Installed a lot of these. Endless complaints because, as everyone in the industry knows, very FEW homeowners do maintenence. These puppies need descaling and can be fussy about water quality, etc. Get yourself a big ass gas water tank and basically ignore it for 20 years like everyone, everywhere.
Agreed!! We have these in a few DQ stores I take care of and none of them ever last more than three years before heat exchangers go bad due to bad water and stores not wanting to pay for maintenance, trash!!! Get regular water heater and never worry!
we had 25 of these at a complex i use to work at...my first week i asked when was the last time filters were changed and flushed out...nobody knew what i was talking about lol...they had been installed about 6 years prior...glad i dont have to deal with it when this happens..
You won’t get 20 years out of the crappy GE/Rheem units these days! Lucky to get 3 out of the old thermocouple style! Since they went to pilot generators that should help. We will see.
In my previous house, I had three Rinnais, and a heavy duty water softener. We lived there for ten years, it was a new house, and not once in those ten years did we even think to flush the systems. Nobody even told us we were supposed to flush them. One of the Rinnais stopped working when some construction debris got caught in the exhaust and it kept registering an airflow error message. The local Rinnai repair guy came out and cleared the exhaust and it worked fine after that. So, moral of the story, either flush these regularly, or get a really good water softener. These thinks are great. You never run out of hot water, unlike the boiler heaters.
I installed one in my house in December of 2016, and it has never given us any trouble at all. We love it. Of course, I flush it with vinegar and clean the filter annually. We live in central Florida, and ours is a natural gas unit.
Same here, I installed one in Moms house over 10 years ago and never had a drop of trouble. Her house is long and the hot water use to take forever, she absolutely loves it. Steve is old school, nothing wrong with Bosch or Rinnai tankless wall hung units IF installed correctly and maintained...
I had mine installed in 2015, I have ZERO issues with it and it is still going strong. Its like your car, you need to change the oil otherwise you don't deserve to own one!
We had the original 17yo builder installed tankless. Did yearly maintenance. Finally needed something replaced that was impossible to get since it wasn’t made anymore and supply chain issues. Replaced it with a Rinnai. Will continue the yearly maintenance schedule. Only complaint from me is when out power goes out i have to reattach it to the Wi-Fi to be able to use the app.
Exactly and this dude is a typical “repair” guy. He says “it’s completely clogged” yeah that’s why the customer called you and what he said the problem was. So yeah he says you need a new one without even seeing if he can reverse flush it and check the fan while you’re there. No attempt at anything just confirmed what the customer called for. You can get these unclogged and then see if damage is done. BTW I’m a builder-i would bounce this guy out of my house-he’s lazy & i wouldn’t recommend him to anyone. No attempt at helping the customer. Trying to help and putting a touch of effort in goes a long way. This is why you call 2-3 different people out. The city could’ve been working on line and got stuff in there or there’s a clump of scale from hard water being heated very hot will make it turn to pebbles chips basically and that why you reverse flush not flush the normal way. The screen was clean because there was a guy there the day before the customer said and if he couldn’t get water he cleaned that screen and gave up. This stuff is 50% typical in the HVAC/Plumbing world.
I have a natural gas Bosch at my primary home and it works flawless for at least 20 years, also have a electric Rheem at 2nd home and it also runs solid. Its nice not having to wait for hot water to heat up.
Its not wall hung junk, you said so yourself it was never serviced. If it was flushed with vinegar every couple of years there would be no problem with it. Lack of proper maintenance does not make it junk.
I didn't catch where this location was. I assume somewhere in the U.S. One of the most important issues/questions is "what is the water type in the area ....hard or soft?" If its "hard", then any kind of plumbing equipment needs to be cleaned regularly ....even the coffee maker. Everyone knows that .....except for the people who live in Vancouver, Canada, where we have the cleanest water around ....and SOFT.😎
I have a Rinnai and love it. I did not flush it for 2.5 years then got an error code. I was advised to run vinegar through it and let the vinegar sit in it overnight. Then I flushed again with clean vinegar and all is well. Regular maintenance is the key.
