Water heaters
Rheem Performance XE50M06ST45U1 Electric Water Heater, 50 gal
Prices are the equipment only — the appliance, before install labour. Every product in this catalogue currently has at least one real, seller-observed equipment price (see the SKU verification and price observation notes on each product). Get contractor quotes for the install itself, especially for anything needing new electrical circuits or condensate drainage.
Rheem's baseline resistance-electric tank: 50 gallons ('Medium' height configuration), UEF 0.93, dual 4500W elements, a 61-gallon first-hour rating, and a 6-year tank-and-parts warranty.
Our take
This plain resistance tank is cheap, simple and easy to install, which several owners valued. The exact-model corpus also contains a clear counterweight: leaks around elements, nipples, panels and tank seams, including new units and tanks near the end of the six-year warranty. A certified installer improved the warranty outcome in one detailed report, but it did not make the failures disappear.
Best for
A like-for-like electric tank replacement in a space too small or too tight on budget for a heat pump water heater.
Watch out for
Twelve usable exact-model reports include multiple early leaks and mixed warranty experiences. Use a drain pan, keep installation records and price the ProTerra before accepting the higher operating cost.
What sellers are actually charging
The lowest in-stock, full-equipment price we've seen is $549, at Home Depot, seen 2026-08-30. Every listing from the last 30 days, newest first, is below — prices change, click through to check before you act on any of them.
| Seller | What you get | Price | Stock | Seen |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home Depot
big box retailer |
equipment system | $549 | in stock | 2026-08-30 |
Equipment price is not installed price. The listings above are what the hardware costs. Installation — labour, electrical, refrigerant lines, permits, removing the old system — is typically a similar amount again, and varies more between contractors than between brands. Where we have an installed figure it is labelled as such and comes from someone who actually installs.
What owners and installers report
Collected from trade forums, owner communities and video reviews. Every report links to the original. We synthesise and quote briefly — we don't republish other people's writing.
Reliability and failures
What breaks, when, and how often — from people several years in.
Thin evidence — too few independent reports to call this a pattern. Shown because it may still be worth asking your contractor about.
In the 12 exact-model owner reports retained from Home Depot, 7 mention reliability; 1 describe a problem.
Automated synthesis of 12 exact-model owner reports · Home Depot ratings · read it in context
Owner's first drain at three years in found the OEM plastic drain valve already plugged, requiring replacement with a brass full-port valve before the tank could be flushed.
“drained for the first time yesterday and replaced the plastic drain valve with a brass full port valve (original valve plugged up)” — GoldenDaze homeowner, 2019-03-14
Rheem Water Heater - "normal" sediment or defective water heater? · Terry Love Plumbing Forum · 2019-03-14 · read it in context
Sources are linked so you can verify any of this yourself. We don't mirror content — Amazon in particular permits no republication of review text, so where we use retailer data we show the aggregate rating and link out. How we collect and weight this →
Compare against
Rheem Marathon MR50245C Electric Water Heater, 50 gal
Conventional resistance-element electric tank with a lifetime-warranted, non-metallic fiberglass tank — no compressor, no heat pump efficiency, but a tank that structurally can't rust through.
A. O. Smith Voltex X Split Heat Pump Water Heater, 47 gal
Outdoor CO2 split-system heat pump water heater introduced in August 2026, with a 47-gallon indoor tank and a model-specific UEF of 3.52.
GE Profile GeoSpring Smart Hybrid Heat Pump Water Heater, 50 gal
GE's flagship heat pump water heater, relaunched under the Profile line with FlexCAPACITY mixing and Wi-Fi control. ENERGY STAR-certified at UEF 4.50 -- the highest efficiency figure in this catalogue at any size.
GE Profile GeoSpring Smart Hybrid Heat Pump Water Heater, 80 gal
80-gallon version of the same Profile GeoSpring Smart Hybrid platform as the 50-gallon model -- same UEF 4.50, larger first-hour rating.
Before you buy this
Ask for the first-hour rating, not just tank size, and check it against your household's simultaneous demand — showers and laundry at the same time — rather than headcount alone. If it's a heat pump water heater, confirm the room has enough air volume (or a duct kit) that it won't spend winter on resistance backup, and that there's a real route for condensate, not just a nearby floor drain. Confirm the panel has spare 240V capacity. And if you're removing a gas unit that shared a flue with a furnace, ask what happens to that flue once your water heater's draft is gone — an orphaned flue can backdraft.