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Heat pump water heater by A.O. Smith. Failed in its first year, and now its warranty replacement is failing in the exact same way 13 months later.
Remains to be seen how well the installer will resolve this but given they’ve been largely ghosting me I’m pessimistic enough to have already written up an entire BBB complaint.
The concept of a heat pump water heater is great. And when it works it’s great. But this is some awful, awful, awful reliability.
Can I ask if it was purchased from a professional plumbing supply house or a big box store (like Home Depot)? I bought a Rheem heat pump water heater from Home Depot and, while I got a really good price on it, only learned later that the big box models are made with cheaper components and the warranty is severely worse than the professional supply house version. I installed it about 3 years ago and so far I’ve had no issue with it (knock on wood). I’m hoping it stays that way.
Note: in my prior house I was a very early adopter of heat pump water heaters in 2009 with the original GE Geospring model. It ran wonderfully for the 13 years I still had that house and was still running fine when I sold the house. It did have one recall service on it, but that was covered completely by GE even years after the original warranty ran out.
Was yours from a big box store or professional plumber?
Mine was purchased through our plumber, it’s got “commercial grade” on the side (which just reeks of empty marketing)
It’s a State (A.O. Smith) HPSX-66-DHPT 240v
I’m asking them to replace it with another brand, and Bradford White is what I’d like. Apparently those are Geosprings which seem like they might be more reliable and also a bit more serviceable. It’s good to have an anecdote to back that up, since I can’t exactly look up Bradford White on retail sites (apparently they only sell to plumbers)
I’m asking them to replace it with another brand, and Bradford White is what I’d like.
In case you do end up with Rheem as a choice, it does have a couple of quirks, but nothing deal breaking for us. The scheduling function should work, but lots folks report trouble with it working inconsistently. We don’t have TOU power so its not a function we use. One other thing is that it has four functions with one being called “Energy Saver”, and the app will nag you to put it in that mode. Ignore that. “Heat Pump” mode is actually the most energy efficient. Besides those two things, we’re happy with it, but should we need service we’ll have more difficulty because we bought a big box version and not the professional plumber version.
It’s a State (A.O. Smith) HPSX-66-DHPT 240v
A quick google search of that part number confirms your statement that it is a professional model (not a big box model).
I appreciate you sharing your experience. I’m sorry its giving you difficulty.
Heat pump water heater by A.O. Smith. Failed in its first year, and now its warranty replacement is failing in the exact same way 13 months later.
Remains to be seen how well the installer will resolve this but given they’ve been largely ghosting me I’m pessimistic enough to have already written up an entire BBB complaint.
The concept of a heat pump water heater is great. And when it works it’s great. But this is some awful, awful, awful reliability.
Can I ask if it was purchased from a professional plumbing supply house or a big box store (like Home Depot)? I bought a Rheem heat pump water heater from Home Depot and, while I got a really good price on it, only learned later that the big box models are made with cheaper components and the warranty is severely worse than the professional supply house version. I installed it about 3 years ago and so far I’ve had no issue with it (knock on wood). I’m hoping it stays that way.
Note: in my prior house I was a very early adopter of heat pump water heaters in 2009 with the original GE Geospring model. It ran wonderfully for the 13 years I still had that house and was still running fine when I sold the house. It did have one recall service on it, but that was covered completely by GE even years after the original warranty ran out.
Was yours from a big box store or professional plumber?
Mine was purchased through our plumber, it’s got “commercial grade” on the side (which just reeks of empty marketing)
It’s a State (A.O. Smith) HPSX-66-DHPT 240v
I’m asking them to replace it with another brand, and Bradford White is what I’d like. Apparently those are Geosprings which seem like they might be more reliable and also a bit more serviceable. It’s good to have an anecdote to back that up, since I can’t exactly look up Bradford White on retail sites (apparently they only sell to plumbers)
In case you do end up with Rheem as a choice, it does have a couple of quirks, but nothing deal breaking for us. The scheduling function should work, but lots folks report trouble with it working inconsistently. We don’t have TOU power so its not a function we use. One other thing is that it has four functions with one being called “Energy Saver”, and the app will nag you to put it in that mode. Ignore that. “Heat Pump” mode is actually the most energy efficient. Besides those two things, we’re happy with it, but should we need service we’ll have more difficulty because we bought a big box version and not the professional plumber version.
A quick google search of that part number confirms your statement that it is a professional model (not a big box model).
I appreciate you sharing your experience. I’m sorry its giving you difficulty.