Problem with tankless water heater, seeking solutions

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Reader Elise is having problems with her new tankless water heater:

We purchased a tankless a few months ago and have had ongoing problems with low water pressure. The plumber says it is our well, but we had no problems previously, with the exception of running out of hot water, which is why we got the tankless. Every time we flush a toilet, we have no pressure and no cold water in the house.

Some sources: Plumber Terry Love maintains an excellent website and forums. You might find answers on the shower and bathtub forum. GardenWeb also has a lively forum posting on tankless water heaters.

If you have some insight into this, please post below.

Comments

[sheila]

if you are using a well, you usually need a pressure pump with a tankless - do you have one?

[Russ Fish]

I had a SETS System model 280 installed on 1/21/08. Since then hot water has become my nightmare. The water temp would fluctuate between 90 and 120+ degrees. After talking with SETS tech (David) and installing 2 more pieces of non-SETS equipment at a cost of about $700.00 (pressure control valve and a water thermostat control valve) Things seem to be improving then while showering the water went cold. Upon inspection, one of the circuit breakers had flipped off. When I turned it back on, I got a flash of light, a loud popping sound and water started to spray everywhere. SETS said they would send me their new updated version and I was without hot water for 6 days. Got the new unit installed and in less than 30 days it developed a leak and quit producing hot water. On 6/26/08 SETS general manager told me he would send me out a new unit by priority mail. It is now 7/4/08 and I have not received the unit yet. The bigger shocker is when I called on 6/30/08 to see why I hadn’t received my new unit yet I was told SETS was no longer in business and Hubbell Heaters, Inc. had brought the assets but not the liabilities. In other words the lifetime warranty was gone and any support was at the option of Hubbell Heaters. I am now 9 days and counting without hot water. My advise is to stay-a-way from anything with SETS or Hubbell on them if it is related to a Tankless Hot Water Heater. Hubbell is using the same technology as SETS and you will get the same product with a much lesser warranty plus costly service calls by your local electrician. I am retuning to a high efficiency tank system after a $2000+ lesson in “BEING GREEN ISN’T EASY.”

[Eleanor Cardinale]

My present hot water heater is old and will probably be going out in the near future.

I'd like to know all the pros and cons of tank-less hot water heaters. Also BEST brands to buy.... Worst brands to buy. What are the average unit and installation costs?

Also, I've heard that "Southern California Gas Co." is giving rebates to their customers who buy tank-less hot water heaters. Is this true?

Thank you for any help or comments anyone cares to share.

Eleanor - Glendale, CA

[Stephen Crume]

I have a SETS model 180 tankless water heater and have never been able to take a comfortable shower. The water temperature fluctuates between hot & cold. Its about 3 years old. I emailed a note to the "new" company and asked if any improvements have been made to resolve this problem.

[Matthew]

My Takagi has never worked properly. I am the second owner(came with the house). The first owner had problems from the beginning and had the plumber come back numerous times to fix. It still isn't fixed. In one of our showers it will go ice cold almost instantly. It will stay ice cold for 30 seconds to 3 minutes. The water heater will do this 3-4 times during a shower. Takagi has said this shouldn't happend and the plumber says it is connected properly and shouldn't do that. According the both of them, nothing is wrong with it. I disagree.

[PatPro]

Sorry to hear of the problems people have been having with their tankless systems. I purchased a book from a website (http://www.mechanicalengineeronline.com/Mini_Sites/Tankless_Water_Heaters_Ebook/Tankless_Water_Heaters.htm]Tankless Water Heaters Ebook) and read a little before i installed mine. All is good here and i love my new unit.

[Lisa Coleman]

We have a tankless hotwater heater. We have problems with the pressure on the hot water. Can't run the water anywhere else in the house at the sametime one faucet is running plus not having alot of pressure when the one is running. We have a new well and the system is only been in use for a year. Can you tell me what the problem is?

[MP]

We installed electric tankless water heaters in three mountain cabins we built for upscale vacation rentals. Thought it would save money since the cabins are not occupied full time. It cost a lot more for construction to increase electric panel size to accommodate the power requirement. But turned out they didn't do the job. We had to replace water heaters at two of the cabins within one year due to the hot water not maintaining the comfort temperature and the heater producing hard flaky grains in the hot water. We had water tested several times but it's not the water. We ended up installing customary 40 gallon tank heaters. Had to replace the breakers, etc. in addition to having new plumbing done. It's been over a year since we switched to regular heaters and having no problems. Now we are faced with changing out the third TANKLESS water heater. This energy saving - money saving hot water deal turned out to be super pain and costing more than three times what it would have been if we just went with standard water heaters. If you want to try TANKLESS, think again. It's been a very expensive leaning experience for us. Real bad deal.