Customer Reviews for Rheem Performance 40 Gal. Tall 6-Year 36,000 BTU Natural Gas Tank Water Heater

Installed it in about 5 hours in a difficult location by myself, 71 years old!

Just purchased the 29-gallon Rheem gas water heater a few days ago, the installation was quick and uneventful. Powering up the unit was also a breeze. This 29-gallon is a go!

buddy recommended rheem.glad he did this thing is a beast. Had to turn it way down cause the water was so hot it dosnt break a sweat for a long shower. It's a good looking quality product. Runs silent and has great performance for a reasonable price.

The Water heater is very nice we just installed it and our showers seem to be hotter and remain hot longer...We're very happy hoping it will last for years!

Works great

Replaced my troublesome Whirlpool with this Rheem. So far, it’s been good!

My old water heater started leaking out of the top. Luckily, I went in my garage to look for something and saw the water everywhere. Never had a drain pan when I bought the house. I immediately got on HomeDepot.com to see what was available and Rheem had one to foot the bill. It was actually a few inches taller than the original which had me worried because the supply lines were coming in from the sidewall behind the location of the heater. The existing hot return line was good but the cold water supply had to have a very tight radius to meet the inlet on the WH. This thing is heavy, about 170 lbs., and I was doing this by myself. Had to get it onto a 2 ft. AFF pedestal and inside the new drain pan. It was very easy to light. Still going strong for the last month and I think it has a 12 year warranty.

we just replaced a 12 yr old water heater bc it was broken and no hot water and we will wait to kill covid bacteria before we use hot water again before:12/21/2007 50 gal after:06/11/2021 40 gal

I love my new Raheem Performance 40 Gallon Water Heater!!!! My Gas Bill is lighter on my pocket too!!!! I highly recommend this Natural Gas Tank to all new customers….

Purchased this water heater June 2020. Hone Depot one year warranty expired. July 2021 unit stopped worked. I contact Reheem and they mail the replacement part, gas control unit, which is where the pilot button sits. Plumbers charging me the same amount I paid for unit to install new part!!! Do not buy . You have been warned.

Easy installation, great value, love the 6 year warranty! This is the 2nd 40-gallon Rheem I have purchased: an electric for home in Phoenix and gas for home in Vegas. Both are working great. I have to turn the heat setting almost all the way down because it works so well.

Rating provided by a verified purchaser

***** Excellent Water Heater if you want plenty of hot water!!! ***** I recommend this water heater for anyone with a household of 5+. This is also great if you have in-laws or kids that come and visit. The brass drain valve with the half turn open/close is much better than those plastic valves. Since it takes a screw driver to open/close, you don't have to worry about a small child getting burned with hot water. As with all natural gas 75 gallon hot water heaters, it requires 4" diameter venting instead of the standard 3". The vent hood supplied does a great job of funneling all of the exhaust out. The 76,000 BTU burner provides great recovery time when hot water has been used. The tank is also well insulated. This Rheem tank is thicker than the 75 gallon water heater I replaced. It does come 1" female/female inlet/outlet fittings. My old water heater had 3/4" fittings. Therefore if your pipes are 3/4 copper like mine you will need a couple female 1" to 3/4" sweated fittings. You will also need a larger thermal expansion tank. I had a 4.5 gallon thermal expansion tank added. This Rheem water heater comes with a little pilot light starter. This is the first water heater I have had with one. It comes in handy because you don't have to light the pilot light with a lighter. I like that it has a 3 year labor and 12 year parts warranty. The ideal thing about a 75 gallon water heater with quick recovery time is that you only need one instead of having two 40 or 50 gallon water heaters. With 2 you have to have 2 water inlets, 2 water outlets, 2 gas inlets, 2 exhaust vents. This a makes for a costly plumbing charge. You also have 2 pilot lights running instead of one. Although the 75 gallon water heater is little costly, you only need one water heater. The only down side to the Rheem 75 gallon water heater is it does NOT appear to be a stocked or warehoused item. When I ordered mine it took a month to arrive. When it arrived in early April 2021, I saw it was just manufactured in late March 2021. This makes me wonder how fast a replacement could be had if one was needed. I preemptively replaced our 14 year old 75 gallon water heater so I could keep the same size. When I was a kid in a house of 5, we only had a 40 gallon "electric" water heater. When my sister would use all the hot water, it took over 2 hours for that old electric water heater to recover. Needless to say, I took a lot of cold showers and hated it as anyone would. Once an adult, I said I would not run out of hot water again. Enter the 75 gallon water heater... We can have 2 different showers running and not have an issue. I can have the washing machine on a hot setting load of laundry and dishwasher running and still have plenty of hot water for the shower or tub. Running out of hot water is not an issue for me! Life is Good Now! David, Omaha, NE

