Story time with Byron: Product Quality

The time where Byron shares a story about a job, a product, or even a customer experience that could be useful for others to know.

“Quality Products: Home Depot VS Supply Houses”

I recently went out on a water heater call that had no hot water. When I arrived I found power to the water heater, but it was not heating. The water heater was only 2 years old. When I removed the elements I found one had ruptured, and the other one was so caked with sediment that it was not working very efficiently.

I looked inside the water heater at the anode rod, which is a piece of metal that is designed to let the water eat it before the tank, and it was eaten up completely. Again, this was only a two year old water heater.

I found out that their well system had been down for a time, and that is one factor that caused extreme degradation of the materials in such a short time.

The other factor is that the water heater was from Home Depot.

We have started to find water heaters from Home Depot failing in the first year of two in larger numbers. At this point I do not know why, but it seems from the data that I have seen that they are making them with poorer quality materials, at least for the elements.

For those that don’t know, a Rheem water heater from Home Depot is not the same as a Rheem water heater from a plumbing supply house. It is too much to go into in this post, but suffice to say the ones from Home Depot are inferior to those sold at plumbing supply houses.

So the first take away from this story is that for those on a well, it is important to keep your system up to date, or it will start to take a toll on the plumbing in the house. The second take away is to always buy quality products whenever possible.

Hopefully this edition of Story time with Byron has been helpful to you!
It’s something to consider! If this blog helped you in any way, check out more of Byron’s blogs!

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As always, if you are looking for a plumber to help you out with a maintenance call or plumbing emergency, feel free to give us a call or text at (941)504-3578, check out our website, or email us at nextlevelplumbinginc@gmail.com. We’d be happy to schedule a free estimate for you and provide you with all the professional help you need!