Better Water Heaters

They killed my lawn. In replacing the water heater, the guy asked me where to drain the old hot water heater (which was full of hot water). I told him wherever he thought best, he drained it on my lawn, I asked if it was hot enough (or bad) for the lawn, he said no.
I now have a giant dead spot on my front lawn.
For $ 1400 for a no-​frills replacement of a water heater (they are supposed to be Diamond Certified) I am quite disappointed.

I had my water heater replaced last weekend. They do excellent job, only carry Bradford White Brand. Overall pricier than the other alternatives. The initial quite I got from the guy on the phone was $ 1000-​$ 1400. But, I had to pay $ 1675 for water heater (12 yrs warranty) + installation. They took the old water heater. The problem is that you do not know how much you pay for the water heater. I checked for BW water heater pricing the only quote I got was $ 579, but this was not the model I have. I have «bradford white eco defender ultra low nox». Anyway, I am happy with the work, could have saved 200 – 300 dollars if I had gone through Home Depot or something.

I just spoke to Franz to get a quote over the phone, and there were a few things wrong with what he said. First, there is no such thing as a 12-​year warranty for a Bradford White, yet he still gave me a quote pretending that there was. Second, they charge $ 205 for a San Jose ctiy permit, when the actual cost is closer to $ 139. Basically they are taking a big cut for themselves. And third, he told me that he only had time for one more question. Really?! Sorry I’m taking up your time Franz.
I would definitely look up «Dependable Water Heaters» owned and operated by Adrian. They have way better prices, also for the Bradford White water heater. And they are actually nice!

Wow, these guys are amazing. They were able to come out on short notice to help fix a water heater issue. They were extremely thorough; explained to me the issue having sediment build up causing an over temp problem. They helped me flush out the water heater, install a gas control valve, and verity everything was working in about 1 hour. Pricing was also very reasonable. Would definitely recommend!

Called Sunday morning, water heater was fixed by 5 that evening. Hard to find anything even to nitpick about. good service.

Our tankless gas hot water heater failed after only five years and the company making it had gone out of business. I called several plumbing companies before being referred to Better Water Heaters. They installed a new tankless hot water heater. The model was so new they were not totally familiar with it but took the extra time to be sure it was set up correctly.
Last week I came home after a vacation and found we had no hot water. I called Better Water Heaters about 9:30 PM. The owner, Frans, answered the phone, gave me a quick solution which resulted in hot water. He also sent out his service man Kevin the next day to go over it and determine the cause of the problem. We had apparently moved some cabinets that caused a kink in a hose. Problem solved. Service fantastic! Great company!

Extremely prompt and professional service. Last weekend early morning, I noticed that my old water heater was leaking. Since it had reached EOL, I decided to replace it with a new one. Submitted an online request @homeadvisor and within 2 minutes, got a call from Frans! It was unbelievable. He got the requirement from me, walked me through various possible options and patiently answered my questions. I texted him the installation pictures and he quoted a reasonable price for the new installation. We scheduled the «same day appointment» to do the installation. Mike, from Frans’s team, came up at the appointed time and finished the installation in less than 90 mins! He took time to explain the Water Heater settings and what I could do to prolong its life. After the installation was completed, he cleaned up the space and took away the old water heater for disposal. Overall, I am extremely satisfied with their Service and would recommend them to anyone.

Very quick service and job well done.

All I can say is that this is the type of business I love to support. Professional, fair, informative, and friendly. I’ve dealt with 3 – 4 guys over there and they are total pros.
3yo Townhouse. Tankless heater. They ran diagnostics, showed me error codes and repaired replaced as needed on those codes. Even came back to tune up a piece and identified a potential issue with PG&E line.

Imagine a house with 6 people and no hot water for 2 days. We did not figure out why until last last night, so this morning, I called four different water heater companies from Unilocal,and this was the only one who had the part we needed in stock and could come out today. One offered to use a universal part, but the other three said that would be a terrible idea because this brand had issues with universal and you needed the specific one. (Apparently, we have a model that is carried at Home Depot and extremely unreliable.) They quoted it on the phone, came and fixed it two hours later while I was out (my water heater is outside and I requested this). And then I was going to call with my cc and have it done. After two days without hot water, this is a huge relief.
Mike was super professional and fast. It was expensive ($ 275), but no more than the other places were quoting. We were so desperate that we considered just replacing the whole thing ($ 1200+). They were nice enough to explain how to get the manufacturer to even reimburse us for the part which saves us $ 100. They are great! I don’t know why other Unilocalers had so many issues, but highly recommend.

