A homeowner and trade contractors report recurring leak and tank failure issues with A.

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  "detected_at": "2026-08-25T22:23:35+00:00",
  "company": {
    "name": "A. O. Smith",
    "domain": "aosmith.com"
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  "data": {
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    "stage": "switched",
    "awards": 0,
    "timing": "ongoing_state",
    "topics": [
      "water heaters",
      "reliability",
      "plumbing",
      "warranty"
    ],
    "post_id": "1vyel7f",
    "summary": "A homeowner and trade contractors report recurring leak and tank failure issues with A. O. Smith water heaters, with one plumbing contractor noting they dropped the brand a year ago in favor of Bradford White.",
    "category": "reliability",
    "comments": [
      {
        "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/hvacadvice/comments/1vyel7f/comment/p5wcyhf/",
        "depth": 0,
        "score": 8,
        "author": "aladdyn2",
        "excerpt": "Was the first \"leak\" from the relief valve too?",
        "posted_at": "2026-08-25T22:47:09.000Z",
        "author_url": "https://www.reddit.com/user/aladdyn2/"
      },
      {
        "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/hvacadvice/comments/1vyel7f/comment/p5w9el7/",
        "depth": 0,
        "score": 6,
        "author": "GoForAHikeNC",
        "excerpt": "You might need to check your water pressure and make sure your pressure regulator is working correctly. An expansion tank won’t help if it has failed and is sending 125psi full city pressure into your house.",
        "posted_at": "2026-08-25T22:28:51.000Z",
        "author_url": "https://www.reddit.com/user/GoForAHikeNC/"
      },
      {
        "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/hvacadvice/comments/1vyel7f/comment/p5wdred/",
        "depth": 0,
        "score": 6,
        "author": "Historical_Flower250",
        "excerpt": "We install lots of water heaters and this is unusual.\n\n You either have too high water pressure and need a whole house PRV. The temperature and pressure valve opens like it's supposed to because of high pressure.\n\n Your water could be very hard and sediment is building up inside the bottom of the tank. The sediment fills up the bottom of the water heater and insulates the temperature probe that sc",
        "posted_at": "2026-08-25T22:51:18.000Z",
        "author_url": "https://www.reddit.com/user/Historical_Flower250/"
      },
      {
        "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/hvacadvice/comments/1vyel7f/comment/p5wr7bv/",
        "depth": 0,
        "score": 3,
        "author": "Infinite_Hospital_12",
        "excerpt": "We dropped AO Smith about a year ago. A lot of failing water heaters. Mostly leaking tanks. Sorry you’re going through this.\n\n A big lesson: it might be convenient and cheaper to go through Lowe’s for hot water heaters. The true professional plumber doesn’t buy his hw heater from Lowe’s.\n\n Our new line, Bradford White, has been honoring AOSmith warranties",
        "posted_at": "2026-08-26T00:02:15.000Z",
        "author_url": "https://www.reddit.com/user/Infinite_Hospital_12/"
      },
      {
        "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/hvacadvice/comments/1vyel7f/comment/p5wcfg9/",
        "depth": 0,
        "score": 3,
        "author": "qo0ch",
        "excerpt": "Firstly. It’s a water heater. Water isn’t hot until it leaves it. Secondly they fucked up with the first installation and should have caught you needed an expansion tank. Thirdly…. Get an on demand if you’re talking about coming out of pocket",
        "posted_at": "2026-08-25T22:44:27.000Z",
        "author_url": "https://www.reddit.com/user/qo0ch/"
      },
      {
        "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/hvacadvice/comments/1vyel7f/comment/p5w93s4/",
        "depth": 0,
        "score": 2,
        "author": "Reasonable_Floor_704",
        "excerpt": "I don't know that the city would just turn up pressure. But this does sound like you need an expansion tank.",
        "posted_at": "2026-08-25T22:27:20.000Z",
        "author_url": "https://www.reddit.com/user/Reasonable_Floor_704/"
      },
      {
        "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/hvacadvice/comments/1vyel7f/comment/p5w970m/",
        "depth": 0,
        "score": 2,
        "author": "diyengineer1",
        "excerpt": "Don’t do business with them. You very well might need an expansion tank, but find someone honest.",
        "posted_at": "2026-08-25T22:27:47.000Z",
        "author_url": "https://www.reddit.com/user/diyengineer1/"
      },
      {
        "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/hvacadvice/comments/1vyel7f/comment/p5w9yua/",
        "depth": 0,
        "score": 2,
        "author": "zismahname",
        "excerpt": "You ain't got no expansion tank there bud. I'm also not a big fan of AO smith water heaters. I do find that their drain valves and thermal relief valves tend to leak.",
        "posted_at": "2026-08-25T22:31:43.000Z",
        "author_url": "https://www.reddit.com/user/zismahname/"
      }
    ],
    "evidence": [
      "[post] I purchased a brand new Ao smith hot water heater a little over 2 years ago. It ended up leaking and needing replacement about a year ago. They replaced the entire thing, and I am yet again having issues with the hot water heater.",
      "[comment u/Infinite_Hospital_12] We dropped AO Smith about a year ago. A lot of failing water heaters. Mostly leaking tanks. Sorry you’re going through this. A big lesson: it might be convenient and cheaper to go through Lowe’s for hot water heaters. The true professional plumber doesn’t buy his hw heater from Lowe’s. Our new line, Bradford White, has been honoring AOSmith warranties",
      "[comment u/zismahname] I'm also not a big fan of AO smith water heaters. I do find that their drain valves and thermal relief valves tend to leak."
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    "post_date": "2026-08-25T22:23:35.000Z",
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    "post_text": "I purchased a brand new Ao smith hot water heater a little over 2 years ago. It ended up leaking and needing replacement about a year ago. They replaced the entire thing, and I am yet again having issues with the hot water heater. There’s a lot of drama with all of this. The tech AO smith sent out was trying to get me to purchase an entirely different, brand new unit from him for 3 thousand dollars. Of course I said… uh, no, I’ll take the brand new, free one, under warranty. So he installed it. Worked great for 8 months. Yet again , the drip pan is filling up, it is leaking from the pipe on the right hand side. \n\nSo I call the number written on the unit (the part blacked out in the photo) \n\nI tell him I’m having issues. My location, he says “I can be right over there, let me get the exact address”\n\nOnce he figures out I’m a warranty claim, and reinstalled the unit 8 months ago, all of a sudden he has to “call me right back” and wouldn’t take my calls for 3 days, even when I begged and said I would pay.\n\nFast forward to today. I send him a message essentially conveying that I will be telling Lowe’s and AO smith that he is giving me the run around and being unprofessional. All of a sudden I get an immediate phone call, they will \nCome right over, but he might have bad news and I may need to pay something out of pocket. \n\nThe techs get here, they’re Here for 10 minutes, then they...",
    "sentiment": "negative",
    "subreddit": "hvacadvice",
    "event_date": "2025",
    "post_title": "I feel like I’m being lied to",
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    "total_upvotes": 10,
    "comments_total": 70,
    "total_comments": 69,
    "event_date_text": "about a year ago",
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      {
        "name": "Bradford White",
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curl https://signals.autobound.ai/v1/signals/1ac3aeb4-f4ce-5789-ad23-464bfb04e69f \
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curl -X POST https://signals.autobound.ai/v1/companies/enrich \
  -H "X-API-KEY: $AUTOBOUND_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"domain":"aosmith.com","limit":20}'