From Newsgroup: alt.home.repair

I bought a house in Florida a couple months ago. During inspection it
was noticed the water heater pan had water and rust in it. We added it
to the list of things to be repaired but negotiations ultimately
excluded that item. This is a AO Smith Signature Series 900 Hybrid
water heater. That means it's electric and also has a heat pump.

During the past couple months I noticed the leaking of water is
actually coming from the pressure relief valve so I put a bucket under
the pipe and caught it instead. I've also noticed the digital display occassionaly flashes ECC 1200. I called the home warranty company and
they sent a plumber out. The plumber told me the water heater is only
4 years old and still under manufacturer warranty so I have to go
through them. He did however drain and flush the water heater to
change out the pressure relief valve.

I called the manufacturer and they authorized a replacement, but
installation is on me. I had to go to Lowe's for the warranty
replacement and talk to a supervisor. They want me to return the old
one first before they give me a replacement, which was ridiculous to
me. That meant the plumber would have to come twice, once to remove
the old water heater and once to install the new one. They gave me the
option of buying a new one and reimbursing me when I brought the old
one back so I had to settle for that.

I chose to purchase a regular electric water heater rather than a
hybrid one. I'm not a fan of new technology and prefer the old tried
and true methods. The plumber arrives today to replace the water
heater and install an expansion tank which the old one lacked, leading
to the leaking pressure relief valve.

--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.home.repair

On Tue, 15 Sep 2026 13:31:50 -0000 (UTC), "badgolferman" <REMOVETHISbadgolferman@gmail.com> wrote:

I bought a house in Florida a couple months ago. During inspection it
was noticed the water heater pan had water and rust in it. We added it
to the list of things to be repaired but negotiations ultimately
excluded that item. This is a AO Smith Signature Series 900 Hybrid
water heater. That means it's electric and also has a heat pump.

During the past couple months I noticed the leaking of water is
actually coming from the pressure relief valve so I put a bucket under
the pipe and caught it instead. I've also noticed the digital display >occassionaly flashes ECC 1200. I called the home warranty company and
they sent a plumber out. The plumber told me the water heater is only
4 years old and still under manufacturer warranty so I have to go
through them. He did however drain and flush the water heater to
change out the pressure relief valve.

I called the manufacturer and they authorized a replacement, but
installation is on me. I had to go to Lowe's for the warranty
replacement and talk to a supervisor. They want me to return the old
one first before they give me a replacement, which was ridiculous to
me. That meant the plumber would have to come twice, once to remove
the old water heater and once to install the new one. They gave me the >option of buying a new one and reimbursing me when I brought the old
one back so I had to settle for that.

I chose to purchase a regular electric water heater rather than a
hybrid one. I'm not a fan of new technology and prefer the old tried
and true methods. The plumber arrives today to replace the water
heater and install an expansion tank which the old one lacked, leading
to the leaking pressure relief valve.

4 years - that's terrible, by anyone's standards.
Mine has been dribbling a small leak from the pressure relief
for over a year now .. one of these days I'll learn not
to procrastinate .. :-) It's a 2013 Bradford-White -
I'll need to look for a non-USA manufacturer when I replace it.
... a couple years ago I'd be proud to Buy USA ..
.. sad situation - but .. elbows up doncha know.
John T.
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.home.repair

On Tue, 15 Sep 2026 13:31:50 -0000 (UTC), "badgolferman" ><REMOVETHISbadgolferman@gmail.com> wrote:

[snip]

I chose to purchase a regular electric water heater rather than a
hybrid one. I'm not a fan of new technology and prefer the old tried
and true methods. The plumber arrives today to replace the water
heater and install an expansion tank which the old one lacked, leading
to the leaking pressure relief valve.

I've seen that issue increasing over the past couple
of decades.

The problem, so to speak, is that the expanding hot
water "used to" simply push back the cold water
in the pipe coming in from the street.

With modern (half century, more or less, depending
on your area and the professionalism of the original
plumbers) requirements of "anti backflow valves",
that ain't happening anymore...
--
_____________________________________________________
Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key
dannyb@panix.com
[to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.home.repair

On 9/15/2026 9:31 AM, badgolferman wrote:

I bought a house in Florida a couple months ago. During inspection it
was noticed the water heater pan had water and rust in it. We added it
to the list of things to be repaired but negotiations ultimately
excluded that item. This is a AO Smith Signature Series 900 Hybrid
water heater. That means it's electric and also has a heat pump.