I purchased this unit in December and less than four months later the pilot light and burner are broken. Its covered under warranty but you have to wait days to grt parts and for someone to install. I am COMPLETELY over this unit and wished I would’ve bought a professional grade one. Don’t waste your time or money. And they have the audacity to charge me extra for shipping the part that broke. Unreal

The water heater was really easy to install and definitely meets our hot water needs!

I am a regular homeowner and was able to install this water heater pretty easily. I have never owned a Rheem before but I installed it 2 weeks ago and am tickled pink. The recovery time is much faster than my 7 year old Kenmore that it replaced. The unit is also very quiet. I can hardly hear it run. I would absolutely buy Rheem again. Thank you!

I put this water heater in my house 6 months ago so far no problems however I was driving through my neighborhood last night & saw a water heater on the curb so I picked it up for scrap it was dark out but I could see it was new & just like the one I put in my house i looked at the tag & sure enough it was new manufactured in 2020 needless to say I'm starting to worry about mine now...look at the pictures I'm not joking...Joy

Installed in 26 seconds flat. Paid $100. And works so well it heats my neighbors hot water for the whole block.

One year after I purchased the water heater the dip tube falls! Home Depot doesn’t care to supply replacement parts! Before you buy try to by dip tube for it. When the dip tube falls, you will have to create completely different connections if you can, but I’m pretty sure not everyone will be able to do that!

I ordered this hot water heater to replace a 13 year old natural gas 75 gallon one. The contractor arrived and installed it within two hours. I am pleased with the performance and would recommend this model and would purchase it again if I ever need to replace a hot water heater again. I purchased it through the contractor at Home Depot online The process was as simple as could be. They took the old hot water tank away. The price of the tank and installation was reasonable. Best customer service from beginning to end. Product was unpacked with no damage. It took about 45 minutes to heat up once installation was finished. It exceeds my expectations.

Bought this heater, which is a good value compared to other similar brands with same features. Installation was pretty straight forward. The threads on top require a lot of Teflon tape to stop leaking. Really don’t like the bottoms on most heaters and this one was no different. It would be really nice to have some adjustable legs to help level the unit. Pilot light started right up but blue ‘Normal’ running mode never lit. After 3 hours of trying to go from Red status to blue per the instructions, I shut it off, lit the pilot per the instructions and turned the thermostat to Hot even though the blue light never came on. It’s running fine but there’s no status light showing it’s on. Very frustrating. A call to the help line resulted in a message telling me I was #90 in line. Do Rheem heaters have that many problems? That was 24 hours ago and after leaving my contact info with them I haven’t received a call. Maybe they will call on Monday. I am sure it will run fine but that glitch is a big issue to me.

The box looked fine except for the top where the hand holes were located. This would suggest the dents were already present prior to the unit being boxed. Installation was fine and it is currently warming up. Will be contacting HomeDepot about the dents.

