Leave the label on the tank
The rating label is the plate or sticker on the side of the heater with the model and serial number. The warranty depends on it.
Home Depot sells Rheem. Rheem's warranty lists "units that have had their rating labels removed" among the things it does not cover. To get a replacement, Rheem wants the failed heater made available with the rating label and all its parts intact, or the complete original label. It does not accept a photocopy.
A. O. Smith and Bradford White say much the same. A. O. Smith's warranty applies only to a heater whose rating plate has not been altered, defaced or removed. Bradford White requires the rating plate from the failed heater to be sent back.
So photograph the label before anything else, and do not let the old tank leave the house until the claim is settled.
What it covers
The tank and the parts, for the length on the label. Store tanks are sold with 6, 9 or 12 year coverage. Bradford White's run 1, 6, 8 or 10 years on the tank and 6 on parts.
Labor is covered only at the start. On Rheem's 6-year tank it is covered for the first year. On its 9-year tank it is covered for two. After that, Rheem says the owner pays for labor, shipping, removal, disposal and reinstallation. Bradford White's warranty leaves out removal and installation charges altogether.
Take a tank that fails in year five. The tank is free and the plumber is not. What a replacement costs.
The warranty does not pay for what the water ruined. Rheem excludes damage from water leakage, and Bradford White excludes incidental property damage. That is a homeowners insurance question. What the insurer expects in the first two days.
These are the terms on the warranty sheets each maker has posted. Terms differ by model and year, so the one that counts is the sheet that came with your heater.
The new tank does not get a new warranty
A replacement tank carries only what was left on the old one. Bradford White gives the example itself: a 10-year tank that fails after nine years is replaced with a heater that has one year of coverage.
Rheem and A. O. Smith word it the same way. The replacement is covered for the unexpired part of the original warranty.
Who is covered
The Rheem and A. O. Smith warranties read for this page cover the original owner only and say they are not transferable. If you bought the house with the heater already in it, the warranty did not come with it.
Bradford White's is different. It extends to the first buyer and to any later owner, as long as the heater is still where it was first installed.
Rheem's and Bradford White's both end if the heater is moved from where it was first installed.
When the clock starts
Rheem counts from the date of purchase if you can document it. If you cannot, it counts from the date the heater was made plus 30 days. Bradford White counts from three months after the date of manufacture when there is no proof of the installation date. A. O. Smith asks for proof of purchase and of the installation date, and falls back on the date of manufacture on the rating plate.
Counting from the date of manufacture always costs some time, so the receipt or the plumber's invoice is worth finding. The serial number shows when the heater was made.
What ends it early
These appear in the warranties read for this page:
- The anode rod taken out and not replaced.
- A house with a closed water system and no expansion tank. When a house counts as closed.
- Damage from sediment and lime, which is what a yearly flush is for. The four jobs that keep a tank going.
- An installation that does not follow the code or the manual.
- Flood, freeze or fire.
Making the claim
- Stop the water and the heat first. The steps are here.
- Photograph the rating label and the leak.
- Find the receipt, or the invoice from the plumber who put it in.
- Call before the tank is removed. For a Rheem bought at Home Depot, Rheem's claims line is 866-279-4566, and Rheem has an online tool that checks the warranty from the serial number and the store number. Bradford White says to go through a professional installer, or call 800-531-2111. For A. O. Smith, use the number on the warranty sheet that came with the heater.
- Keep the old tank, with its label on, until the maker says what it wants back.
If a plumber is supplying the new heater, ask whether they will handle the claim on the old one, and how long the exchange takes. A house with no hot water may not be able to wait for it.