottle so either it false advertised or they don't stand behind their merchandise. Was told no refunds, you're out of luck with this company

Worst warranty!!! My ao commercial series water heater failed. I received a Rma # from AO SMITH to have replaced. Took it for replacement, they want $300 for replacement. (handling) What a rip off!!!

If your AO Smith water heater breaks, do not expect them to help you. Mine failed, and instead of honoring the warranty and helping a customer out of a bind, they demanded that I leave my family without hot water while they dragged their feet "troubleshooting." In the real world, hot water matters and time matters. I had to replace the unit out of my own pocket just to get my house functioning again. Their customer service is terrible, and their warranty isn't worth the paper it’s printed on. Save your money and buy from a brand that actually supports its customers during an emergency.

Terrible customer service in the product warranty department, disrespectful, unprofessional language and sarcastic language. They don’t care about helping the customer and are terrible with their negative attitude. They manipulate the product warranty by going off their manufacturing date to which does even align from the date it was placed at the Lowe’s store. And I bought the water in December of 2015 and they had another previous claim already in the record in March of 2023.

Customer has been without hot water for over a week waiting on a warranty part that took 4+ days to process from A O. Smith then another 4+ days and still hasn't arrived to date 8/7/26. When a warranty issue and part is ordered from Rheem Water Heaters the part is at our door the next day.... NOT 10 DAYS LATER. Very shameful customer service!!!

I have had two A.O. Smith Water tank water heaters in the last 6 years. First one failed after 3 years, rusted through. After long battle with customer service they finally replaced under Warranty. That water heater lasted again 3 years. Same problem. This time they refuse to replace because the water heater that was installed, while new, had been sitting in their warehouse for years (BTW they never informed us of this) and thus because of its age is no longer covered under warranty. If getting a lawyer was not so bloody expensive I would be taking them to court. Horrible products and even worse customer service. I will make sure to notify anyone who asked to avoid this brand like the plague. Only reason for 1 star is I had to pick one, and option of 0 or negative does not exist.

Just one month later, the second water heater also failed, leaking from the bottom overnight and resulting in another costly replacement.

I got a Smith water heater because husband swore it was the best. Every year I had to have service out to fix the temp valve and after the first replacement anytime I used a lot of hot water the unit moaned so loud they can hear it across the street. I've had someone out every year to resolve issue and they say you have to keep it clean underneath my garage and hot water tank area is so clean you can eat off floor. This sounds like a pressure release valve and I'm pissed that I paid so much more for the name of quality and got off brand service

Had a brand new hot water installed, purchased through Lowe's end of May/beginning of June. After 10 DAYS the pilot went out and would not stay lit. Turns out there was water getting into the burner. After monkeying around with AO Smith for well over a week, we finally got a new one installed. Literally another 10 DAYS later and the pilot went out again. Same thing, can get it lit but won't stay lit. As soon as we let go of the pilot knob, it goes out. Checked the burned, no water in it this time. Thought maybe an issue with the propane (even though the stove/oven and dryer are all working just fine) as we had an older propane tank. Propane company was great and came out, put a brand new tank and regulator in. No change.

One of the worst companies I’ve ever had to deal with. Bought their water heater on 6-19-26 and installed it the same day. Immediately through an error code. The company stated the gas control valve needed to be replaced. They gave me two businesses to obtain the part from and gave me a payment authorization code for the company to be reimbursed. First company said they don’t carry the part. The second company said they have the part, but they will not do the reimbursement, because AO Smith doesn’t reimburse them. Contacted the company again, told me to purchase the part and they would reimburse me. Well if you deny reimbursing the company, what makes me think you’re going to reimburse me.

Junk mixed with/scam warranty made to discourage and disqualify. Lengthy and painful. Just know it is a crap shoot IF it last the length of warranty they claim on the box. Expect ZERO customer support! It's yours when you walk out the door.. Maybe it works. Maybe you got 500$ of scrap.. Good luck.

Horrible service. They rather children and elderly go with out hot water than honor their warranty and replace a hot water heater saying they need to fix it first and take days to do it. Horrible. Horrible. I want to return the 4 hot water heaters I just bought. Never again.

