Newer Tank Water Heaters: Anyone Noticing Them Going Bad Quickly?

[Jeff S.]

Hello fellow rental property owners,

I'm curious if other landlords can share their experience with tank water heaters in their apartment units. Mainly, how long are they lasting before they fail and begin leaking?

In the past five years, I've replaced electric tank water heaters in all of my rental units (18 units). In the past few months, I've had three of the 18 water heaters fail. One of the failing water heaters is about five years old and the other two are only 2-3 years old. I have three other units that are already showing signs of corrosion on the bottom seam, so that's 33% of my water heaters that don't even seem like they'll make it 5 years!

 These water heaters are all Rheem brand units, so they are a "name" brand. When I started replacing the water heaters 5 years ago, the old water heaters (also mostly Rheem) were mostly 15 years old or more. Some were even over 20 years old! The water in the city where my apartments are located is said by area plumbers to be "good water", not full of iron or other minerals that might cause water heaters to go bad quickly, and that seems to be true since the old water heaters lasted so long.

I've had an area plumber tell me that all tank water heaters in the US are manufactured by the same three companies (Rheem, A.O. Smith, and Bradford White), and they are all trash. According to the plumber, the companies have all depleted every aspect of the water heater from the steel tank quality and thickness, the glass lining thickness inside the tanks, the welds, and they've even gone cheap on storing and transporting the heaters. The companies also all managed to nearly double the price of their water heaters in the past 5 years as well.

Hearing this news from the plumber was rather alarming as it drastically changes the cash flow that I can expect on these properties if I can't buy a water heater in this country that lasts much more than 5 years. If what the plumber said is true, I can't be the only one experiencing these fast failing tank water heaters, and I figured this would be a pretty big topic of conversation amongst landlords here on BiggerPockets. I'm not seeing those conversations though. Interested to see what everyone's thoughts and experience are on this topic.

Thanks,

Jeff