will install in two to three weeks so can later give an indication if cheaper to run
A thoroughly disreputable company. Warranty is worthless. If your Rheem water heater has a 6 year warranty and fails after 3.5 years (as ours did), you may find them using all kinds of questionable tactics to escape responsibility.
Just me again. Bought the Webstone Tankless install complete kit. Only thing is the AquaStar 2400ES comes with the hot water pressure relief valve and so does the Tankless install kit but none the less I am not a plumber and this kit helped a great deal.
After purchasing an Aquastar 125LP unit, which was defective from the factory, we were "upgraded" to this unit at a discount rate because apparently Bosch discontinued the production of the Aquastar 125LP unit. After 2 months of use, the digital control panel went blank...so we called Bosch. They will not deal with homeowner's...only the people who installed the unit...this equals a service call for the gas company and the plumbing company just to tell Bosch the unit was installed correct. I am sure the unit was installed correct, because it worked great for two months. I asked them to send a Bosch representative so they could inspect the unit for themselves...they do not have service representatives in the field. At this point, we are cutting our losses and purchasing a water heater that is not made by Bosch.
This product worked fine for about 10 weeks.It then started shuting down while in the middle of the shower.Turning off the water and then turning the water back on, the unit would then start delivering hot water.I contacted tech support numerous times and they say nothing is wrong with the unit.They want me to send pictures of the installation, have a gas tech come out ($80.00 my expense)and check the gas pressure on thier side of the gas regulator. The last tech I talked to said to turn the gas shut off valve almost off and see if that helped.It does help but did not fix the problem.Think about it, use your gas shout off valve to make it work right. He said that my ground water temp was probaly too warm (71 degrees).They will not tell me in writing what they require of me to get the unit replaced or what they deem wrong enough to replace the unit.Apparently working fine for 10 weeks and then sending cold water during your shower daily is not enough.
Just self-installed my 1000 P NG water heater I got from Amazon (1-week shipping was free).Took me a day (soldering copper pipe is not very easy for me).I replaced a 40-gallon tank unit.I live in a small beach house in Southern Califoria and needed to replace my 1997 tank unit and since the Bosch was actually less than a tank unit and I could gain much needed floor space, I gave it a try.After replacing my existing 3" venting with 4" double-wall, the total insatlled price was a little more than if I had bought another tank unit.This unit has a "234 therms/year" government rating versus "263" for the tank unit it replaced (so I don't expect to save much on my gas bill).I had researched tank-less water heaters and this Bosch unit does not require stainless steel venting which saves a lot of money over galvanized.As with all units I have read about, it's limitation is that you must use at least 1/2 GPM of hot water in order to get the unit to fire-up (no more trickle of hot water during shaving).The quality of the unit was OK-the drip pan must be user installed and requires modification to work, and the front cover was bent somewhat and makes adjustements in gas flow difficult.Read the users manual on-line before buying and you won't have any surprises.I operate the unit at it's lowest water flow setting (the right-hand knob) since this also means that the unit will fire at the lowest water flowrate.I also operate it at its lowest gas flow setting and the water is still REALLY hot, so I am not sure what all of the complaints are out there about luke warm water.Bosch states that every 2+ years, preventative maintenance is required (something not required with a tank unit), so keep that in mind before buying.
I wanted to write an honest review of this product since I couldn't find much online about on-demand hot water heaters.Our tank broke, flooding the basement, and we wanted to look into alternative ways to heat our water efficiently.We're in Boston and the tap water here is about 45 degrees.
Bosch ES series is a huge step forward in technical development but such a bad taste has been left by former products and Bosch technical support that few plumbers will recommend one regardless of what improvements are made today or tomorrow. Thismodel still has the same potential for gas valve failure that goes back to their 250 SX series that if condensation or rain is not caught before it reaches the gas valve, the valve must be replaced and is nearly 3X the cost of their competitors. Performance is as stated but if your incoming water temperature is not 65 F then expect far less performance. Your homes gas piping and water piping must be taken into account before considering this and the cost of a single wall stainless steel vent system must be calculated into the total cost. Bosch also requires a propritory roof termination kit that if not installed, voids your warranty and this too adds to the total cost.
