Bradford White Reviews

Do not recommend buying Bradford White at all, getting parts is a challenge (only through wholesalers), and it makes the parts extremely expensive and hard to reach. Warranty does not cover labor, but certified labor will overcharge to work with Bradford White products because they know warranty claim will be a challenge so they’ll charge for those working hours too. On top of that, failure rate of Bradford White products is significant, so you’ll end up needing replacements at least once during warranty window, and more times after. Also cost of Brand new products is significantly higher than other commercial brands that offer same performance and better reliability

This brand came highly recommended, but it definitely disappointed in all aspects. Had my water heater replaced in July of 2025 and it was leaking water by November 2025. I called their customer service department and all they could do is read off to me the manufacture date and warranty. Considering I just paid to get this installed, now I have to pay someone to swap out their faulty unit and replace it - how is that my fault or any consumer's fault that your product is faulty. Their customer service people have an attitude about them as well, not very consumer friendly or even wanting to really help to fix this.

We had a plumbing company install a Bradford White Water Heater in 2021. In 2024, the water heater kept going on and off which we had to have the plumbing company come back out and figure out what’s going on. At that time, the issue we thought was fixed. In 2025 the gas control valve broke and we needed to have a replacement installed. The part was under warranty, however when calling Bradford White to get the part, they told us they would not send it to us.

Horrible experience, flat out. I can tell by the nauseating number of one star reviews, that this company is probably not going to change their ways. I ended up having a water heater go out when I was returning from a business trip. My house is three years old, and so is the water heater. I spent a day trying to diagnose the issue was, and tried calling their customer service. The woman I spoke to was very rude, and told me that they would not speak to a customer, and that I needed to be a certified plumber. This was, mind you, a request from my plumber, as they know that this brand has issues. They if I would diagnose prior to them making a trip. First off, I'm not a novice at plumbing, and I was able to fully diagnose that the issue was not the thermopile, which the error code was either suggesting that, or a bad gas valve.

My Rheem was installed 3 years ago and went out. The neighbor, a plumbing contractor installed the Bradford White. The quality and ease was amazing. Perfect setup. The difference was amazing in quality and craftsmanship. Smart choice! 50 gallon propane and is perhaps the best choice I could have made!

My family has been without water for 40 days on account of an electrical malfunction in our tankless heater. The needed parts have been ordered several times for over a month and have not been received. The warranty is not being honored on this 3 year old unit due to it being a replacement of the original system which also ceased working. I am filing complaints everywhere today. I will be forced to purchase a new unit unnecessarily- We will be in claims court soon.

Only 4 years old and On/off knob broke. No one can help. Even Bradford White couldn't send those little buttons to me. So I have to buy new water eater device because the little button is unavailable anywhere. DO NOT buy any Bradford White...

We have a Bradford White boiler and it's just 3 years old. It's not heating water and when called customer service they declined to help. My plumber ordered it and I don't have account with them. But, I was ready to give serial number and other details. Still they didn't help. Plumber is charging me hefty amount just to come and check. Don't buy this.

We have a Bradford White water heater that remains under warranty at this time. Our problems began on June 16. The water heater kicked off. The plumber from whom we purchased our water heater restarted the heater and then it kicked off again on July 17. It actually kicked off between those dates, yet we were able to restart it on our own. On July 24, the pilot went out once again and we were unable to get it going. The plumber came out and stated we had set the heater too hot. We had not adjusted the temperature.

Worst worst company ever! Worst worst service ever! The new installed water heater doesn't work. Then I called Bradford White company to ask for a Technician to take a look. The guy named Joe told me technician will come based on the order. I asked him a time frame I should expect the technician, the answer was they don't give a time frame. So in theory, it could be one week, one year or whatever. They don't care.

Bradford White covers replacement of the defective water heater installed but does not cover the damage that occurred from the water that destroyed my floor that I had to reinstall. Pretty simple... They said call your insurance so that your rates can go up. Doesn't seem like a fair resolution to me.