How did u flush it or can u make a video showing it I have the same and prob need to do maintenance as a new homeowner. Or if u cant but can point in the direction to do as u have stated it would be appreciated :)
I know I'll take a lot of heat for this as most of Steve's viewer don't like these tankless or energy efficient units. I am in North Jersey, had the plumber installed a Rheem Tankless water heater about 7 years ago, I descale each year (there are many UA-cam videos for the process) and haven't had any issues whatsoever. I have a 2-unit house with 13 occupants including children but we never run out of hot water no matter how long the kids take shower for. I see many videos where Steve gives homeowners hard time for having these advanced units installed. These units are so efficient compared to the tank type water heaters. It only costs us when we turn the faucet on unlike the tank type water heaters constantly running 24/7.
Tank type gas water heaters are insulated with foam and the small pilot light helps maintain temperature so it's not a waste of energy. I live in CA with a 35 year old gas tank type water heater. In the summer my gas bill is only about $5 per month. Only repair to the water heater was replace the thermocouple about 7 or 8 years ago.
The thing I didn't like about them is the minimum GPM needed to get it to produce hot water. Here in SoCal, with natural gas, you don't save enough to justify the price. The state pushed them back in '05; kind of gave up pushing them after several years.
I would have separated the inlet from the housing after checked the outlet. Guarantee you would have found some crap in there. Love your videos Steve. Keep em coming brother
i had one of these and it failed after only seven years . developed some internal leaks ,one was on the cold water inlet tube where a sensor is located. then other leaks started somewhere in the unit . impossible to repair and it was out of warranty . luckily the leak was very slow at first and had time look at other options . eventually replaced with a standard 50 gal. electric . cheaper and easier to install and maintain and the annual operating cost is about same .
It's weird watching this from the UK where near every house has a tankless like that that will heat the water and the home, in 1 unit. Its required there serviced annually here though, which is likely why there is less issues.
There is so much sediment in my municipal water the unit only lasted a year and cracked the heat exchanged due to overheating, despite descale every 3 months still could not keep up to it. Junk in rural north America.
Simple service required, if you have hard water flush it every year for 20 - 30 minutes with vinegar and a pump in a 5 gallon bucket. Really not difficult, basic maintenance doesn’t make it junk. Had a few in the UK that worked like a charm. Wonder when he last changed his car oil?? Lol
No way is the average homeowner going to get a pump and circulate vinegar correctly. Not even all the older folks and single mom's. As said above, save money get a gas tank.
@@theoldbigmoose it's isn't that hard on my tankless has ports on the inlet and outlet the pump kit is a one time 100ish dollar investment you just have to power off the heater hook up 2 hose connections and turn the valves pour in the vinegar or the cleaner you can buy plug in the pump and let it run for an hour or 2 reverse the process then you should flush the coil to get out the cleaner but it wouldn't be the end of the world as long as you run water once your done to flush it it's more work than a tanked heater but it's not hard or physically demanding plus there's a lot of videos on YT on how to flush a tankless
@@sqike001ton Why should people have to do that? Standard water heaters can last 40 or 50 years with little maintenance. There is a plumber in SoCal who advertises on the radio. House calls are free for gas tank water heaters, but not for tankless.
Yo descubri que las valvulas de 2 direcciones de flujo los dueños suelen jirarlas y obstruir el flujo por mal pocicion . Para prevenir la dureza de agua yo instalo despues del filtro de papel un filtro de polifosfatos. Para que los minerales que puedan incrustarse queden alli. Es un poco caro pero he encontrado buenos resultados y clientes muy felices.
Second step would of been to take the front cabinet off,And check if the ,water flow device was shut closed ,if you disconnect the pipework leg from heat exchanger to this part (easily done)it would show you if water was making it through ,Not a common fault but can happen.just a tip🇦🇺
Well, before you get too far ahead ....is this guy qualified to service this unit in the first place? He's only publishing the video portions that revealed some flow. We don't know how long he had been working on the unit to get to this point. .
