My three year old hot water heater stopped working on Feb 1 for no reason that would be obvious to me. I contacted Aire Max based on the ratings it had received on Homestars and the owner came within an hour. He unplugged it and plugged it in again and examined the heater. He asked me for a copy of the manual which does not inspire confidence. I gave it to him. About 15 minutes later he told me that the electronic panel on the hot water heater was not functioning and that it would cost $600 to replace it which does not seem worthwhile on a hot water that only cost me $1000. He told me he would be glad to sell me a new one and quoted on both tank and tankless replacement. He also commented on my furnace saying that it was a bad brand and that he could recommend a better one and could quote on that. I said that I would get back to him and did some research on the hot water heater models he proposed. Later the same day, I contacted Sears where I had bought the hot water heater and learned that parts for it would still be under warranty so I arranged for a service call. The next morning, I noticed that I had hot water. I kept the appointment with the Sears technician to get his opinion. He too asked for the manual and said that the electronic panel on the hot water heater was fine. He commented that sometimes hot water heaters with these electronic panels just need a reboot and that the act of unplugging it the day before would have done that. It is now three weeks later and it is still working as it should be. I am very glad to not have listened to the fellow from Aire Max. I would be out a minimum of $1500 if I had unnecessarily replaced a perfectly good hot water heater.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $113.00
- Any advice to offer fellow homeowners facing a similar project?
- Take a pause and consider alternatives including getting a second opinion. Don't make a decision about replacing an appliance on the spot if the repairman is also offering to replace the item - an obvious conflict of interest.
- Company Response
Let me explain story from my side, you call me Sunday morning and around one hour after your call I was at your place.your water heater was not working, I restarted couple of times but it didn't come on. by the gas code even we are 100 percent sure about some thing and as a gas technician we have to take a look at manual to make sure every thing is fine. I recommended you if you want get rid of this problem it is better to have a better quality product which is yours is not a good one, next day before sears came, your water heater was on because of my reset, so after couple of call still you didn't pay my service call and I am also shocked why home stars established this review because I didn't get paid and no business happened, what kind of appreciation is this for work on Sunday!!!!!!