Pat's Plumbing

What I like best is the up-front pricing they give members so you know what you are getting before anything starts. They are very friendly and work to get your job started as soon as possible depending on your schedule. And they are very capable. Alex, on a bet, was able to completely replace a toilet blindfolded, which he did without any leaks, damage, or injury! Can your plumber do that?

Short: The technician tried to persuade me into an expensive repair or even more expensive new water heater while it has a life time warranty from Whirlpool. I called Whirlpool and they sent me a replacement control board via second day air - I fixed the problem myself in 20 minutes. Whirlpool told me that someone else (the technician) called me earlier for the same serial number.

I have a 10 year old 50 gallon Whirlpool hot water heater with flashing green light. According to the troubleshooting guide on Internet it’s either the lower heating element or the control board failure. I Googled around called Pat's plumbing because of its outstanding rating.

A technician came to my house, opened the lower access panel and measured the resistance of the lower heating element to be OK. He went back to his truck talked to Whirlpool for about 15 minutes. He came back and told me that according to his conversation with Whirlpool, he determined that the lower heating element needed to be replaced (I saw it with my eyes that the lower heating ement was OK). In order to do this the water heater needed to be drained and the water heater could leak after the repair. Due to its age he recommended to install a new 50 gallon heater. He gave me a written estimate of $449.88 plus tax for the repair and $1,927.39 plus tax for a new water heater. He collected $42.65 from me for his visit, which could be credited for later repair or new installation if I went ahead with one of them.

I woke up from my shock after the technician left and began to think hard about what I could do to solve this problem without paying through my nose. I recalled the possibility of control board failure and the technician did not even bother to open up the top cover to check. So I decided to open it up myself (one three easy accessible screws). Here it is, an orange wire is discolored with the black relay plastic melting around the slide on connector between the orange wire and the relay.

After taking a closer look at the labels on the water heater, I found a toll free number to call and also noticed that it carries a life time limited warranty. I called Whirlpool, provided identification information and explained what I found. Whirlpool informed me that someone called a day before for the same unit (by serial number). After a short conversation, Whirlpool determined that I needed a new control board, and sent one to me through UPS second Air. I received the control board and replaced the old one within 20 minutes (two wires to the incoming power, a thermistor plug, and three connectors on the relays). Bingo, now I have hot water.

Tech arrived at home to do a 5-10 minute job. He gave me a price, which was ridiculously high, I contacted office, to keep tech out of the middle of it and was completely baffled on how rude Linda was to me. I simply asked her about the elevated price and asked if there was anything that we could do, since the job was literally simple, connecting an existing gas hose to a dryer. I cannot believe how I was treated after just simply asking a question about why the price was so high, $302 w/taxes, after speaking with tech, we were able to come to a price. The tech at site was great, it was the office that I have an issue with.