Home warranty

S

Sasquatch69

100+ Posts
We're fast approaching one year in our home, and are now faced with the decision whether or not to renew our home warranty. It covers all the major appliances, HVAC, pipes and a few other things, but I've been told that these companies can often be sneaky about getting out of covering things. Plus, there's a $50 flat fee for ANY service, and the annual renewal will run about $500. I'm skeptical, but if the A/C goes out I'd REALLY like to not have to pay the full replacement cost, so I'm still leaning towards renewing it.

Your thoughts?
 
Depends on how old your house is. We just bought a house and it's only 2 years old. After our warranty runs out, I plan on taking that $300-500 and putting it away for home repairs. Either way, you should probably budget $100 or so a month for home repairs. That way, if a major expense comes along, you're not TOO strapped.

The home warranty is fine for free (first year), but I wouldn't recommend them for the long term. You'll usually come out behind...just like car warranties.
 
The home is 50 years old, and most of the major installed items (HVAC, water heater, dishwasher) are at least 10 years old. Besides the dishwasher (which we're just gonna replace soon anyway), everything is in good working condition.

Well, one thing - and this is a bit off topic but maybe someone can help - the water heater tends to make this knocking sound after anyone has showered. It doesn't effect the hot water supply, but does make me curious. I've heard this has something to do with mineral deposits in the water heater - is this true?
 
If you're using America Homeshield, I wouldn't renew w/ them. I used them when I first bought my condo. They were such a pain in the *** to work with, coupled with the fact that if you wanted the A/C (for instance) covered, it had to have an annual maintenance check done once a yr. So the cost benefits of using the warranty quickly go out the window when you have to have the annual maint crap done...

I just replace appliances as they wear out.
 
I went ahead and bought American Home Shield, since or house was pretty old when we bought it and was afraid the AC might die on us. I have had to call them twice, the first call was for a plumbing leak that was satisfactorily fixed the next day. Recently our 10 year old, piece of junk fridge died and I called them. Someone tried to fix it but it was determined that the repair was more than the value of the fridge, and within a few days, sent me a check for about $570, which we used to buy a nice new fridge. My old garage door opener is shot and I can't figure out what is wrong with it, so I'm gonna give them another call. I imagine I will get the same deal if it can't be fixed, or is so old it needs to be replaced.
 
We bought a 10 year old house and have used it for the garage door springs, dishwasher, water heater, and disposal. It has been a great deal for us.
 
American Home Shield has been a good deal for us as well. Our house is about 35 years old, with some old appliances and wiring, and we renewed it for the second year last September. We've definitely got more than our money's worth out of it, and we even got them to come out late on a Friday night in June to fix the AC (frozen), since we had a young baby, that counts as an "emergency" and they sent someone out immediately at no extra cost.
 
A couple of things....

First, the home warranties are good when free. Keep in mind that when they repair something they use the cheapest, builders grade materials as possible. When had AHS when we bought our house (25 years old now) but let it go after the first year. Also, read the fine print. You have the right to "cash-out" on any repair job. In otherwords, if your A/C goes out and the repairman says it will cost $1000 to replace it (mind you with a builders grade unit), you have the right to refuse the repair, get a check for $1000, and go get someone else to install a better system. This is exactly what we did when our A/C crapped out.

Next, unless they have changed their coverage, AHS will cover a dead dishwasher. They replaced ours. This was before I knew about the "cash-out" option. Otherwise I would have taken the money and bought higher quality unit at Sears.

Finally,the water noise your describing is commonly called a "water hammer." It's not a problem with your water heater. It happens when high water flow, i.e. a shower, dishwaster, etc., is suddenly shut off. This sends a shock/pressure wave through the pipes. This can eventually damage the pipes, especially the joints. The way to fix it, short of installing an arrester, is to turn off the main water to the house. Open the lowest faucet (usually a garden faucet), then open the highest faucet. Let the low faucet drain for a few minutes (until the dripping stops). Close the faucets and turn on the main water supply. The problem should be fixed.
 
Thanks for all the advice. HH93, I know what you are talking about (water hammer) and that isn't the problem in this case. This goes on intermittently for probably 20-30min AFTER the water has been shut off - just this dull banging sound in the water heater itself. Every indication I've gotten from googling the problem is mineral deposits (the unit is 13 years old), but I am going to have it looked at anyway.
 
Sasquatch, had the same problem and found out that two conditions cause hot water heater deposits.

First, the mineral deposits. Hook up a water hose to your drain outlet in the heater, and drain it three times - you will probably see a lot of minerals and crud come out.

Second, if cool air can get to the base of the heater, and the heater is gas, you'll get the popping as the heater tries to heat the new water. In my case, I just had to find and eliminate a draft that was letting cold air sneak under the heater - when I insulated the draft, all the popping stopped.

So, drain the mineral deposits and check for cold air drafts to the bottom of a gas heater.
 
Well you boys just helped solve two problems I have been having at my house with the hot water heater popping and mineral deposits. We bought our house last May (50 year old house) and the previous owners bought us a home warranty as part of the agreement to buy the house. Our AC went out about a month after we moved in. Called up AHS and they sent a guy out twice to fix the problem, only had to pay the $50 once. Second problem we had was with a wire that went out in our bedroom that knocked out the ceiling fan, wall plugs, and lights to our bedroom and master bath. They couldn't fix it because it would involve tearing into the wall to find the faulty wire. I found a local electrician who fixed the problem for about $150. I wish AHS had told me about the inability to fix the wiring inside the wall before I had their guy come out so I could have saved my $50. I don't know if I will renew next May. The couple befoe us did a lot of renovations and replaced tons of stuff before we moved in. Good info on this thread. Thanks.
 
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