I was quoted between $ 900‑1200 for the water heater replacement when I scheduled the appt. I asked why the $ 300 difference and was told that this would include any extra plumbing problems.
I had a technician come to my house today and he automatically started saying it was going to be $ 1300 and the extra fittings were a couple hundred dollars. I said really a couple of hundred dollars for fittings? Then when I asked for an estimate it says $ 1400. Bait and switch move all day long.
When I called Franz back to discuss, he said, «my technician said that you have galvanized steel plumbing and that it will leak behind the wall» Seriously? Why would it leak behind the wall if you are not going behind the wall? Put a wrench on the pipe going into the wall, so you don’t loosen the pipe behind the wall when you remove the fittings. Thank God I am being preventative and don’t need my hot water heater replaced. I was just being preventative so I don’t need to jump on the first price thrown at me.

Water heater was leaking. I wish I could remember the name of the company that installed because I strongly disliked them. I actually wrote in Sharpie right on my water heater to never call them back.
Anyhoo, fast forward seven years (yeah, seven) and my water heater is leaking and knocking quite a bit. I searched Unilocal and this was the first business to come up with a lot of stars, and I read that it was a locally based business with friendly people. Enough said!
Called them on a Monday night at 6:00 pm or so. They said it was a little too late to come out that night, so we set up an appointment to come out the next night. An extremely nice man came over around 6:00, diagnosed the water heater with a leak and started quoting a new water heater.
My head started filling with things like scheduling and who was going to have to take time off to meet the guy in the upcoming days to get it fixed. I inquired as to when he could do it, and he replied, «Tonight if you want!»
Uh, yes. He said it’d take an hour and a half and he absolutely came in at around 45 minutes later being done. I have a brand new water heater, can shower tomorrow morning with peace of mind and don’t have to think about it for the next decade with luck.
Thanks, Better Water Heaters. I’m happy I called and will use them next time.

We did not have their service, and this review is based on our experience and their service/​diagnosis skills.
We have a water heater issue, and my warranty company (Fidelity National home warranty) sent a technician from Payless Water heater. The technician diagnosed the issue and defined it as a lack of regular maintenance (no flush). Hence, warranty company did not want to cover this issue due to maintenance issue. We would like to have opinions from another party, and after searching on Unilocal,we called Better Water Heaters.
Frans was very kind and gave options and advices over the phone, and I decided to get my water heater flushed. Next day, Mike came to my place on time and diagnosed the system before flushing the system. Mike found that the unit has motherboard and flow regulator malfunctions and need to be replaced, which was not found by the technician from the home warranty company. Mike said these should be covered by the home warranty and told me to contact the home warranty company with his comments. Mike was even mad at the diagnosis done by the technician from the home warranty company. Mike was so honest, friendly, courteous, knowledgeable, and professional. Thanks to Mike, I was able to address this issue again to the home warranty company, have another technician re-​evaluate our water heater system, and let the home warranty company pay for the replacement for a new water heater.
I indeed appreciate Mike and highly recommend Better Water Heaters!!!

I was settling in for a cozy night of Netflix gluttony after a long day. My glee was interrupted by banging, hissing, and the sound of running water. That’s the sound of a 20 yr. old water heater giving up the ghost.
I determined that the unit wasn’t salvageable after consulting Youtube. The next task was finding an new water heater and getting it installed ASAP. I read a glowing review about Better Water Heaters from a trusted Unilocaler friend so I decided to get a quote. They came out the next morning, assessed the situation, and gave me a quote that didn’t stray far from the one I received over the phone the day before. The installation took a little over two hours to complete.
I was happy with the service. My new water heater works great. The guy that came to do the install was really nice and didn’t try to sell me anything I didn’t need. If I could make one suggestion it would be to bring plastic sheeting and/​or a drop cloth to every work site. The shell on my old water was cracked and started dribbling rusty water on my living room carpet as it was being hauled out. Luckily I had a drop cloth, some old towels, and a plastic sheet on hand.

Fast, friendly, and fair: I couldn’t agree more.
Our water heater was almost 25 years old and when the pilot light kept going out on us, we decided it was time to replace it. We are getting hardwood floors installed in our home later this month and I was nervous the old water heater would spring a leak and ruin the new floors.
I found Better Water Heaters’ information through Unilocal,saw the 4.5 star rating, and was sold. I wasn’t disappointed, either. The person I spoke to on the phone was so cheerful. He said he would arrange for someone to take a look at the water heater and give us a free estimate. Free? That was unexpected since I was making the appointment window for Saturday between 2pm-​4pm.
Best of all, I received a phone call around 12:30pm on Saturday saying they could accommodate me earlier if I liked. Really? I was fully expecting someone to come knocking on my door at 3:55pm. Anyhow, I was working so I kept my 2pm-​4pm window. Our awesome and friendly service rep, Mike, came at 2 o’clock!
He inspected the water heater and gave us a few options we could try beside replacing the water heater altogether. It was so nice getting an honest opinion. My fiancé and I opted to replace the water heater because of how old it was.
Mike hauled out the old unit and installed the new one so quickly and efficiently and we had hot water within the half hour. We paid a very reasonable price for a Bradford White and service on a Saturday. They don’t charge extra on the weekend, which I didn’t know, so that was a pleasant surprise.
I’d recommend this company and Mike to anyone and I’ll definitely come to them with any future water heater needs. I seriously can’t get over how nice and honest everyone was!