You can buy a submersible pump on Amazon for around 50 bucks and use 8 dollars in vinegar. It does take some figuring out on which values to open and close but there are plenty of UA-cam videos
I work in the auto industry. People don’t change their engine oil, and wonder why their engines fail… These are going to fail if you don’t flush them. Same as a tank will rust through…
May be limestone is clogging the heat exchanger. If water contaims limestone a filter with special salt to treat that is mandatory in the inlet pipe line otherwise this is the outcome.
You could have used the Milwaukee transfer pump to try to boost a tank of vinegar into the coil or replaced the coil but yeah when you don’t flush those for 8 years that’s what happens. I bet if you drained it & left it for a few days it might dry out the crud.
Had my rental Rannai for 8 years, never a problem serviced once. 125 f is the point at which water will scald you. 120 best on those. How did owner miss the slowdown in flow?
I work on a property that installed these in 300 apartments. 😭 So, I'm going to be uploading a lot of Rennai tankless water heater videos on my channel.
Good luck! Agree with Steve after working on about 16 of them installed in Dairy Queen stores. Trash them because nothing but leaking heat exchangers or blocked coils after only 2 years each! Better descale/flush them every 6 months at most and beg owners to go back to tank heaters. Best wishes! Love the channel btw!
In Japan and most east Asia have soft water. I was use form 1986 in Hong Kong. Never hear need descaling, they usually run10 to 15 gas without problem.
Surprised the cpvc didn’t snap when you disconnected the hot union and let it hang I was like snap, snap, snap and then you put it back together and I was like nooooooooo😂😂
I watched this a couple of times.....Do you even know if there's cold water going to the unit ?...I didn't see you check the cold side. Also shouldn't a little bit of water have come out when you removed the filter ? I didn't see 1 drop.
Could we mutually agree that this guy,....with his plush dolls sitting beside him in his very clean vehicle ...oh ...and doggy .....doesn't come across as being too intelligent when tackling this job? Perhaps he has no idea what he's doing to begin with ....to even get started. .
I was going to put one of these in until I found out how much of a pain they can be and I am using propane they told me I would need twice the size pipe I have now, just replaced the electric 50 gallon with a 45 electric turned it up to 130 and have more than enough hot water to fill the Jacuzzi also the best part had it done in less than an hour
He has it plugged in. When they get clogged like that, Nothing will work because there is no flow. The impeller works as a result of the water flowing not the reason for the water flowing from What I understand.. I could be wrong on that.
My Takagi has been going strong for 20 years with zero maintenance and no noticeable change in performance. City water though. Hope I didn't jinx myself. When it does go its replacement sure won't be a Rinnai 😬
Steve the flow switch on these are garbage. They're called a water adjustment valve and a bypass valve they have an impeller inside if that impeller gets blocked you won't get any flow through it regardless of how open the pipes are......
He hates them, he is not going to do anything over what he did to make work! He may know about them, may not. He does not care for them so. If not a quick fix it is out. With all he does to help and save people money Etc, comes to these it is just junk to him! He should just tell people he does not work on them and leave it alone! Did not even take cover off to see if a second filter or screen inside or if had power to the internals!
@@jcreazy YES - Couple outages a year is typical. My 92 y/o mother lost it for 6.5 days last Aug after a tropical storm. For her, the next power loss could be a death sentence. Now installing a generator there.
NO ITS UNDER PRESSURE ONCE THE COLD VALVE IS TURNED ON..IT DOESN'T NEED ANY TEMPERATURE OR ELECTRICAL ASSISTANCE TO RUN THROUGH THE HOUSE.THE PLUG CAN BE PULLED AND IT WILL FLOW UNDER NORMAL CONDITIONS...
Steve I install Navien Tankless units all the time, they work great. Any unit not serviced will turn into junk. On tankless units the power has to be on. There must be a error code why the valve is not opening.
Navien's are junk, they leak combustion gases and in my honest opinion? All the tankless nonsense is junk. Just get a regular water heater tank. Tried and proven, little to no maintenance necessary and will last at least a decade. Tankless stuff needs annual maintenance that most homeowners don't do and they still fail within a few years.
