Maintenance
Written: Mar 04 '05
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Product Rating:
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Pros: All fixtures are low flow we can run two showers simultaneously with no problem.
Cons: WARNING: Check CEC web site required maintenance every 2-5 years. High maintenance cost!!!!
The Bottom Line: Good supply of hot water. High Maintenance. Poor customer service. If you do not have DYI gene avoid this product.
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| rottekatz's Full Review: Bosch AquaStar 125B NG Natural Gas Tankless Water ... |
Had this product installed in a new house when built. Cost was a little higher than conventional hot water heater, but I believed that they would be outweighed by the long term benefits. Having been stationed in Germany for seven years, I had a lot of familiarity and faith in Bosch products.
The manual states that the water control valve must be rebuilt every 2-5 years, (mine was 2 years and seven months). The problem with mine is that when the time came the two set screws, that hold the water control valve to the gas control valve, were rusted and frozen. Controlled Energy Corp.(CEC), the US distributor, tech support, recommended that I purchase a new gas control valve ($160.00 plus shipping) as the one in the unit may be destroyed while drilling out the frozen set screws. I was able to contact CEC through email and the email was usually answered the next business. The parts order I placed using email, they have no automated on-line parts system, was incorrectly shipped, they made one attempt to correct it (at no charge) and I'm still missing three washers. Took a week of attempted phone calls to actually talk to a service rep. Repeated phone calls and messages were unanswered and their automated answering system is cumbersome to navigate and dropped my call more often than it let me get through to leave a message, but I guess it's the same thing as the messages were unanswered anyway.
If you own one of these, go now, remove one of the set screws in the water control valve, take it to your nearest hardware store and purchase two matching stainless steel screws and replace the inadequate set screws in the unit. This will allow you to rebuild the water control valve without replacing the gas control valve. Now that you've done that contact CEC and order a water control valve complete rebuild kit, cost about $15, plus shipping. It took me a week to get the parts and overnight shipping was $30. You're shipping costs should be less if you order the parts before they are critical.
If you are missing the DYI gene I would expect that a plumber, if you can find one that will work on this unit, will charge you close to $100 to rebuild the water control valve every 2-5 years. And, if you haven't replaced those two set screws you can add another $180. Or, you could easily replace the unit with a tank water heater every 2-5 years for the same money.
Any money saved by this unit is eaten up by the high initial cost and extremely high maintenance costs. The big advantage is that my wife can fill the whirlpool tub without having to wait for the hot water heater to regenerate.
Currently looking at replacing this unit with a Takagi Jr., roughly the same specs, but a high installation cost.
Good luck, if you have questions I will answer your email.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
rottekatz
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Member: RICH
Location: Yermo, CA
Reviews written: 1
Trusted by: 0 members
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