Did not use it because the estimated price is way too high. I went to home depot and spend less than $ 15 to fix the pinhole leak myself within 2 min. Otherwise I have to pay $ 295 to have them do the job.

My tenant called to tell me my water heater was leaking from the bottom. I called Better and spoke to Frans who quoted $ 1400 over the phone for a replacement. When the tech came out, he called Frans to explain that it’s a type of water heater that also heats the townhouse through the furnace. He now says the water heater will cost $ 2500. I was out of town at the time and I did not want to inconvenience my tenant so went ahead and authorized the repair.
Now fast forward 2 months, I receive another call from my tenant again this time saying the heater doesn’t work. I thought, it cant be the water heater because it was just replaced 2 months earlier. So I called a furnace company that specializes in that type of H2O heating system. He suspected it was a bad water pump in the furnace so I had him order a new one. When the guy came out to replace the pump, he ran a test on the old one and found it was still good. He then traced it back to the water heater which was practically brand new still. That is when he noticed the arrow on the check valve was pointing in the wrong direction. The guy was kind enough to resolder the check valve and it instantly corrected the problem. Fortunately he only charged me 1 hour labor and did not charge me for the special order part.
When I called Frans at Better to explain what I had just gone through and how I was disappointed that I paid 2500 for a water heater that had dual purpose of hot water and heating up the house yet they didn’t even perform a system test after installation to make sure the furnace was working properly. All Frans could tell me was, Sorry but the guy that installed my water heater was not that experienced… Really! So now your inexperienced installer inconvenience my tenants and cost me money out of pocket all because Better hires low wage inexperienced installers that ends up costing the consumer money.
I do not recommend Better Water Heaters.

My family woke up to freezing cold showers yesterday (in the bathroom, not outside), so my husband and I just put on a lot of cologne/​perfume which I thought was okay since sooo many people do that anyway.
Long story short– Monte showed up quickly after my call later that day (after I got home from work), diagnosed my thermocouple problem in a «couple» minutes, fixed it completely within 45 minutes, and we had hot water another 45 minutes later. Sweet.
$ 175 total. I thought it was worth it because it seemed difficult to replace, beyond my DIY abilities, plus Monte referred to me as «ma’am» the whole time. He certainly didn’t have to, but it was a kind, respectful gesture. The ending: I emptied my purse to tip him:)

Technician Robert came out to my house at the start of the time frame (12 – 2 pm, he was here by 11:50). VERY much appreciated.
He was able to diagnose the problem and give me all the information about the problem, but he wasn’t able to fix the problem.
I gave them 4 stars because Robert told me exactly what I needed to do when I called AO Smith for the part, which helped IMMENSELY. He didn’t charge me (of course, because I still had no hot water), but I appreciate his candor.

I called and talked to Frans, and had already done my homework to find out that when a water heater is leaking from the bottom, it’s like a $ 25 part, the T&P valve (temperature and pressure valve). So when i called Frans, I told him that I needed a new T&P valve.
The tech came out the same day, which was nice, but he told me he wouldn’t fix the T&P valve, it would be $ 1200. I kindly told him: «no thanks», and called a different company. That other company (see my other reviews) understood what I asked them to fix over the phone, and did exactly that, fixed the T&P valve for $ 25, plus a small service charge, total: $ 150.
Beware, even though I knew what I needed (a $ 25 part NOT a new water heater), they STILL INSISTED that I spend the $ 1300. They pushed and pushed, saying if I did it today they would do it for $ 1200. Sorry buddy, your pressure tactics don’t work on me.
Bottom line, not to be trusted. Anyone that tries to take advantage of someone is bad. If you try to take advantage of someone that already knows what they want, is just dumb. In other words, my grandma would not have done the research and known it was a simple fix. But I did do the research, and they still tried to screw me over?
My water heater works just fine thank you very much! Just google «water heater leaking from bottom» and every article talks about the T&P valve.
Frans response is my water heater was old, he didn’t want to work on it. But he doesn’t know that for sure; nobod knows exactly when it was purchased/​installed, regardless of the manufacture date. I’ll be SURE to update this review when/​IF it does go bad, but I suspect it will be several years from now.
If you want to get ripped off, Frans is your guy. DO NOT TRUST!