My AO Smith 50 gal water heater lasted just over 3 years. Rusted out from the bottom. Complete garbage. Company should be ashamed.

Worst Customer Service & Complete Warranty Failure! Avoid A. O. Smith! If I could give 0 stars, I would. We installed a brand new A. O. Smith tankless water heater (Model THR-199M) in December 2025. It completely failed in less than 6 months, leaving our household with NO HOT WATER—a total living emergency. Their "manufacturer's warranty" is an absolute joke. Their customer service department wasted days of our time. They provided a list of authorized plumbers under warranty, but every single one of them refused to come, stating our area is completely outside their service range! Because A.O. Smith's service network failed, we were forced to pay $500 out of pocket just for a private technician to diagnose their defective product (Case 19773419). Now, because they have no local plumbers, we are being quoted an additional $1,000 for labor to install the replacement part.

The worst customer service I ever encountered. I requested to speak to Supervisor, placed numerous messages, spoke to service department. No person ever calls you back. You get robo calls that go to message box & then the whole process repeats again. My 1st HWH gas operated came with the brand new house in September 2019, lasted 4 years & then leaked & had to be replaced-I covered the cost of labor that was around $ 800.

Bought a gas water heater 1 month ago ... Today it stopped working... Went thru lowes (bought from). That was an experience.. Was transferred to A O Smith customer service.. Was told that I needed to contact a plumber at my cost to troubleshoot the unit.. then they would move forward.... Wonderful process, in the meantime we have no hot water.

The water heater lasted only 3 1/2 years. Very disappointed.

I wish I could give a negative five! Bought brand new AO water heater at my local Lowe's. Now myself and husband are not newbies to the world and over many years have replaced water heaters and parts to them. Now that being said my husband installed ours properly and made sure of all of our worong and he bleed the air properly. Turn on, nothing! So call Lowe's. The manager told us to call them. They will walk thru a test to make sure then if bad issue a replacement. Ok nice but we live three hours round trip from nearest store. Plus pain In butt to drain and haul! So he does what they ask! Lady at AO nice, ask him to call back when in front of heater.

STAY CLEAR!!! No service. No support. Called everyone within 30 miles and no one supports this company. Call AO Smith and they gave me a name 200 miles away.

This is a photo a corroded heating element in a new water heater. DO NOT PURCHASE THIS BRAND. I originally purchased a A. O. Smith water heater on 4/16/2024 from Lowe’s and it was installed 4/20/2024. The water heater did not last 2 years before rusting and leaking. I contacted AO Smith’s warranty department on 3/25/2026. The rep examined everything via camera and deemed it as needing replacement (there’s a 6 year warranty with this water heater). I received the authorization number that day and the plumber removed the old one and installed the new one on 3/28/2026. I paid the plumber for his services. For 2 days afterwards, the water was hot for my shower in the morning. I didn’t do anything else that required hot water. Apparently, I was getting the hot water from the reservoir.

Just bought a 30 gallon model and not sure if I am going to keep it after reading about the PLASTIC DRAIN VALVE though meant to save money, designed to fail prematurely. I will accept a FREE SWAP OUT of the plastic to a brass and thank you.

I bought a water heater from this company. Had it installed at my house. It didn’t work. I called the company. I politely ask what they can do and the customer survey was terrible. They didn’t help at all. Refuse to help me or anything and was treating me racist just for my accent.

Worst customer service I have ever experienced! We had one AO Smith water heater for a year that leaked and we replaced with our warranty another AO Smith heater which the elements corroded in and their customer service kept explaining it was our water that was causing the rust. We did several tests we were putting clear cold water in and you could clearly see that the elements had rusted after many long months of back and forth getting them pictures flushing the systems they refuse to honor our warranty and even went so far as to hang up on my husband who was extremely kind on the phone to them. I got Lowe's involved and Lowe's was a great help but we will never purchase another AO Smith water heater! They are the worst customer service I have ever experienced! And their product is junk!