Simple enough for hubby to install. Basically, not rocket science. The old one was apparently 17 years old. Same brand. It lasted a lot longer than their projected time. From my experiences, with appliances, I HIGHLY advise getting their extended warranty. They are the ABSOLUTE BEST at taking care of their customers. After flip-flopping between them and L's, Home Depot definitely delivers on their customer service. Except their curbside pickup, which is "buggy". I did have to go in. The bonus discount, from my Depot card, was FANTASTIC! During this epidemic madness, this has been a nightmare of a time to replace things. Thank you Home Depot!

Bought and had this model installed on 7/25/2020. This past weekend 12/13/2020, smelled gas. Gas company came out and leak noted from thermostat - Honeywell thermostat. Called Rheem as under warranty. Part is out of stock. They said due to COVID and denied that this was a known issue. Asked us to see if we could locate it in stock online elsewhere - we told them no. They then authorized replacement of the full hot water heater, but we were to be liable for any difference in price and were advised to return to point of purchase. They arranged a contractor to come out in 2 days. Husband indicates contractor actually had spare part and let him know that this is a common issue with this model, with cracks in housing and valve of thermostat noted by contractor on other jobs. Buyer BEWARE. Do not purchase. Reporting to CPSC today. Will also be buying a natural gas detector, bc concerned problem may recur.

This was a DIY project. Over thanks giving holiday when I was draining the old tank it started to leak, so we went to HD and this one came close to the spec of our old water heater. This one was an inch taller about, but other than that if fit in the old ones spot. It has a 9 year warranty as this made my purchase decision over the cheaper Rheem heaters 6 year. I would recommend replacing any flex hoses that go the the tank as it is recommended and usually the gaskets in the original ones are old so it would have leaks with the new tank.

I replaced our homes original water heaters (2 of them) 2 & 3 yrs ago consecutively. They both failed around the same time and I was forced to call Rheem. After going through the checklist, waiting the 24 to 48 hrs to confirm that it wasn't a "pressure build up" they agreed to "replace" the heaters, but here is the catch; They are sold at the Home Depot and in order to get store credit on the new tanks you have to take them the old tanks!! That is sooooo inconvenient. Then, they make you pay the difference on the price of the tanks from when you originally purchased against today's price!! If you are going to warranty your product it should be a FREE REPLACEMENT!!! This method will force you to purchase the same flawed product and deal with the same sad Home Depot return policy that it's worth almost trashing both units and buying direct from a plumber!!! DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT BUY RHEEM WATER HEATERS AT THE HOME DEPOT. Use a Plumber and check their warranty program carefully!!!!

The hot water heater is very nice. The control mechanism is very nice. The fact that Ignition is done without having to light with a match or a liter is very convenient and easy. The hot water heater once placed was a direct hook up to the existing connections which are all unions, no soldering involved which made installation very easy. Installed 18 April 2020 Exceeds all expectations, very efficient unit with a quick recovery time.

easy install, works great

Great performance so far. We can see the time it takes to heat up the water is much faster than the previous water heater. It was difficult to install, but after installation has been working really well. It is too early to give a review as it has been only a month since installation. I will provide another review after an year or so.

Got one of this installed today 06/02/2020 (Rheem Performance Plus 50 Gal. Tall 9 Year 40,000 BTU Natural Gas Tank Water Heater) The product seems fine and getting hot water now. Experience with the installation: When I called in to order it from "Home Depot". The Home Depot Representative gave a quote for the water heater and installation package and she said everything is included, including the valves. The installer came home and said that the valves look good and do not require to be changed - Gas Valve, Ball Valves for water intake and outflow from the heater. He said there is no pan and its an additional 100 dollars. We get the plastic one that was put for 15 dollars at home depot. He asked me to sign before starting the work. apparently its not required to sign all the documents/agreements before the work. As the package/bundle includes replacing the valves he should have replaced them all or recommended that instead of advising otherwise and mentioning increasing the cost because of the pan. They should send someone out to replace the old/existing valves if its a standard practice to install them in the package. And other customers who are using the Home Depot Installation services should be aware of this and be careful with this practice so that you get the new valves installed as required. "Hope someone at Home Depot Corporate takes not of this and addresses the concern." Thank You