@@jerseyjim9092 I have one 17 years only have to clean the flame sensor once in a wile, nothing is simple, most appliances have control boards in them.
@@luisalthaus7249 For sure. Mine has a diagnostic function in the control panel. I've thought about buying a replacement so ill have it on hand when this one goes. Or I may take Steve's advice and replace the "wall hung junk" with a tank water heater. 🙂
Not gonna Check the cold supply? lifetime cost of these systems is high for sure.. Just replaced a rinnai commercial unit that lasted 15yrs no maintenance. Some are clearly better then others
Have one or those units running treated water through it with no problems for ten years your customer must have very hard water that would cause problems even with a tank water heater
Not worth the complexity and extra maintenance these require. Sometimes the old way is the better way. 60 gallon, gas fired , rapid recovery. Install it and forget it!
People with tank water heaters should drain it once a year and I'm willing to say 95% of owner dont do this. I think because they dont see these tanks everyday and it doesn't make any noise. If this was a kitchen faucet, something we see everyday, we would have fixed it. Unfortunately this is an older owner who does know or remember the maintenance for tankless.
Funny cause 53 million households in Japan have em. No one in Japan has a hot water tank cause their houses are too small to accommodate it. According to Google Japan has very soft water.
I just went to change out my anode rod tonight its a 2 yr old rheem electric from home depot first time i changed it out so i do my thing get a little water out and what not and all i pull the cap i go to start cutting the insulation out to get to the rod the first stab with my flat head and water pushes out from the insulation im like wtf i get down to the anode rod the insulations SATURATED with rusty water theres no water around the elemnts and t stats nothing in the pan no visbile leaks whatsoever now i know i got nothing backwashing my well water so i pull the anode rod i know its only two years old but it suprisingly came out pretty easy i didnt need much pressure to lossen it it had thread sealant on it but there was rust all on the threads and the rod was a little beat up but it had alot of life on it idk maybe a case of the good ol home depot special! Update just figured out the thing was condensating around the anode rod, i turned the t stats down to 125 and left the cap off that should do the trick.
why is that item so expensive ? About $1400. And what warranty does it have ? From others comments, seems Steven needs to bite the bullet, take the time to learn more about these devices, how to diagnose and how to attempt to clean them out. Never fun learning something new from scratch....takes trial and error and patience. You amaze me at how you are able to work with customers bothering you. I am a retired auto tech. At work I needed others only to bring me a tool occasionally, after that, get the fuck outa here and leave me alone until I need something else.
My 40 gallon is 15 years 0ld and still going strong without a single issue. The one it replaced was 23 years 0ld and while it didn't work well it still worked. Most people don't do a thing with their water heaters and they last for years. These things are a pain and no one wants to have to deal with something like this to save a little energy and to not run out of hot water. What people don't know is while these give endless hot water, they are slow to warm up.
Seems odd that they didn't notice a significant change in the hot water flow rate before it became "blocked solid".
Installed a lot of these. Endless complaints because, as everyone in the industry knows, very FEW homeowners do maintenence. These puppies need descaling and can be fussy about water quality, etc.
Get yourself a big ass gas water tank and basically ignore it for 20 years like everyone, everywhere.
Agreed!! We have these in a few DQ stores I take care of and none of them ever last more than three years before heat exchangers go bad due to bad water and stores not wanting to pay for maintenance, trash!!! Get regular water heater and never worry!
we had 25 of these at a complex i use to work at...my first week i asked when was the last time filters were changed and flushed out...nobody knew what i was talking about lol...they had been installed about 6 years prior...glad i dont have to deal with it when this happens..
If you’re like that, yes I agree just go with a tank. I personally love this kind of stuff so that’s why I have a tankless.
20 years i wish
You won’t get 20 years out of the crappy GE/Rheem units these days! Lucky to get 3 out of the old thermocouple style! Since they went to pilot generators that should help. We will see.
