For the past year, I’ve enjoyed having a brand new hot water heater in my home thanks to my partnership with Rheem in bringing you information and experiences regarding their company. Today I wanted to pop in and have a very candid and real post detailing my thoughts on the whole experience from finding a contractor, to the pick up and install to actually living with the unit. I hope you find this bit of raw unorchestrated real talk helpful.
There were so many variables at play with my own personal hot water heater upgrade. It made it absolutely necessary to bring in someone who knew what they were doing. Our previous hot water heater was located in our garage. Which isn’t even attached to our house. When it was winter, we never had hot water because of the length the water travelled before it even got to our house. And then our unit was working infinitely harder because it was constantly battling the surrounding freezing temperatures come winter.
We absolutely had to move the unit. And honestly, I expected this decision to have a bigger impact on our utility bills than it really has. You can see the previous 2 cost comparison reports I did here for Winter and here for Spring. But the reality is that we came out of pocket quite a bit purely for comfort.
I pretty much have hot water wherever and whenever I want now. And as I mentioned before, I have osteoarthritis so having hot water to soak in directly impacts my quality of life. And truly, honestly, this past year of life has been significantly better than previous years. I’ve spent less time cocooned under blankets praying for Spring and I’ve been a lot more active. While it would be a stretch to claim that was all because of hot water, it definitely did make a difference.
One thing I haven’t touched on much since we first installed the unit is the econet. Surprisingly, this has been an awesome feature. I didn’t think I’d use it. I like being able to temporarily bump up the temperature when I’m out hiking in winter so that I can have a steamy hot bath or shower when I get home. I don’t normally have to do that but the few times I’ve done it, it’s been awesome.
I’ve also never realized how convenient it would be to have a user friendly digital display. The hot water heater was always something that just sat there and I left it alone because I found it daunting to mess with. I no longer avoid my hot water heater, but rather work with it to maintain a comfortable home.
I’m certainly not a professional and I couldn’t tell you much difference between a Rheem unit and a competitor. I can tell you that I haven’t had any negative experiences with the unit. A year later and it functions perfectly. I haven’t been dissatisfied once. When I’ve gone to do something, it’s gone smoothly. When I have a question, the manual and website make information easy to find. Looking around, their prices seem competitive.
Getting to know Rheem as a brand has been a joy. I hope you’ve enjoyed coming along on my experiences going through a remodel involving the movement and upgrade of a hot water heater. Next month will be my final monthly post in this series, and it’ll be another cost comparison. But I’ll definitely be sure to pop in with more thoughts later just to keep you in the loop.