Our home inspector could not get our water heater to light, so the sellers gave us $500 to replace it. We bought one from lowes and paid from them to install it too. When the guys came out, they told us that the water softening system would have to be moved so they could get the old water heater out, and said that our water heater probably worked and was still under warranty.
We called our plumber to move the softener system, and while he was there he was able light the water heater. We still wanted the system in the garage, so he moved it anyways. We went about or renovating and didn't check the hot water until the next day. It wasn't hot. It wasn't even warm. The water heater did not appear to be lit, and we couldn't get it lit again. We decided that since we already had a water heater that we didn't pay for, we should just install it and move on. We had Lowes come back out, and now our water is toasty warm in an instant. The last house had very warm water in the kitchen, but never hot. Aaron loves having scalding dishwater, and I love that he wants to do the dishes.