Good Old American Quality - Bah, Humbug!

Early last year, we bought and installed a brand new electric hot water heater in our rental unit. Recently, our current tenant complained that it was leaking. We investigated and found that water was squirting out of the cover for the lower heating element.

The hot water heater was manufactured by Richmond on January 17, 2017. One would think that this failure would be covered by the manufacturer's warranter. I send them an email, but I never heard back from them.

Today, a plumber came to fix the problem. He removed the lower element cover and found water leaking out past the seals around where the element enters the tank. In the photograph below, you can see where the water leaking out stained the side of the water heater.

Here is a somewhat closer view:

When the plumber removed the element, he found that most of the element was missing. It had fallen to the bottom of the tank. It is still there.

He installed a new element and I paid the bill. I will have to take this matter up with the manufacturer for at least a partial reimbursement.