30 Gal. Tall Residential Oil-Fired Center Flue Tank Water Heater Only (Burner Sold Separately)

A:  Thank You for your question as it made me aware that the PDF of the warranty shown on the Home Depot site has become corrupted. We will now have that corrected but it may take a few weeks to appear. In answer to your question the tank is warrantied to the original owner, against leaking, for six years from the date of purchase. Based on my experience in the plumbing industry, I can tell you that the average life of an oil fired hot water heater tank is seven years. They do not last long due to the high temperature at which number two oil burns and the resulting thermal shock. Thermal shock, meaning the rapid change of water temperature toward the hot or cold side causes cracks in the tanks glass lining. This happens less with gas and electric due to their lower heat source temperatures. The intensity of the thermal shock increases the colder the incoming water temperature is and by how much of the hot water in the tank that you use. Due to the short life oil fired hot water heaters have gone out of favor. Very few are used compared to years ago. Most homes have gone to alternatives. However they are still used in small amounts in areas where alternatives are not viable. Now you may ask is there one brand that stands out as having a longer life. In my experience NO, you can spend more but you are not getting anything for your money. Although there are still a few different brand names left, they all seem to source there internal tanks, referred to as the bottle by the industry, from pretty much the same supplier. So regardless of the brand name the internals and burner all come from the same place. I typically recommend to customers who have a boiler to think about using an indirect fired hot water heater instead, and for those with a furnace to consider a different fuel. However in many situations they stick with oil because it is just easier. Keep in mind that when the tank starts to weep or the hot water starts to contain rust that the tank has failed and it is time to act. If you wait you run the risk of the tank rupturing resulting in flooding.

A:  No the tank does not come with an aquatstat. The aquastat comes with the burner. So if you are getting a tank only,l as a replacement you would use the aquastat and burner from the old unit. Keep in mind even when changing like tank for like tank, you would still need to do a draft test on the new installation to make sure everything is adjusted correctly for the new installation. Keep in mind I have run into installations where the old tank used a different style aquastat than the new. This is due to changes Honeywell has made over the years. It is frustrating. If you find yourself in that situation feel free to give me a call with the model number and serial number of the old unit and I will get you the information on the replacement aquastat so you can use your old burner. Chris 978 651 3301

A:  Yes it is.

A:  Sorry for the delay but it took a while for A.O. Smith to get back to me. I will assume you are refering to the silver colored male connection sticking out of the unit. Those are removeable. They are screwed into a female connection that is welded to is called the water bottle.