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Water heater warranty by brand

Kenmore gas control valve
Electronic gas control valves
There are 3 main manufacturers that make or license their design to all other brands:
Rheem, AO-Smith, Bradford White.
Resources:
Water heater manufacturers
Which is best gas water heater
Which is best electric heater
Find-Age-of-water-heater.pdf
Warranties are same across all brands.
And same for 6 year, 9 year, 12 year tanks, as outlined below: (3 year warranty tanks are not considered on this page)
- First year parts-tank-labor are covered for original homeowner and non-commercial installation when installed by instructions outlined in product manual.
- After first year, parts-tank are covered, but no labor.
- Anode rods are not covered by any warranty.
- Required maintenance is not covered, such as inspecting and cleaning burner parts, but a failed thermocouple or new burner assembly are covered. How to clean burner

Will the warranty cover your installation?
Most water heater warranties do not require professional installation. However they do require installation to follow guidelines shown in product manual.

- In some cases, you might need local service technician to verify installation to get warranty coverage.
For example, the warranty might not cover gas water heater if it was installed in wet environment, non-ventilated space, dirty crawlspace or storage room with chemicals since dust, dirt, lack of air supply, bad venting, exposure to water and trace amounts of chemicals will affect gas appliance performance. Read about air supply. Clorox, pool chemicals, even in trace amounts, are inhaled by gas appliances and can destroy combustion parts. Read about corrosive environments. Dirt and dust can trigger FV failure and cause lock out. Read about FV failure. Read warranty information before you buy, and install according to manual.
Warranty might not cover electric water heater if it was installed in wet environment (exception marathon polybutylene tank), or wire and breaker are undersized, or ground wire not connected.
Warranty might be pro-rated...
If tank leaks in year 12, then you get a small amount of money toward purchase of next water heater. UNLESS you can show that you followed all the required maintenance... including inspecting and replacing anode rod each 3 years to prevent tank rusting. And installed expansion tank if your water pressure is high, evidenced by frequent water heater failure and plumbing failures at your home.
BUT they still might have pro-rated policy, and in addition, they are known to hassle customers over coverage as is typical with companies today ... requiring customer to make multiple phone calls and demands at the exact moment when you need a new water heater with no time to negotiate over coverage.

I suggest you clarify the warranty with seller, and by reading product manual beforehand.

Example warranty pdf

Kenmore water heater warranty is printed in each product manual Example Kenmore water heater warranty
Rheem:  Example 6 year Rheem water heater manual from 2003
Rheem warranty claim form
Rheem parts warranty claim form
American Residential: Example American residential warranty 2006
Reliance power vent: Reliance power vent warranty
Rheem Marathon: Example Marathon warranty
GE Heat pump GE Hybrid water heater manual
Bradford White :Bradford White warranty policy and coverage
GE: GE water heater warranties
Eternal Eternal warranty
Marathon warranty
Longer warranties generally mean thicker anode rod or two anode rods.
Anode rods prevent tank from rusting.
2 anode rods are better than 1... (unless your home is on rural water well and has odor problems caused by anode in which case 1 anode  or 0 anodes is better) .... two anode rods generally means longer warranty.

When replacing anode, then both anodes must be replaced to ensure each anode is made of same material (magnesium or aluminum etc).
One of the anodes will be ordinary hex anode that is screwed into top of tank, and second anode will be a combo anode rod attached to hot water nipple. Both types widely available.
http://waterheatertimer.org/images/Combo-hex-anodes-300.jpg
How to replace anode rods
6 year, 9 year or 12 year: what is the difference?
- Generally, the main difference between 6-9-12 year warranty is anode rod diameter, or sometimes 2 anode rods. Usually a 6-year has .75-inch; 9-year .84-inch; 12-year .90-inch. You can convert 6 year tank into 12 year or 15 year by inspecting anode each 1-3 years, and maintaining tank as shown in product manual.
DIY resource: How to replace anode rod
How to maintain water heater

There may be other differences that are not considered on this webpage, such as heavier materials associated with longer warranty tanks. For example, commercial water heaters are made much heavier, and this implies that longer-warranty residential heaters are better than shorter warranty. Exactly what is the difference? It would be nice if manufacturer's informed the public, but dynamic of commodity prices, design changes, competition, and the legal environment might make it difficult for manufacturer to say what is being used.

After digging around available resources, Kenmore reveals the difference between 3-year and 6-year tanks is anode, drain valve, inlet tube, nipples, burner orifice and manifold door assembly. Each of these items is repairable.
No differences were shown in critical safety components, implying that gas control valve thermostat, TP valve, flammable vapor resistance, and thickness of tank wall were not lesser quality between 3 and 6 year tanks. This casual analysis is an example of possible differences, but not a reliable sample.
I do not recommend 3 year tank except as a lower-price opportunity.
DIY resource: Gas valve resources

Simple math comparison between 6 and 12 year heaters: if 6 year heater costs $550, and 12 year heater costs $800, the cost difference is $250. In exchange you get 6 years of extended part warranty, or $41 per year for longer warranty. Since a typical gas control valve costs $100 - $140 to purchase at retail (2016), the longer warranty might be best choice.
DIY resource: Gas valve resources
6 year  or 12 year warranty: which to choose
- Simple one-dimensional Math shows that shorter warranty has greater percentage of full labor-and-material coverage. But other factors are excluded, for example, what if you need a new gas valve in year 7.

Note: Anode rod is not covered under any warranty since it is designed to sacrifice itself to prevent tank from rusting. Often, the warranty coverage requires you to perform maintenance shown in product manual, which means inspecting anode to prevent tank from rusting ... plus cleaning combustion parts periodically, cleaning air intake and avoiding dust, chemicals and flammables. Make sure home has proper electrical grounding. If electric panel is grounded to metal water pipes instead of ground rod, this can cause stray current corrosion, making pipes and steel water heater tank more reactive to water, rusting out tank prematurely despite anode rod. The advent of plastic pipe, PVC, poly etc, has reduced the risk of stray current corrosion.
DIY resource: How to replace anode rod
If 12 year tank only costs $80 more than 9 year tank, then conside the following: Since most water heater failures happen later in the life of the tank, then then $80 difference, or $26.66 per each of the last 3 years, seems very reasonable.
Especially since ordinary gas control valve thermostat costs $200+ today, and probably $400+ in the future.
Footnote/ Advisories
Your warranty coverage is held by 3rd party, and saving receipt is best plan ... if the receipt is missing, then the year of manufacture is used for warranty coverage.
Year of manufacture is coded into the serial number located on label on side of tank. So loss of sales receipt means serial number is used to support warranty.  Find-Age-of-water-heater.pdf
Here's the tricky part.... the actual manufacture of your tank can be 1-2-3+ years earlier than sales receipt. Water heaters are not like cars where year of manufacture is known by both seller and buyer.

In other words, loss of receipt has led people into serious warranty complications during the later years of warranty. And in the first year when you have full coverage.

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