The state brand water heater was recommended by my local plumber after our original water heater went out (after 9 years). We installed the state 50 gallon tall LPG water heater and it worked fine for 4 years. We came home to a leak and found that the water heater had rusted through creating the hole. We contacted our plumber and received a new replacement water heater under warranty (installed at our cost) and were back on our way. We had a leak again this weekend (3 years later) and again, the state water heater was rusted through shooting water out of the top into the gas vent pipe. That's two professionally installed state water heaters that have failed in 7 years and since the warranty falls back to the original purchase date we had no coverage for a 3 year old failed water heater. I will never buy another one manufactured by this company as one failing within its warranty period I could deal with, but two tells me there is a manufacturing problem. My original water heater lasted 9 years with the same water going through it and the two state units lasted less than that combined. I also spent over an hour on hold with their customer service line to be told there was no warranty and they were sorry the second unit failed after three years.
I purchased an AO Smith hot water heater in September of 2014. On January 10, 2017 it failed to work. A plumber replaced the part AO Smith said to replace. That part did not work, so a different part was put on. The part was defective and AO Smith mailed another part. I had to pay labor costs of $90/hour to put on all parts. The hot water heater worked one day and has again failed. I called AO Smith and was told I would have to continue replacing parts with me paying the labor costs. They will not replace the water heater. I am out more than the cost of a new water heater and still do not have hot water.
The state brand water heater was recommended by my local plumber after our original water heater went out (after 9 years). We installed the state 50 gallon tall LPG water heater and it worked fine for 4 years. We came home to a leak and found that the water heater had rusted through creating the hole. We contacted our plumber and received a new replacement water heater under warranty (installed at our cost) and were back on our way. We had a leak again this weekend (3 years later) and again, the state water heater was rusted through shooting water out of the top into the gas vent pipe. That's two professionally installed state water heaters that have failed in 7 years and since the warranty falls back to the original purchase date we had no coverage for a 3 year old failed water heater. I will never buy another one manufactured by this company as one failing within its warranty period I could deal with, but two tells me there is a manufacturing problem. My original water heater lasted 9 years with the same water going through it and the two state units lasted less than that combined. I also spent over an hour on hold with their customer service line to be told there was no warranty and they were sorry the second unit failed after three years.
I purchased an AO Smith hot water heater in September of 2014. On January 10, 2017 it failed to work. A plumber replaced the part AO Smith said to replace. That part did not work, so a different part was put on. The part was defective and AO Smith mailed another part. I had to pay labor costs of $90/hour to put on all parts. The hot water heater worked one day and has again failed. I called AO Smith and was told I would have to continue replacing parts with me paying the labor costs. They will not replace the water heater. I am out more than the cost of a new water heater and still do not have hot water.