Lowe's And Whirlpool Lowes will rip you off on water heaters California

I have purchase 3 whirlpool water heaters from Habitat, apparently donated by Lowe's. All 3 had relatively small problems. The first one was just thermostat. I called whirlpool customer service and was told that thermostat problem happens in situations when there is no enough airflow. I have this one at home and works fine almost 3 years now. It saved me several hundred dollars. Cost me only $40. The second one I installed into my rental house. The problem it had was the high temperature sensor. I took it from another valve and was working fine. Heater was removed by my tenant without my knowledge. Reason unknown, probably was too small for the illegal number of people living in the house. The third one had the same problem and after fixing it in September 08 is heating without a problem in my other rental. I am not a plumer, but have some knowledge of these gas valves.

I have purchase 3 whirlpool water heaters from Habitat, apparently donated by Lowe's. All 3 had relatively small problems. The first one was just thermostat. I called whirlpool customer service and was told that thermostat problem happens in situations when there is no enough airflow. I have this one at home and works fine almost 3 years now. It saved me several hundred dollars. Cost me only $40. The second one I installed into my rental house. The problem it had was the high temperature sensor. I took it from another valve and was working fine. Heater was removed by my tenant without my knowledge. Reason unknown, probably was too small for the illegal number of people living in the house. The third one had the same problem and after fixing it in September 08 is heating without a problem in my other rental. I am not a plumer, but have some knowledge of these gas valves.

I have purchase 3 whirlpool water heaters from Habitat, apparently donated by Lowe's. All 3 had relatively small problems. The first one was just thermostat. I called whirlpool customer service and was told that thermostat problem happens in situations when there is no enough airflow. I have this one at home and works fine almost 3 years now. It saved me several hundred dollars. Cost me only $40. The second one I installed into my rental house. The problem it had was the high temperature sensor. I took it from another valve and was working fine. Heater was removed by my tenant without my knowledge. Reason unknown, probably was too small for the illegal number of people living in the house. The third one had the same problem and after fixing it in September 08 is heating without a problem in my other rental. I am not a plumer, but have some knowledge of these gas valves.

I have purchase 3 whirlpool water heaters from Habitat, apparently donated by Lowe's. All 3 had relatively small problems. The first one was just thermostat. I called whirlpool customer service and was told that thermostat problem happens in situations when there is no enough airflow. I have this one at home and works fine almost 3 years now. It saved me several hundred dollars. Cost me only $40. The second one I installed into my rental house. The problem it had was the high temperature sensor. I took it from another valve and was working fine. Heater was removed by my tenant without my knowledge. Reason unknown, probably was too small for the illegal number of people living in the house. The third one had the same problem and after fixing it in September 08 is heating without a problem in my other rental. I am not a plumer, but have some knowledge of these gas valves.

I was just curious as to whether or not this person took the time to read the return policy or at least inquire about it before making a purchase. Seems to me if you don't want to hassle over a return policy then maybe you should know what it is before putting yourself in a bad situation. The people buying these water heaters obviously have no idea what CONSUMER RESPONSIBILITY is. Don't blame Lowe's or any other retailer for a manufacturers return policy. The solution is simple. Go pay twice the money somewhere else for the same product and they will more than likely have the same return policy dictated by the manufacturers.

I installed a gas water heater: Whirlpool Model# BFG1F4040S3NOV, Product # 0733136, on 01-27-08, purchased it from Lowes.

In June 2008 I had to call for warranty service, because the polit light would not stay lit and we didn't have hot water. I was sent 1-card-tcouple univ kit 24' and 1-tsat-r110 nat 1.5 3210597 awh. I was informed that I was responsible for paying for installation or install it myself. Instead I called American WaterHeaters directly and they agreed to have Sears tech come by to install parts. Next he arrieved on time and problem was fixed. I was his 5th customer with same problem that day.

On 10/6/09, the pilot light was off again and I had to restart it so we could have hot water. Later that day the pilot light was dead off . I called Whirlpool customer service and after 40 min talking to a supervisor get same free deal with Sears.

On 12/15/08 same thing, only this time I didn't call Whirpool, instead I went to Lowes. I remodeled 2 houses using Lowes supply, so I do know all my local Lowes store managers, and I never being rude to them, so this time it was realy hard, but they admit Lowes corporate policy prohibit them to mention the defective water heaters or the lawsuit.After couple weeks talking to the corporate offices they agreed to refund my money.

But problem is with Whirpool design flow:

1. Their AIR INTAKE screen is too small, and over time it clogs up with lint, dust , and hair..
You must somehow clean the lint off from the bottom of the unit and from inside the heat chamber every 3 months or it will not get enough air to operate correctly....The air intake screen is TOO SMALL..
2. you cannot buy replacement parts that will fix this "built in design flaw" once and for all.
3. This brand sucks up lint like a vacuum sweeper, and then gets starved for air.., install Whirlpool in a dusty, linty laundry room and it will certainly fail.
4. Their new improved "thermal fuse design" upgrade is no improvement at all , it overheats and burns out even quicker than the original design. If their is any downdraft that happens when your furnace comes on it can kill this fuse. They have actually made the problem worse.


The extended warranty from Lowes actually covers nothing like all extended warranty, they will deny it for no reason.

To Lowe's customers and to the Plumber! The Plumber is obviously angry that Lowes is making a dent in his business. Rightfully so! However, the Plumber is not just showing the crack, he his has moved on to smoking the crack. I now work for the Lowes in Chino Hills Ca. a recent transfer to that store.

He is correct in that Whirlpool has in the past years had issues with several water heaters. Whirlpool has in fact stood behind the waranty they provide fully, and to its letter. Which brings us to the issues. They have had issues with the Thermostat assembly going bad. Call whirlpool and give them you serial, and model number. They in turn will give you a alphabetical letter "A, B, C..." this wil indicate the number of the part which will fix your issues. Bring that letter, serial, and model numbers to any Lowes and you will be given a box, with the corresponding letter on it. Free of any and all charges.

What the plumber does not tell you is he and other plumbers are taking advantage of you. By charging more than normal when you call them with a Whirlpool repair. They see this as a lottery. You are by defalult of the phone call to them, not able to fix it yourself. So they in turn charge you between $169.00-$239.00 to put the new one in. The extended warranty from Lowes actually covers all labor costs. imagine that, for $80.00 you can bypass the Plumber altogether.

In the past Whirlpool had issues. They have recognized the issues and fixed them. The issues vary from the T-stats requiring more pressure than the supply line is pushing. To the T-stat going bad from low pressure. Yes both are caused from an engineering flaw at Whirlpool. However, they have fixed that, and stood behind the issue.

Keep shopping at Lowes and you can avoid the servicemen that trash the competition for no reason other reason than they are making less money by having us there.

Sorry for any inconvenience with these water heaters, but we are still here to help you through any issues.

Thank you,
The Employee
See you soon!