I had a call last night with Bradford White about a warranty issue on my hot water heater, and I’m honestly still shaking my head. This unit is only about eight and a half years old; not brand new, but definitely not ancient either. A heating element went out, I gave them the warning codes, and the response I got was just unbelievable.

Sensor got faulty. Company refused to replace it even under warranty. Called several times and they keep directing to whole sale parts which won’t give the part and the company refuses to replace the part even if the part is under warranty. Cheaply build.

Our water heater is two years old (manufactured Oct 2022, purchased/installed Spring 2023) and the tank separated entirely off the base (July 2025). Presumably it pressurized to the point it expanded and ripped the screws straight through the base so the water heater was resting on a rounded bottom and in danger of tipping over.

Purchased their 40 gallon gas model two years ago. Since then the pilot light has gone out FIFTEEN times in those two years! A year ago we had the pilot light assembly replaced - the company paid for the parts, but we had to pay the plumber ($135.00) The pilot light still kicks out! The latest is a company rep told me the company now believes the problem is a 'VENTING PROBLEM". Strange that our previous water heater, a KENMORE, only had two incidents of pilot light outage in 12 YEARS! I will not purchase a Bradford White product again. In the meantime, I am filing complaints with the BBB and the Federal Trade Commission.

I purchased a Bradford White water heater in 2018 and it had a 6 year warranty for a model RG240S6N, but had a major leak 6 1/2 years after installation. I would not recommend a Bradford White water heater.

I had a Bradford White water heater installed in April 2018, and by mid-2025 — just over 7 years later — it began leaking and required full replacement. The unit came with a 6-year warranty, so it was out of warranty by just over a year. Still, this kind of failure in such a short time from a “professional-grade” product is very disappointing.

Purchased Bradford White May 2025. Gas leaking into hot water. Went to Lowe's to Buy hot water heater. They didn't have the size I needed, so Lowe's said. "They have this service. (Called lead) that could help me find the right size and BTU I wanted," so I gave them my name and number. DNR is LOWE'S LEAD COMPANY for hot water heaters. DNR called me. Said they got my name from Lowe's and could help me the size and BTU I was looking for.. I ordered Bradford White gas hot water heater thru Lowe's lead company, paid through LOWE'S ADVANTAGE CARD, Here's the problem with Bradford White; Smelled gas in shower, called NIPSCO gas company to check newly installed hot water heater.

Purchased a 100 gallon commercial hot water heater in Nov of 2023 and it was installed by a professional plumber in a home, that is divided into 4 living units. Now in May of 2025 the pilot light will not stay lit. Asked Bradford White how to troubleshoot the issue. The area is well vented, with good egress of flue gas. The thermal pile had a 444mV reading, which is good. The pilot when viewed was bright blue with a little yellow flicker at top of flame, very common. Each time the pilot goes out, it seems to be harder to relight. They only have a 12 month parts warranty, which for a hot water heater priced at this level seems ridiculous. Asked if customer service could help in any way and they fell flat on their face, basically telling me to pound sand. It does not seem like I'm alone as many of these reviews are about poor reliability and lack luster customer service.

Our Bradford White electric 50 gl. tank within a year the upper element went bad. This came with the house when we had it built in 2024. The lower element seemed fine, but if you're gonna drain your tank you might as well replace both elements. I've never seen an element do this before, I've seen a lot of different answers for this, but a lot of them don't apply to me. I don't have hard water or a water softener, the electric ground was fine, and the tank was always full so it didn't run with no water in it. I've never been a Bradford White fan, and now I know why.

I am a retired US ARMY officer who lives in Richmond VA. 2.5 years ago we had a 80g Bradford White electric water heater installed by Mundin Plumbing. The wire harness fried itself, and despite having a year old electrical box installed at the house... Bradford White and Mundin Plumbing said the warranty does not cover electrical surges...and this was my problem to solve and I could be given a "refund for parts" on the tank. No one from Bradford actually diagnosed the problem in person! The Mundin rep was only a plumber, not electrician! ONLY one picture was taken of the top element compartment, and this is how the final diagnosis was determined!! This is a standard 'kick the can' and put the problem back to the consumer problem again.

