Unveiling Ontario’s Water Heater Rental Scam: Consumers Forced to Turn to Media as Government Ignores Top Complaint

OntariOversight
3 min readAug 8, 2023

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When people keep having to go to the media about the same consumer issue, it indicates that the problem is persisting without an effective resolution from other channels or authorities. Here’s just some of the updates:

2013:

2016:

2017:

2018:

2019:

2020:

2021:

2022:

2023:

Here’s additional news coverage shedding light on the lethal risks of water heaters, such as burn dangers, Legionnaires’ disease outbreaks, carbon monoxide poisoning, and catastrophic explosions. Given the severity of these risks, there is an urgent need for increased awareness and promotion of alternative solutions, such as federally subsidized tankless/ heat pump water heaters.

  1. ConsumerAffairs: Whirlpool Settlement
  2. Bay State Gas Class Action Settlement
  3. BBC News: Legionnaires’ Disease Outbreak
  4. NPR: Water Heaters Set Too High Increasing Burn Risk
  5. Stuff: Legionnaires’ Disease from Hot Water Cylinder
  6. Stuff: Legionnaires’ Bug Present in Hot Water Systems
  7. CPSC: Rheem Water Heater Recall
  8. Global News: House Explosion Allegedly Due to Water Heater
  9. CBC News: Tankless Water Heater Safety
  10. Consumer Reports: AO Smith Water Heater Recall
  11. Yahoo News: Navien Tankless Water Heater Recall
  12. Freep: Legionella Bacteria and Water Heaters
  13. CTV News: Fire at Apartment in Sudbury
  14. Plumbing and HVAC: Giant Factories Gas Water Heater Recall
  15. Montreal Gazette: Death from Legionnaires’ Raises Questions
  16. NJ Health: Warning About HVAC Systems
  17. Forbes: Addressing Hot Water Burn Risks
  18. CBC News: House Explosion in Calgary
  19. Hotel Management: Legionella Mitigation Options
  20. KROC News: Water Heater Suspected in Home Explosion
  21. WEAU: Legionnaires’ Disease Cases in Care Facility
  22. Fox17: Condominium Fire Potentially Caused by Faulty Water Heater
  23. Top Class Actions: Gas-Fired Hot Water Boiler Recall

Sign & share the petition: https://www.change.org/p/end-hot-water-tank-rental-scams-in-ontario

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