Rheem/Rudd Gas Water Heater Recall / Problem

[VaTom]

For anyone who has bought a new gas water heater in the last couple of years. Rheem and Rudd are owned by the same company. We had a new Rudd Professional 40 gallon gas hot water heater installed in July 2020 (during Covid). Our plumber got it through his local supplier (not Lowes or Home Depot). Worked fine until a few weeks ago. Pilot light went out. Our plumber got it relit and worked ok for about two weeks. Saturday the pilot light went out again and it and main burner would not stay lit. Called our master plumber who installed it (a family friend) and he came by. He had done some checking with supplier. Apparently Rheem / Rudd had used some gas valves from an alternate supplier during covid supply issues. They are faulty and fail in short period of time. Checking online reveals other folks are having same problems. One source says Rheem/Rudd knew the valves might be defective and used them anyway and a class action suit may be filed.

The company is overnighting air express a replacement valve and he will install Monday or Tuesday. Apparently the valve is covered by warranty but labor to install may not be.

So if ypu bought a new Rheem or Rudd gas water heater recently be aware of this problem.

 

[Nevada Ed]

I bought a new Rheem electric two years ago since they have a 13 year warranty.

Sorry to hear that they are having problems.

 

[fordson]

Installed a new Rheem tankless gas water heater this pass Nov. Working well so far. Fingers crossed but thanks for the heads up.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

A "Parts Only" Warrantee is the normal type for after 6 months to a year!

The reality is it take 15 to 20 minutes to replace the control Valve, Now you will see how good of friend your plumber is!

Ivan

 

[chief38]

I've owned Rheem, Rudd, Phase I, Weil-McLane, and more over the years. Don't think I have EVER had one that lasted more than 6 or 7 years! Other than the initial purchase, I have always gotten free replacements under the warranty's however I'm the one who had to install them. From my understanding, all the Company's named above are all under the same Corporate umbrella. Glad I don't have one any longer!

We literally just moved into our brand new house this afternoon. It's got a tankless / endless gas fired hot water system. We'll see how it works as I am about to take my very first shower. It hangs on the garage wall and takes up very little space. Speaking of which, the MBR suite shower in this new house is crazy stupid big! It has two separate shower head systems and measures 14 feet long and 5 1/2 feet wide! The ceiling is 12 feet high so we feel like midgets in there - ha! I could wash a motorcycle in there! Just measured it and it is 10.5 feet x 5.5 feet with a 12 foot ceiling. I might want to install a Basketball net - LOL!!