Clueless in Crossville, Tn.

[Noplomero]

Howdy, y'all, new to site; site looks informative! Used to help real plumber on Church team when he was alive and well, that was 4 years ago. He died last Friday, leaving for Heaven, and leaving me without a friend and a fountain of info!
We live in a little town in east central Tennessee. We have a Lowes, which is a pretty big deal, but no Home Depot. I need a new tank type natural gas water heater. Lowe's has A.O. Smith; Home Depot--59 miles away--has Rheem.
Which do y'all think best for a 50 gal heater? Which has the best reliability record and recovery rate? 20 years ago, Rheem had a good rep, but now? One thing about living in a small town: anything related to housing construction and plumbing, it's important to have a place where you can walk in and buy parts. That's usually why we buy Delta or Kohler here, and in the past, Whirlpool hot water heaters--PARTS available! But Whirlpool and GE no longer offer hot water heaters here. Thank y'all, and God Bless you and the USA!

 

[breplum]

As licensed plumber, we use local distributor plumbing shop. They have mostly AO Smith, so that is what we use. They carry parts kits.
If they didn't carry parts kits, I'd go with whatever brand I can easily get parts for at the local branch.

 

[Mitchell-DIY-Guy]

Sorry for your loss--

If Lowe's is what you got then go with Lowe's. A.O. Smith MAKES water heaters. GE, Westinghouse, Whirlpool and a host of others, simply slap their name on water heaters made by others. So, nothing wrong with getting an A.O. Smith water heater from Lowe's when you need one. Lowe's also has a special order desk, so they may be able to order something for you that isn't normally in their catalog, such as an A.O. Smith commercial unit.

 

[Noplomero]

Thanks, Mitchell, I'll see my buddy up yonder, but his humor and all around expertise will be MISSED!
I want to thank y'all for the advice! When we get the loot, we'll go down to Lowes and buy the A.O. In another post on this site, Twowaxhack (with a handle like that, he's GOTTA be a plumber) gave the same advice.
Looking at some other posts here, this looks like a GOOD site! Y'all's experienced based counsel is priceless to many people. I'd hate to have to rely on social media for sound plumbing or construction advice! And even on Lowes or Home Depot forums, you gotta wonder: did these 'ol boys and gals even use this product?
God Bless y'all, and don't forget: enjoy this life and your friends and family; you never know when God is gonna pull your "time card!"