FOR ALL HOMEOWNERS - do you own a Westinghouse hot water heater that is somewhere between 8-15 years old? If so look at the thin lines that go from the igniter switch to the bottom of the water heater (the line is visible and outside of the heater body). If there is a small tag which says left handed screw than you are in for a surprise when it comes time to change out the igniter switch (if no tag then you are probably ok). Remember how you learned which way the tighten or loosen a screw - Righty tighty - Lefty loosey? Westinghouse figured they would put the screws to their customers (no pun intended) and made the screw to tighten the gas line to the heater with reverse threads, i.e. righty loosey-lefty tighty. The part can ONLY be ordered from Westinghouse and no other brand has this part with the reverse threads. Luckily my heater was still under warranty (three months left on it) so it was replaced for free, however shipping would have been $30.00 (the part weighs less than a pound). I complained that Westinghouse tried to screw their customers once with this part and are now trying to screw us again by charging a ridiculous shipping fee. Long story short - shipping was free as well. (NOTE: The part is no longer manufactured and the replacement provides an adapter which corrects the problem). Now, I would never advocate putting the screws to Westinghouse for this scam (devious laugh heard in the background) but...if your warranty is about to expire I would call Westinghouse telling them your heater went out and you need a new thermo-coupler. On the front of the heater there should be tags with the phone number, part number and product number, all of which they will ask for. You may also have your receipt handy if you still have it cause I had to copy and email them a copy of it (they claimed their computer said the warranty expired last month). Hope no one has this water heater but if you do...good luck!
Posted on: Sun, 20 Jul 2014 21:01:33 +0000
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