I was issued a replacement A.O. Smith water heater for one that was having electrical issues and burning out heating elements. The replacement worked for maybe 2 weeks before the lower element burned out. I was issued a code over the phone for reimbursement parts and labor up to $100. After having a plumber come out and diagnose and replace the burned out element, it lasted another 2 weeks, at which time the lower element (again) burned out.

This water heater leaks like a sip. First one only last 1yr 6mos before it started to leak from the bottom. Since it was under warranty I replaced it with a new one just for to leak within a few days. Not recommended.

I paid a high price for their heater and it failed after only two years. My previous one was GE and lasted 13 years. Don’t buy their heaters. A friend of mine had one and only lasted 3 years. Even they have warranty but I still have to pay for the labor fee which is not cheap.

Just want to ask my gas 40 gallons water heater has only 1 year. I bought it on Lowe's and stop working. Once a month I light it up and works fine for about a month without problem then suddenly stop working. Is anybody else has the same problem?

Built new home 5 years ago. 3 years into heat pump, compressor error showing. Called AO Smith, sent pictures of install. Changed electronics board, still error. They said still under warranty. They paid to replace heat pump, but no coverage for labor ($2,000) to install new tank. 2 years later, same thing, same error. They had plumber out to confirm everything installed correctly. They are again replacing tank, and again no coverage for the $2k labor to replace. They agree both times with problem with their product, but only pay for their faulty tank, no coverage for the majority of the cost which is labor. If it goes out again, I will eat the cost of a new tank and go with a different brand. While on phone with local tank supplier they stated they have multiple with same issue going on (approximately 30). Do not recommend.

This customer service is not just bad. I talked with three associate last a few days. They all keep talking when I am talking. Over the last a few days, the receipt requirement for warranty keep chaning just to avoid coverage for labor. At the end, I got the chance to talk with supervisor and finally understand why they has one star review here. There should be negative 5 star option for them. I will not use them and recommend others to do the same. Worst experience. This is just evil

The pilot light wouldn't stay lit on a brand new unit, would randomly go out after a few weeks of operation, and would keep going out. Replaced the gas valve, which lasted for about a month, then started going out again. Spent $300 on parts, no refund. Their technical support was a joke, I was on hold for 4 hours just to get an RA number. Shame on AO Smith for making a shit product, and shame on Lowe's for making it so difficult to return such an unreliable product. I learned my lesson: don't buy AO Smith and don't buy appliances from Lowe's. I would rather have my sanity. Lowe's even made it hard to leave this review...SHAME.

Do not buy a water heater from this company. I purchased a water heater, it went out after 9 months. The unit was still under warranty (less than a yr old) so I contacted A. O. Smith for a part that had gone out (the main controller), once that part was replaced, it still did not work, I had to order an additional part. After more than an hour on hold, I ordered the additional part, AND paid $45 for overnight shipping because at this point I had been out of hot water for 3 days. I ordered the part, overnight shipping on a Thursday. The following Tuesday, the part had still not shipped.

Do not recommend this company. 3 years 10 months into a 12 year warranty the hot water heater isn't working. One week to get replacement part when it was located only one hour from my home. Upon trying to install part found another part broken which caused first part to break. Order second part and the dumb clerk just reordered the same first part again which took another week to get. Now waiting 5 days for them to ship the correct part (hasn't even been shipped yet) when they indicated it would take 1-2 days to ship and they would cover overnight charges. Two weeks with no hot water. In looking at other complaints, I am saving to purchase a replacement so I don't have to go through this again in a short time.

My 40 gallon A.O. Smith electric water heater was installed for 8 months when the lower heating element went bad. I notified A.O.Smith and was told to send a picture of the detective heating element and a picture of my receipt. I sent them in and some time later I got an email saying I needed to call them. The picture of the element clearly shows the element was defective. I believe the element was marginal at best when installed at the factory. The pictures showed the defect better than I could have explained and after seeing the reviews sent by others, I decided not to waste my time and just not buy A.O.Smith products again.

How many pilot light issues are we going to have with this thing? The tank is fine, it's less than a year old, but we've now had the electrical replaced two separate times on it because the pilot light refused to stay lit randomly after a few months.