I like it but I had to fix it
Written: Aug 17 '05
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Smallest hot water heater, unlimited hot water, runs two showers at once.
Cons: Cost, Maintenance and Installation
The Bottom Line: If you need to save space, this is the cheapest tankless heater. Plus, unlimited hot water - enough for two showers at once. Maintenance and installation is a pain.
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| wcressman2k's Full Review: Bosch AquaStar 125B NG Natural Gas Tankless Water ... |
I like this thing. Sure it's expensive, requires maintenance and was a real challenge to install, but it saved a ton of space. I now have a hot water heater, microwave, dishwasher, a little counter space and 3 shelves in the same space that used to just hold my hot water heater. Plus it's unusual and a conversation piece - and you get unlimited hot water.
In the summer it heats the water hotter than in the winter, but in San Diego that's not a big deal. It can easily run two hot showers at once - and probably three in the summer. We don't even notice if someone else starts a shower. If you live in a colder climate, it might only do one hot shower at a time on a cold day. It heats up very quickly too - just as fast as our old tank.
One interesting thing is that you need a certain flow rate in order to make it fire up, so forget about having just a constant trickle of warm water for cleaning dishes. You need to crank it for a minute to heat up water in the pipes and then you can trickle it until the pipes clear out. That was only annoying for about a week.
Installing was a major task, mainly because the venting requirements are pretty steep - you need a 6 or 8 inch vent pipe rather than just 3 inches for a tank. And you need like 5 feet of stack over the rooftop as well. So, be ready to cut a big hole in your roof.
Maintenance is the worst thing - there is a part that you are supposed to change every 2 to 5 years, and mine started dribbling water after about one year, right after a period of very heavy usage. There is a valve that they tell you to change and when you go to do it, you'll never get the screws out.
If you ever need to change that part, some words of advice. The lower part of the valve is held in by two set screws. The front screw is a regular set screw, and points right toward the center of the collar, so that one should come out OK. The side screw, however, runs tangent to the inside of the collar with the threads exposed to lots of hot steamy water, so the threads become permanently caked with hard water deposits, as well as welded to the partially open threads. Terrible design.
You'll never get that screw out so go ahead and try the WD40 like the support folks tell you, but when that doesn't work, don't even bother doing things like (1) Filing a flat head onto the screw - that will just let you break the screw. (2) Using a screw-removal tap - it will just break off as well. (3) Drilling and re-tapping the same hole - unless you are a real pro, the drill will slide off the hardened screw core and chew right through the soft collar metal.
I suggest that you do this: (1) Remove the gas valve and burner assembly from the main unit so you can work on a workbench. (2) Use the dremmel or a drill to dig out enough collar material around the screw to remove the whole region - it doesn't matter if you break a whole section of the collar away - as long as it is less than about 1/4 of the entire collar ring. (4) Drill and tap a new hole, and put in a new stainless set screw. You can buy a drill and tap set (10-32 for example) at Home Depot for $5.
Once you've done that, your next semi-annual maintenance will be a breeze.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
wcressman2k
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Reviews written: 3
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