RHEEM  and  BRADFORD WHITE make  the  BEST  ELECTRIC  water heaters today.   The units  that we install come with  heavy duty Stainless Elements  to make them last a long time without service. 

Whirlpool Energy Smart..  

This brand is probably the worst electric water heater made today .. imho. 

http://www.my3cents.com/showReview.cgi?id=31932

http://www.planetfeedback.com/index.php?level2=blog_viewpost&topic_id=286975

 http://www.my3cents.com/showReview.cgi?id=31932

1             2        ..look how complicated this computer circuit board is   pic 1

this  unit already has a long list of complaints and its  growing every day. 

   Here  is a  3 year old 80 gallon electric whirlpool water heater...

leaking and the control was  buried  in foam... a very  fine product.

After about 3 days ,   Lowes did replace this unit.

         1                           2                           3                    4

A.O.SMITH  FVIR  gas. This heater is poorly designed to take in just barely enough air to operate ---- very  similar to  the Whirlpool .    Look at pics  #  2  +  3. 

This   03 A.O. Smith  water heater gave us nothing but troubles,  so we took it out and cut it open  to see how it was made.   

I feel  the Smith water heaters that are installed in laundry rooms or high dust areas will eventually start to clog up and cost people big money too.

        I   I installed this Smith unit in 2006 and took it out in 2007.  Note the lint build-up in the pan....

 2004  STATE SELECT GAS WATER HEATER taken out on  Nov 17, 06  .   I changed the thermostat ,  thermo coupling and  I blew out all the lint with a compressor  and it still wanted to fight me.....

so I changed it out the next day. 

  Look at the lint still stuck in this screen,  even after  150psi air pressure it was still there.    State and Sears are made by A.O.SMITH

In My Honest Opinion .    A.O.Smith is going to have nothing but troubles with this FVIR design and eventually will have a re-call or a class action lawsuit slapped on them.

 http://www.planetfeedback.com/index.php?level2=blog_viewpost&topic_id=289472

http://www.planetfeedback.com/index.php?level2=blog_viewpost&topic_id=261013

Have you ever had your old water heater serviced or looked at in the last 15 years??

      Here is an old  pressure relief valve on a very old heater... This should have been changed out years ago...

Look at the explosion and damage  that can happen when one fails to work properly..................

http://www.kpho.com/slideshow/news/17191195/detail.html