Customer Reviews for Rheem Gladiator 50 Gal. Tall 12-Year 4500W Demand Response Ready Smart Electric Water Heater w/ Leak Detection, Auto Shutoff

Control board failure within first month. Rheem sent replacement.

Delivered on time and was a straight forward install, had it now for 3 weeks and no problem so far, replaced my 10 year old Rheem heater that was leaking.

Changed out my 2005 Rheem 50 gal electric. Old one was set to 120degrees and filled my jetted tub. Installed new one at 3:45pm and didn’t get hot water until 10:20pm. Next day I started the dishwasher and when it was done my wife went to shower and water was barely like warm on max heat. Waited 3 hours for water to be warm enough for a decent shower and even then had to take a quick one. I’ve installed many water heaters and this is the only one I have been unhappy with.

I installed a new Rheem hot water heater, but it doesn’t work. I have been without hot water for four days now. I followed all the instructions, hard piped it in, filled it with water, and turned it on, but it still doesn’t work. Rheem’s customer service was unhelpful and hung up on me twice. A technician was sent out and found that the motherboard is bad. The government now requires computers in all new hot water heaters so they can get you to join a demand management program. I am waiting for the new part to be shipped to me and then I will have to call and make another appointment. It looks like I will be without hot water for at least 5 to 6 days. This is frustrating, especially when you have three kids and two adults in the house.

Water heater leaked at the top not badly but a leak non the less. Warranty request initiated with quick response but as of now no more follow up and is not resolved

The brand new water heater came with a leak that was repaired by Fast Water Heaters after we contacted Therm.

The flawed leak detection feature cripples the hot water heater. It shuts down the hot water heater while it assumes it is detecting a nonexistent leak! Avoid this feature!!!

Excellent unit; easy operation, and a comfort knowing that it automatically stops leaks, unlike the unit it replaced.

Does exactly what it is supposed to be

It definitely does its job very well; the water gets hot. I can only give it 4 stars, though, because the electrical box is really tiny. It took two people to get the cover to stay in place long enough to get the screws started. It seems that the design engineers forgot that there would be wire nuts tucked in there, not just the wires themselves. The wires of the unit, plus 10g house wiring, plus wire nuts= a lot to shove into that tiny box.

I thought it had a digital temperature reading; but it doesn't. Hard to control heat settings

Easy install. Works great!