This company is by far the worst company I’ve ever experienced with using their product and speaking with their customer service! Absolutely Terrible!!!! The Bradford White hot water tank could’ve caused a fire, had I not looked at the heating elements that’s next to the thermostat dial. The wiring that goes to the terminal or loose and showed signs of fire burns from the poor connections, and the wires were melted as well. I spoke to Customer Service (Krista) and when speaking to her it was like speaking to a dog that barks over you while trying to explain what the issue is with their product… I’ll NEVER purchase another product from Bradford White nor would I EVER use their product even if their product was given to me for free! You’ve been warned!!!! BEWARE!!!!

DO NOT purchase one of these water heaters. I purchased Model # RG240S6N, Serial # WK46844016 in April 2022. Last month I had to have a new valve put on because the pilot would not stay lit. I paid 1/3 of the total value of this tank. I reached out to Bradford White for suggestion, and they had no real answers, other than questioning if the plumber really needed to change out the valve. I sent them a copy of the invoice, and they really didn't stand behind this tank.

I spoke with Candice at the warranty department because our water heater that is only two years old, keeps turning itself off. Candice was very rude. I guess the warranty is not really a warranty, as you have to pay for a plumber to come out and do the repairs anyway. I will never buy another Bradford White product again. I do not respect companies that do not respect their customers.

I had a Bradford White for 4 yrs and 4 months. Something went wrong with it. I called the warranty center, I was told to call salesman for Colorado. He sent out service tech Ed - (that was a nightmare. I believe Ed was in cahoots with a furnace guy named John, who tried to high pressure me into buying a furnace. John pulled out my furnace blower - so I had no heat in 10 degrees. He called Excel - tried to get my gas red tagged and shut off - high pressure to buy his furnace. He also called the fire dept.) I shut wh off more than once but horrible fumes continued to come out of the water heater for several days (3+ days) after being shut off. Ed did nothing.

Had a new 40 gal gas water heater put in, jan 23 2025 was running out of hot water within 5 minutes, plumber came on the 27th and replaced the gas valve, probe. Same problem. Came back on the 30th and replaced the heater with another one. A little better but not up to par. Heater kicks in after a minute of filling up the sink with hot water.. and runs for 8 to 9 minutes, this this is going to cost us a lot on our gas bill. Wife took a 20 minute shower and had to start turning up the hot to keep it at a constant temp. Heater kicked in at less than a minute, and after she got done, the heater ran for 25 minutes making the total run time 45 minutes for a lousy shower. This going to cost us a fortune.

The quality of Bradford White natural gas water heater seems to deteriorate over the past years. Our first water heater of this brand lasted nearly 17 years almost trouble-free, but our second one of the same brand lasted only about 9 years with serious issues. With the 9 years, the pilot fire of this water heater often went out of itself without external interferences, and its ignition device was unable to light the pilot fire until numerous attempts. According to our contractor, the Honeywell gas controller on this water heater seemed defective from the very beginning, which may also explain why it was very difficult to adjust the water temperature on this water heater.

Gas water heater broke after 7 months. Told it was under warranty. Cold weather out. So instead of shipping the part second day or overnight, they took TWO WEEKS to get me the part. Who does that? Not even a year with the product and they do that? Unbelievable. Terrible company. Would never buy anything from them again.

My two-year-old Bradford White water heater started randomly turning itself off. I would relight it and a week, two weeks, sometimes four days later it would just turn off by itself. I called the plumber who contacted Bradford White and they agreed to pay for new parts but not the labor. So since Bradford White was not willing to pay for labor, it cost me $1000 to replace Bradford White’s faulty parts. This company is clearly not customer-friendly. Do not buy!!!

9/2020 replace 12-yr old elec 80 gal Rheem w/50 gal elec Bradford-White (B-W). B-W always ran out hot water; 3 people; leaking tank 2/2022 replaced; now replacement dead 8/2024. Done w/ Bradford-White.