Customer Reviews for Rheem Performance Platinum 50 Gal. Tall 40,000 BTU Powered Damper Natural Gas Water Heater with 12-Year Warranty

I have had to work on the damper opening and closing since day 1, been on hold with Rheem’s customer service for 3 hours so far, and they are not sending me a new damper to install. Been without hot water multiple times since buying this unit. Would opt for a simple regular gas water heater if I had to do over.

Easy to install and start up. Send me a request to review in a year! After then I will know if I got the Energy Star Tax credit and will know if the water heater has been working problem free.

I have not had any time where I did not have enough hot water. This is all I can ask of my hot water heater.

After installation, this was not ignited. Error 8 and 3 Led flash on. This means Gas control valve was defected. Homedepot answered me, not returnable because of water in tank. Rheem answered me, will receive the parts and service man will be replace. I am waiting for parts and serviceman for 1 weeks now. Pls do not purchase Rheem brand. Terrible machine and service.

10 months and this thing has failed. On the phone with customer service rat now. Total junk.

On 11/11/19, we replaced a Rheem that lasted 9 years of 10 year warranty because of tank leak. The replacement is this newer Rheem 50 gal tank with 12 year warranty. It's cool with a damper on the top to help heat in and save on energy. It was great for 4 years, now I'm talking to ARS o get it serviced or replaced. Yikes! The is no how water but not leak. I'll update soon.

Easy installation and startup. Note this model requires an electrical socket within approx 15ft of the tank. The ignition is electrical as is the damper activation. These features increase efficiency and power the optional Econet module to further make the operation of he tank more flexible and efficient. The water tank is very quiet and heats up water quickly and is rated to heat approx 80 gallons the first hour. It seems to do better than that possibly as it is new. Get the econet module - this will allow you to vary the water temp to a schedule daily and can be different for each day of the week if needed. Note the econet program overrides the setting on the tank but can never heat water hotter than the tank setting. i.e. always set the tank hotter than the max water temp you want, and use the app to reduce it to the desired temperature in the schedules. This is an expensive tank, but i hope to get significant savings by using the scheduling function, flue damper feature and no gas pilot making the overall cost lower than a tank without these features.

Will see how long this one lasts as the first Rheem only made 7 years of the 12 year warranty. Rheem did stand by the warranty, however.

Rating provided by a verified purchaser

Rating provided by a verified purchaser

Plumber was very detailed and did a great job.

Water heater is as expected. The Wi-Fi capacity will not work for any users but the heater is fine. This is a pilotless unit so the spark unit is always in use. We keep the temp on low side it produces a lot of heat. The time to full temp from 48 degree well water was about an hour and a half to 2 hours. Recovery seems fine.

I purchased this water because of the energy star rating. I do not recommend it. Mine was installed 17 Months ago. Estimate 60 days of cold showers in the last 17 months. Many problems. Cracked valve where the gas connects. Failed flammable vapor detector. Failed Pilot assembly. Now it just won’t make hot water. Rheem is replacing it with a different one. #protip replace the flammable vapor detector when you have to reset it. Youtube shows how to do this.

Was a warranty replacement. Same water heater only lasted 7.5 years before the tank started to leak.

Replacing a older Raheem, liked the last ons, I am sure I will like the new one

Easy install. Fires right up. No messing with pilot light. Just turn it on and it works. Highly recommend. We’ll see if it lasts 12 years.

Only had the water heater for 6 years and already needs to be replaced. On top of that, from day one it was a bad product. Two people could not shower in a row because it couldn't keep up with demand. Apparently "Energy Star" means "runs poorly". The tax write off was not worth paying more than double to replace in an economy with inflation and shortages in 2022. Our last water heater was going on 20 years. Frustrating to say the least.

Rating provided by a verified purchaser

Rating provided by a verified purchaser

I’ll try and keep this short. It’s been over a month since Home Depot and sub-contractor Plumb360 installed our Rheem hot water heater. City inspector said everything “looks proper”. My dish washer cleans dishes and my shower has remained toasty. No water gushing where it shouldn’t gush. What’s more to say? . HD, Plum360, and Gerald earned all five possible stars. Being a “This Old House” addict it was good entertainment watching a pro do it, live. If interested, the rest is items picked up while tank shopping. First: I learned over 90% of all heater replacements are emergencies. If you’re reading this, odds favor being one of the few paying attention because that thing makes popping noises or… you read this by accident. Second: Don’t do this as a Do It Yourself (DIY) project. After reading years worth of manufacturer reviews, it became apparent all the negative ones are overwhelmingly from DIY’ers. If you can solder a pipe the job looks easy, but…. These things are big and bulky. I suspect it doesn’t take much “manhandling” to pop a weld or a circuit. If it’s upstairs, in a closet, or somewhere “challenging”, just have it done. It’s so much cheaper than reenacting Noah’s flood out the front door. Along the same lines I found installers who do just tank installs log a LOT fewer complaints than general plumbers. Home Depot (HD) and Plumb360 won serious brownie points because, they have Gerald who only installs tanks. Also found out HD does random onsite spot checks of anyone they subcontract with. HD keeps Reem units in stock. More important they keep a free tear off sheet listing all Rheem models with sizing stats. Rheem makes their stats easy to find unlike other manufacturers. However for the same size and type of tank, you’ll find these stats pretty similar between manufacturers. Even though we have a 4BR home with roman tub (better known as a wet towel collector), there’s only three of us. I bought a tank by family not house size. Our gas bill dropped 40% this month by going with a 50 instead of a 75 gallon tank. Nothing else changed usage-wise. I did receive a couple estimates saying we must replace with another 75 gal unit because of building codes. Our City Inspector debunked that. If you think you’re being scammed, ask them if you can downsize and see what they say. That’s it. Kudos to HD and Plumb360. This husband is only in hot water while in the shower, not with my wife. Well, not until the next home project anyway…

These are the only water heaters I ever buy, and I have bought 4 over the years from moving around the country and having bought and sold several homes. They are well built; they are efficient; but mostly, I like their design. These require less frequent maintenance because the burner intake vents are on the sides, above the floor, instead of underneath where most other water heaters have them. This means that dust, dead bugs, etc don't get sucked into the combustion area and clog the screen.