Customer Reviews for Rheem Gladiator 50 Gal. Tall 12 Year 5500/5500-Watt Smart Electric Water Heater with Leak Detection and Auto Shutoff

Appears well constructed. Install went smoothly with sharkbite water heater connectors. Only hitch was that the WiFi will only talk with 2.4 mhz (not 5.0). Requires additional node configured at 2.4 Seems a bit misleading. We will see about longevity.

Easy install, works well.nice to be able to remotely monitor and adjust to schedules. Dents found when opening packaging. Since it doesn’t impact performance I ignored them

Really like the “smart” part of it and I can easily control it from my phone.

The heat trap nipple on discharge side was either stuck partially closed or was installed upside down. Took several hours and multiple system drainings to finally figure out why water flow was so poor. No mention of these traps are in the instruction manual which might have helped me figure it out earlier.

Excellent construction. I really like the remote control and monitoring ability.

Perfect for my family.

The pressure relief valve is on the top and in the center. You can't just buy a ready made pipe for it and it takes up more room. Also the water sensor needs to be on the ground. I placed mine on bricks to keep it off the concrete. This basically nullifies the water leak detector. Feature are pretty good. The app says you schedule different temperatures. The min temp however is 120F. Is rather just turn it off when I want to, such as work days or night time.

Just barely installed my new one so I'm going to stay neutral on this one.

Overall, the water heater itself appears to be working after a few weels, although the delivery process was horrible as the unit arrived with multiple dents, and there was no expeditious way to have the unit returned or to receive a replacement, so I had to install a dented $900 water heater.

Two week in, no leaks, no problems at all. Great product so far.

This is a good unit, but has a problem, if you live in a high humidity state , like Florida, I called and Rheem had to sent a plumber Rheem expert, to check the unit, since the water leak alarm went off twice already, with no leaks, plumber checked the whole unit inside and out, no leaks, so the final decision is, Florida is a highly humid state, and will set off the water leak alarm, there is no adjustment for the feature, and when the alarm activates, it shuts the water supply. Be informed

Would have given an Excellent review but for a cosmetic dent in the top and lack of an overflow tube.

I hope it lasts eo years like my previous water heater.

so far so good. Not sure about temp calibration of tank vs what comes out of the tap. Support tells me 15+% variation is acceptable. Nice features.

The heater seems to be doing fine. It did arrive at the store for pick up with a small dent in the outer shell, but only cosmetic, but it seems like everything gets handled in a less than gentle manner anymore. The HD folks were pleasant and helpful at the pickup point, smooth from start to finish. My only significant issue came when the “let us install it” call finally came. I was floored at the price they quoted me, significantly more than the cost of the water heater itself for a task that takes on average 2-3 hours at the outside. So, in summary the product seems a good purchase, HD a good place to buy it, but do you homework for installation.

Let’s see….. The good, the bad and the ugly. I installed this first unit on January 20, 2024, replacing my previous Rheem water heater that was installed in 2017. I thought they were designed to last a little longer than that. The water system for the city is on a well and it’s soft, so there are no hard water problems with the old tank. The installation went great, the size and dimensions were all close to the same which made the fit great. I chose this unit for its faster recovery times (5500-watt element) and the app allows you to see how much hot water remains in the tank. With a house full of girls, it seemed I always ran out of hot water at shower time. The energy consumption side of the app was also neat, seeing when the unit was used the most. I’m a tech guy and like the other features offered too, app-enabled temp control, vacation mode, and others. Well, twenty-two days later (February 11, 2024) cold water in the house was a problem. After some testing on my own and with Rheem's tech support the upper heating element was determined to be faulty. I checked the app and the element function showed to be fine, but the energy consumption changed drastically. (See image) Rheem’s solution was to send it through warranty, and they would look at shipping a new element out in four to five days. We never made it to how long it would take to arrive with the shipping. It was cold outside, and I knew my family could not go without hot water for one plus weeks. Rheem would reimburse me if I located one locally, but I was unable to find a 5500-watt heating element replacement. I called the store (Home Depot) and explained the situation, it may have been a manager, but she was amazing. She asked if I could drain the tank and return it for another. This was the best solution for me, seeing how I didn’t want to replace the element that went out so quickly. What could have caused that?? (Yes, the tank was full of water before any power was applied.) Picked up the second water heater and installed it the same day. As of today, March 8, 2024, it is still working flawlessly. The application for the water heater shows the hot water levels at 3rds. It’s full, 2/3rd full or 1/3rd full, and of course empty. I was hoping for levels a little more granular than that. This unit and Rheem water heaters in general had mixed reviews when I purchased, but I was limited to availability in my location. Praying for several years of hot water….

My last Rheem lasted 20years I hope this one last half as long.

I love this new water heater. Not only does its technology gives me alerts on my cellphone whenever there is a leak or any other issues going on with it, but the 55-gallon keeps the hot water flowing without any interruptions. It's such a great investment that actually increases the value of my home. My biggest issue is it was promised to be delivered within 5 days, but I actually had to go ten days without hot water.

The wifi doesn't connect. The rest of the tank works great.

Multiple calls to customer service due to multiple issues, very rude, condescending to their own techs and insulting to me and my wife when calling. Eight days without hot water before the on-site tech was able to repair after being hung up on by Rheem support! And this was after two different parts shipments were sent. Steer clear of this brand if you cannot go a week without hot water because that is how long it will take for repair if you can find a customer service agent that gives a crap

Overall good quality and heats up quick. One down side, WiFi does not work on high speed Internet. 2.4 ghz only

Heats well, only issue so far is that when you use the Rheem phone app to place the unit in ‘Away’ mode and back to normal mode it then switches to away mode on its own hence lowering the temp to 110 degrees from normal setting.