A.O. Smith ProMax Water Heater Review

Overall 2.20 of 5 view all 10 reviews

matthewdfleming
Evanston, IL

It's a hot water heater... it heats the water.

take long showers, energy conscious

Pros

price, easy installation, FVIR compliant

Cons

could be more energy efficient, bigger than 22" standard diameter

APR

2007

A.O. Smith ProMax Water Heater —

Rationale

Our hot water heater decided to die last Friday night. I went to go light the pilot and found a bunch of water leaking on the pilot light.. no way I was going to get another second out of that heater. Since it was the weekend, the local plumber was going to charge me an extra arm for the install so we decided to wait it out until Monday. On-demand Heater

The nice part about the wait was that it gave me time to research what kind of hot water heater I wanted to purchase. In our old condo, we installed a tank-less hot water heater and loved it (Takagi TK-1). The only problem we had with it was in the winter. The water pressure got noticeable lower and we could only run one thing at a time.. showering when you need the sink? lukewarm in both. For Chicago style winters I was looking for something that did 4 gallons per minute (GPM) with a 100°F rise. The inlet water temperature is really cold in the winter like 38°F and an ok shower is like 120°F, hence the 100°F rise. The newest Takagi only gets 3 GPM. Also our original experience was in a condo and the water heater wasn't very far away from the destination. Our house has three floors and 3.5 baths; if I were going to do tank-less, I'd install two. Since that wasn't within the price range that I wanted to spend, I started to look-up storage heaters (tank).

Storage Heater

There are numerous articles on hot water heaters but the question really boils down to the first hour rating. I calculated a 60 gallon first hour need (based upon attached worksheet). All of the 50 gallon heaters met this benchmark. How was I going to choose then?The next thing is efficiency rating.. the higher the better. I found a really awesome resource which shows all certified efficiency ratings for hot water heaters. The UI is a little clunky but you can get some nice results. After this search, I had narrowed my brand choice to American and A.O. Smith.

Install

Now since I was under the gun to get a new heater put in right away, I didn't have time to purchase one on my own and have it shipped to the house. What this means is that whatever hot water heater the plumbing company had was what we were going to get. So much for the research, I guess. Luckily the man who does all of our home repair had a plumber who exclusively used A.O. Smith tanks.. nice! It took them about 2 hours to install the new tank and the all-in cost was $750. I thought this was a great price, the other estimate I got was from a company that uses Bradford-White units (the one we had to replace in our old condo) and that was going to be $1600!

Conclusion

The tank works as expected. We can fill up our huge claw foot tub and it doesn't run out of water. The only thing I've had to do was adjust the temperature settings on the unit; It was set to the middle setting which was like 140°F! We have small children so 120°F is the maximum our tank will be at for a while, which is the minimum setting on the thermostat. The unit has a 6 year warranty but I'm expecting it to go at least 12 years. We'll see if that holds true.

A.O. Smith ProMax Water Heater is recommended by matthewdfleming

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Comments about matthewdfleming’s Review

GARBAGE UNIT!!!! I bought one based on the reviews and it is out all the time. Had it less than a month and the thermo cupler had to be replaced. AO Smith warrantied the part not labor cost me $150 in repair. Every month if you do not clean the screen in the bottom it will go out. And the screen is hard to reach to say the least. I had to make a brush out of a bottle scrubber and an 18 inch wooden dowel. My suggestion is buy another brand there customer service stinks. I had a cheap Rheem and it never gave me a problem. And beware AO Smith is the brand Sears sticks there name on. Found out when I called sears to look at replacement. Unit is less than 16 months old and it is going bye bye.

OK, but it's apparently at the bleeding edge of technology. After 16 months, it broke and the repair tech is still trying to fix it. It's difficult to diagnose, and complex, so there's more stuff to break. I'd stay with a more reliable, simpler (and unfortunately less efficient model) if I had it to do again. (And I might have to).

we just bought the same one and feel like we got taken. how much did it cost you for the heater and installation if you dont' mind me asking

we just bought the same one and feel like we got taken. how much did you pay for the heater and installation

Ok. J-DubU, that's pretty creepy. The pilot went out less than a month ago! We had it replaced and had to pay for labor costs. Looks like there's something to your two year hypothesis.

Knock on wood.....Let us know in 16 days if you start experiencing pilot problems? From different reviews, it's like these things have a (Quit Working) timer on them set for 2 yrs?

Good idea on the water heater. Mine is on it's last legs and they cost about twice as much as they used to because of all the new unneeded safety junk. One thing to note though is when you install it. Be sure to take the Anode out and put some anti sieze compound on the threads. That way after 6 years or so you can change the anode and the unit will be rust free for another 6 years or more. A $30 anode is a lot less than a new unit.

Matthewdfleming has the right idea:
We have a 1997 [ 11 year old] A.O. Smith 50 gal water heater. The pilot light decided to go on the fritz, Since ours is in the house we ordered a new A.O. Smith. Most water heaters last 4 months [sears] to 6 years [home depot]. you can get heater at Lowe's but it will be a clunker [ left handed threads and no one has parts]. A.O.Smith seems to have Quality.