Kenmore  74 gal.12-Year Tall Natural Gas Water Heater

My 11 year old 74 gallon A.O. ***** water heater started leaking on Dec 21. Family of 5 so need that volume. Checked ********** & *******, but that size was special order. I needed it now! Sears had them in stock, and another review revealed that Sears and A.O. ***** are the same design. Great! Through Sears.com found the nearest store that had them in stock, ordered online at 8am on Saturday, Dec 22, got email alerting it was ready to pick-up. Drove through pick-up zone at Sears at noon, within 10 minutes it was in the back of my Suburban with the help of their warehouse guy. The hardest part was getting the Tank down the basement stairs. 1 man + 2 sixteen year-olds needed to ease it down the steps with refriderator dolly I rented at a hardware store (dolly with straps). Unit was an exact match to the A.O.*****, so no fit up changes required. I finished install by 8pm. Caution: Manual says 3/4" water fittings. Actual are 1". Very happy after 1 month.

had about 3 weeks working great

Large and Heavy - I also had to change the vent line to the chimney to 4" from the existing 3" but i think it was worth the extra work.

Mine started leaking around the regulator area after 4 years. Sears service was great - it took the serviceman less than a minute to decide was getting a free replacement. More impressive, since I was arranging my own install, there was ZERO pressure to pay Sears for installation. I had the unit picked up directly from the local Sears - no charges, no extras, just a free replacement. The replacement is improved in that the drain valve is now brass rather than el-chepo plastic like the old ones. I'll figure the early failure was just a bit of bad luck. I have heard that some of the big box home improvement stores make you bring in the failed header to get a replacement, which gets pretty pricey at plumber's hourly rate.

Shopped hard for a replacement water heater for my 10 year old 75 gallon GE tank that had started to leak. Sears offered the longest tank warranty at 12 years and the Kenmore unit is manufactured by A.O. Smith which is a good company. Took advantage of the 12 months deferred interest on a Sears account so had to visit a Sears store to open the account. Next day install was available and the plumber was a contractor with a company called Precise Plumbing in Denver. The plumber was conscientious, knowledgeable, did a great job on the install and hauled away the old tank. Be aware that basic installation fee does not include a new gas line or water hookups which almost always need to be replaced at an additional cost of $80 for all three items. As others have pointed out, the new Kenmore water heater is not exactly like the one in the photo. Main difference is the thermostat and controls are not covered. Also noticed the recovery rate on the label affixed to the new tank says 71.87 GPH instead of the advertised 81 GPH in the specifications. Other than that it is a solid unit and is making hot water a lot better than our previous tank.

Everything it fine so far.  We have only had it installed for two weeks.  My brother and I installed it.  It did not come with the outer cover to protect the controls.  I haven't addressed that issue yet.  Hopefully Sears will trust me and know that I didn't get it and order me one.

We will see.

This is a great replacement for my 10 year old heater (also a 75 gal).  It heats faster, stays hotter longer and is clearly a better product than the "builer grade" one that I had.  It is not the one in the photo, however.  I'm assuming Kenmore made a change to share the cosmetics with the 75 gal. commercial model.  Not a big deal, except that I would have liked the cover to go over the gas controls, as I have small children in the house.  Also, when having Sears install it, you will want to know exactly what you're getting with the installation.  The installers told me that I had to have a pan underneath, but I never had one before.  They claimed it was a change in my county code.  OK, fine, but then they tried to tack on $160 for that.  I happened to price this item prior, so I knew what it should cost just in case.  Pans, depending on size, range $18 - $30.  Installation is $80 - $90 for pans.  So even at the highest this should have been $120, right?  The installer had trouble explaining the $160 to me, only to say that it was the Sears price.  Funny how that all changed when he took $100 cash to do it.  Also it took 2 weeks to get this installed.  Enough griping though, this is a really nice water heater and I'm glad to have it.

Do not let Sears install your Water Heater unless you know the current building codes. Your City might have a web page where you can down load the code page for Water Heaters.

The Installer told me 4 items were required even after I griped about so many code changes in just 6 years. Two days later the City Inspector told me NONE of the 4 items were required. I am out $472 beyond the $295 plus $35 prepaid.

When I complainted, after review Sears said: "You signed the installation agreement, so no refund. Thanks for using Sears."

P.S.: hopefully  the Water Heater is of good quality. It is working fine.

We needed a larger water heater and this seemed like a good deal. $819 for the tank, $264 for installation, county permit, and haul away. Imagine our surprise when the installers showed up and said it would cost an additional $432! It turns out that the Sears sales manager "overlooked" telling us that if replacing a smaller tank the installation would cost 3X as much because of piping and venting (plus labor). The installers also told us it would cost an additional $50 for them to just CEMENT the PVC drain pipes I had purchased, cut to size, and laid out from the new drain pan I bought. I had read a Sears review where someone else got charged over $100 to install a drain pan, so I figured if I bought the supplies, all they would need to do was cement the connections when the tank was in place. This experience was just wrong on so many levels, and we have cancelled our purchase!

Water heater works perfectly supplying all the hot water you need.  The installation issue is that the inlet and output connections are one inch not 3/4 inch like previous 2 Kenmore heaters I owned. That required acquiring 1 inch unions, pipe, and reducers to convert back to the house's 3/4 inch pipes.

33176 that I received looks exactly the the commercial 33807 75 gal water heater.  Pressure relief valve and drain valve are on the left of the thermostat, not the right like the 33176 picture.  There is no outer thermostat cover like shown in the 33176 picture.

I guess that these can be model changes.  They are not significant.  It was just bothersome that what I saw online is not exactly what I received.  I guess I got a  $1129.99 water heater for the price of $819.99 water heater with a 10% discount.