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 is the plain resistance-electric tank most homes with electric water heating already have -- no heat pump, no fiberglass lifetime tank, just a glass-lined steel tank and two 4500W elements. Against the ProTerra heat pump unit already in this catalog, it costs less upfront and needs no clearance for airflow, but it runs at roughly a quarter of the ProTerra's efficiency -- UEF 0.93 versus 3.75 and up -- and the running-cost gap over a 10-plus year tank life usually outweighs the purchase-price gap. Buy this one when a heat pump genuinely doesn't fit the space or the budget, not as the default.
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
Straight resistance heat is the most expensive way to make hot water per kWh in this catalog -- price out the ProTerra heat pump tank at the same size before defaulting to this one. Also: this is Rheem's 'Medium' height configuration, shorter and wider than the same line's 'Tall' version (XE50T06ST45U1) -- confirm which one actually fits your closet.
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.
Every report below traces back to a single source. The sections are broken out by topic because that's how they read, but treat this as one data point, not independent corroboration across topics — a second source agreeing (or disagreeing) would change that.
Reliability and failures
What breaks, when, and how often — from people several years in.
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.
Rheem ProTerra Hybrid Heat Pump Water Heater, 50 gal
The default heat pump water heater for most US households: 50 gallons, UEF 3.75, widely stocked and widely serviced.
Rheem ProTerra Hybrid Heat Pump Water Heater, 80 gal
80-gallon version of the ProTerra, UEF 4.0 — the highest efficiency in the mainstream heat pump water heater market.
A. O. Smith ProLine XE Voltex AL (HPTS-66) Heat Pump Water Heater, 66 gal
66-gallon heat pump water heater with a UEF of 4.02, the highest figure in our water heater set. Sold under A. O. Smith's 'ProLine XE Voltex AL / Smart Hybrid' line — a different, retail-exclusive 'Signature Series' name is used for a different model-number family at Lowe's, so don't cross-shop the names.
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.