A. O. Smith Water Heaters Reviews

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.

Purchased an A. O. Smith water heater in 2021. It worked fine until early 2026, when it stopped functioning. After confirming that my unit was still under warranty, I hired a handyman who identified the failed part (something in the pilot assembly). I expected a straightforward warranty claim—either by phone or through the website.

Horrible customer service. Got about a week out of a water heater. Definitely going back to Rheem. Just know if your water heater goes out whether a day or a month you will be required to work on it they won’t replace it or repair. Just cover parts.

First, I would have never chosen A.O. Smith water heater!! It was the Whirlpool replacement after a leak from Lowe's. Now the rest: the wait times are obscene, but based on the quality of their products I would imagine they get an insurmountable number of complaints calls. Their cheap product keeps failing and they want to keep replacing the same faulty parts instead of replacing the unit. It has failed twice now in a 6 month time span. When I pushed back they had someone call from technical support to tell me my warranty was expired....which is not true. Legend has it that I'm still on hold, waiting for someone to answer... I am legend.

Water heart installed on 3/6/25. Been repaired on 10/25, 12/25 & 1/26 Took about 20 days to break down the third time. This is beyond frustrating. We did not have hot water for Christmas! Don't buy!!!

Too bad I cannot give them 0 Stars. We moved into our new house in November of 2023. It has an AO Smith tankless water heater. On January 13, 2026 the unit quit working. No hot water since then. Two service calls later 1st one at $179 and 2nd at $392.50 a hotel bill to take a shower at $130 and a part which we found locally that may or may not be the issue (the ignitor) at $50 and we still don't have hot water.

I purchased a new AO Smith Signature 300 out of the box at Lowe's - discount was given for no box. Salesman said it was brand new, never used. I checked for scratches and other signs of use and it looked good. Got it home and installed it but the pilot wouldn't light. Called AO Smith and they said the problem was the flammable vapor sensor and said it wasn't under warranty. It will take 5 days to deliver (no shower, laundry, dishwasher, etc) and then I have to pay a plumber to install the part because the water heater has to be taken apart.

Absolutely horrific experience. I've been contacting AO Smith for months to try to get my water heater replaced because it's under warranty. They gave me a distributor to call and they said they don't even sell my water heater. I went on to call 5 more distributors who said they don't carry it and can't even help me because I would need to front the cost of the new water heater. This is absolutely ridiculous. I am so sick and tired of these companies taking advantage of people. I was waiting on hold with their Ashland location for an hour today. They were not helpful in any way and took pleasure in telling me there's just, "nothing they can really do." I will be telling everyone I know how terrible this company is.

I bought one Lowe's that would shut off after 30 seconds after install. Terrible customer service. Both Lowe's and A.O. Smith give you a runaround on returns. The want you to wait until one of their people can come out to look at it. I had a professional plumber do the install but not good enough for them. Scam.

Purchased a water heater in May 2025. Have had plumbers come out due to no hot water and they will not send a replacement. Their customer service is horrible. The worst I have ever encountered- From Tiffany and Val, they lack customer service and my experience has been awful - & case # ** - have asked for a supervisor twice and agents claim no one to speak to at the moment and they must create a case for a supervisor to call me back and 5 days later I still have not heard from a supervisor as of yet!

My AO Smith products (a water heater and water softener) seem to work well. However, customer service is worse than horrible. You call the main customer service phone number for a simple question, and the representatives pretty much know nothing. They pass you onto "technical support" and NO ONE at Tech support answers the phone EVER. I tried three separate times, on three separate phones, and after 2 hours each time waiting on hold, the call disconnects automatically. VERY POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE. Thank goodness my AO Smith units are still functioning, because (given my experience with Customer service) I'm guessing it would be a nightmare if they needed any sort of repair. BUMMER!

Bought a new electric water heater yesterday morning from Lowe’s and after installing waited a few hours water was not getting hot. After contacting customer service and confirming that the heating element was bad was given a parts authorization # and was told I could use it for a replacement element. Lowe’s refused to issue part without old element and because it was a long drive I had to pay for a part to repair a heater myself that was new. No authorized repairman close enough to do job. I called. I don’t know who to blame more, AO Smith or Lowe’s. I’ve been an industrial maintenance guy for 50yrs so I’m pretty familiar with how to install a water heater. Worst customer service ever from both companies. I could say more but I don’t know if AO Smith even cares. If they do want to check my case number was **.

Purchased A O Smith 30 gallon water heater from Lowes on 12/17/25; it stopped working 1/9/26. Do not waste your money buying this brand. Warning light reads clean burner screen on Brand New water heater.

I bought a A.O. Smith hot water heater, I couldn't get the Anode rod out, I spent 5 hrs, and finally had to go borrow a super powerful impact gun from a friend at 10pm that finally broke it loose, the rod was bent, I called the number that was on the paperwork, and spoke to a very rude, belligerent person in tech support named Mike. He said that AO smith does not ensure that the Anode rod is sound and told me that I was on my own to try to fix the problem.

Bought an electric on demand water heater. Did not provide steady hot water from the beginning but it was located in our guest house and I did not bother. It finally quit. Called AO Smith and was told needed to replace the main board, total $350 out of warranty. Then realized after the fact that was the price of the same water heater new. Spent 2 mos trying to return it. May calls, may emails, RMAs, and no replies. Finally gave up, lost my $350, they wore me out with their incompetence and poor quality. Bought a Rheem heater and perfect!

I purchased a 50 gallon A.O. Smith heat pump water heater at the end of October 2025 from Lowe's and as of January 7, I still cannot get their app to recognize the water heater. I have made a dozen calls to their tech line and they even shipped me a new control board but the app still cannot recognize the water heater. I have given up on getting the app to work so I requested a RMA number to replace or return the water heater but A.O. Smith now tells me the water heater does not need the app for it to work so they will not let me replace it or even repair it. I have solar and time of use energy rates at my home without the app I cannot monitor or control the water heater. One of the main reasons that I purchased the water heater was for the functionality of the app. I will never purchase a A.O. Smith product again.