During the past couple months I noticed the leaking of water is
actually coming from the pressure relief valve so I put a bucket under
the pipe and caught it instead. I've also noticed the digital display occassionaly flashes ECC 1200. I called the home warranty company and
they sent a plumber out. The plumber told me the water heater is only
4 years old and still under manufacturer warranty so I have to go
through them. He did however drain and flush the water heater to
change out the pressure relief valve.

I called the manufacturer and they authorized a replacement, but
installation is on me. I had to go to Lowe's for the warranty
replacement and talk to a supervisor. They want me to return the old
one first before they give me a replacement, which was ridiculous to
me. That meant the plumber would have to come twice, once to remove
the old water heater and once to install the new one. They gave me the option of buying a new one and reimbursing me when I brought the old
one back so I had to settle for that.

I chose to purchase a regular electric water heater rather than a
hybrid one. I'm not a fan of new technology and prefer the old tried
and true methods. The plumber arrives today to replace the water
heater and install an expansion tank which the old one lacked, leading
to the leaking pressure relief valve.

Tough to hear this. Mine is a couple of years above warranty and I
expect it to go sometimes in the near future. They do not last as long
with my well water. In the past I dealt with plumber who would replace
under warranty but charge to install the new one. From your story I
would avoid Lowes if I need a new one.
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.home.repair

badgolferman wrote:

I bought a house in Florida a couple months ago. During inspection it
was noticed the water heater pan had water and rust in it. We added
it to the list of things to be repaired but negotiations ultimately
excluded that item. This is a AO Smith Signature Series 900 Hybrid
water heater. That means it's electric and also has a heat pump.

During the past couple months I noticed the leaking of water is
actually coming from the pressure relief valve so I put a bucket under
the pipe and caught it instead. I've also noticed the digital display >occassionaly flashes ECC 1200. I called the home warranty company and
they sent a plumber out. The plumber told me the water heater is only
4 years old and still under manufacturer warranty so I have to go
through them. He did however drain and flush the water heater to
change out the pressure relief valve.

I called the manufacturer and they authorized a replacement, but
installation is on me. I had to go to Lowe's for the warranty
replacement and talk to a supervisor. They want me to return the old
one first before they give me a replacement, which was ridiculous to
me. That meant the plumber would have to come twice, once to remove
the old water heater and once to install the new one. They gave me
the option of buying a new one and reimbursing me when I brought the
old one back so I had to settle for that.

I chose to purchase a regular electric water heater rather than a
hybrid one. I'm not a fan of new technology and prefer the old tried
and true methods. The plumber arrives today to replace the water
heater and install an expansion tank which the old one lacked, leading
to the leaking pressure relief valve.

The replacement of the water heater went fine today. The guy was done
in less than two hours. We both placed the old water heater in his van
and he delivered it to Lowe's parking lot where then I took it inside
to deal with paperwork.

Lowe's determined the original hybrid water heater cost of $1906.94
which they issued an in-store credit card for that amount. Next they
refunded me the cost of the new electric water heater which I bought at $571.45. Next they debited the new water heater from the in-store
credit card and I was left with a credit of $1355.49. The plumber's
fee for installation was $811.00. I wish I could have paid the plumber
from that money.

The cost of the plumber seems outrageous, but it was the cheapest one I
could find from five estimates. This is Naples, FL and EVERYTHING is
expensive here.

--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.home.repair

This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --------------sgRhP0wEA5WxJPcfvu4eHO3Q
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

On 9/15/26 09:31, badgolferman wrote:

I bought a house in Florida a couple months ago. During inspection it
was noticed the water heater pan had water and rust in it. We added it
to the list of things to be repaired but negotiations ultimately
excluded that item. This is a AO Smith Signature Series 900 Hybrid
water heater. That means it's electric and also has a heat pump.

I would hope the AO Smith heat pump has a better service life

than the bigbox store dehumidifiers.

--------------sgRhP0wEA5WxJPcfvu4eHO3Q
Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
</head>
<body>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 9/15/26 09:31, badgolferman wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite" cite="mid:118bhc5$2fkll$1@dont-email.me">
<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">I bought a house in Florida a couple months ago. During inspection it
was noticed the water heater pan had water and rust in it. We added it
to the list of things to be repaired but negotiations ultimately
excluded that item. This is a AO Smith Signature Series 900 Hybrid
water heater. That means it's electric and also has a heat pump.
</pre>
</blockquote>
<p>I would hope the AO Smith heat pump has a better service life-a</p>
<p>than the bigbox store dehumidifiers.</p>
</body>
</html>

--------------sgRhP0wEA5WxJPcfvu4eHO3Q--
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2