I had a Rinnai installed in my home in 2004, its still running great. Flush with vinegar every year and and you won't have a problem.
i've heard every 2 yrs is good but if flush too often the acidity will eat through the internal water lining
In my previous house, I had three Rinnais, and a heavy duty water softener. We lived there for ten years, it was a new house, and not once in those ten years did we even think to flush the systems. Nobody even told us we were supposed to flush them. One of the Rinnais stopped working when some construction debris got caught in the exhaust and it kept registering an airflow error message. The local Rinnai repair guy came out and cleared the exhaust and it worked fine after that. So, moral of the story, either flush these regularly, or get a really good water softener.
These thinks are great. You never run out of hot water, unlike the boiler heaters.
I installed one in my house in December of 2016, and it has never given us any trouble at all. We love it. Of course, I flush it with vinegar and clean the filter annually. We live in central Florida, and ours is a natural gas unit.
Same here, I installed one in Moms house over 10 years ago and never had a drop of trouble. Her house is long and the hot water use to take forever, she absolutely loves it. Steve is old school, nothing wrong with Bosch or Rinnai tankless wall hung units IF installed correctly and maintained...
I had mine installed in 2015, I have ZERO issues with it and it is still going strong. Its like your car, you need to change the oil otherwise you don't deserve to own one!
We had the original 17yo builder installed tankless. Did yearly maintenance. Finally needed something replaced that was impossible to get since it wasn’t made anymore and supply chain issues. Replaced it with a Rinnai. Will continue the yearly maintenance schedule. Only complaint from me is when out power goes out i have to reattach it to the Wi-Fi to be able to use the app.
Exactly and this dude is a typical “repair” guy. He says “it’s completely clogged” yeah that’s why the customer called you and what he said the problem was. So yeah he says you need a new one without even seeing if he can reverse flush it and check the fan while you’re there. No attempt at anything just confirmed what the customer called for. You can get these unclogged and then see if damage is done. BTW I’m a builder-i would bounce this guy out of my house-he’s lazy & i wouldn’t recommend him to anyone. No attempt at helping the customer. Trying to help and putting a touch of effort in goes a long way. This is why you call 2-3 different people out. The city could’ve been working on line and got stuff in there or there’s a clump of scale from hard water being heated very hot will make it turn to pebbles chips basically and that why you reverse flush not flush the normal way. The screen was clean because there was a guy there the day before the customer said and if he couldn’t get water he cleaned that screen and gave up. This stuff is 50% typical in the HVAC/Plumbing world.
Well it’s not the systems fault it’s the homeowner for not keeping up with its maintenance which is flushing it every year or so. ✌️
The equipment is NOT junk. It's owner operator error that caused this. Even tank water heaters are prone to scale from hard water.
I have a natural gas Bosch at my primary home and it works flawless for at least 20 years, also have a electric Rheem at 2nd home and it also runs solid. Its nice not having to wait for hot water to heat up.
I’m in Southern California. I personally flush my tankless every six months and have not experienced any issues. City water, no softeners.
She’s tighter then (3) coats of paint momma! Lack of maintenance! Thanks Steve & Molly!
Its not wall hung junk, you said so yourself it was never serviced. If it was flushed with vinegar every couple of years there would be no problem with it. Lack of proper maintenance does not make it junk.
True, however most homeowners out of sight out of mind.
Had one installed 11 years ago and has been trouble free. Backflush yearly and after the teflon tape flushed out has worked great.
Probably cause your the 1 percent of people that actually keeps up on maintenance
@@wheelinndealin Flow starts slowing down quite a bit when it needs flushed,doesn't leave much of a choice.
I didn't catch where this location was. I assume somewhere in the U.S. One of the most important issues/questions is "what is the water type in the area ....hard or soft?" If its "hard", then any kind of plumbing equipment needs to be cleaned regularly ....even the coffee maker. Everyone knows that .....except for the people who live in Vancouver, Canada, where we have the cleanest water around ....and SOFT.😎
Thanks for the education Steven!!!
I have a Rinnai and love it. I did not flush it for 2.5 years then got an error code. I was advised to run vinegar through it and let the vinegar sit in it overnight. Then I flushed again with clean vinegar and all is well. Regular maintenance is the key.
How did u flush it or can u make a video showing it I have the same and prob need to do maintenance as a new homeowner. Or if u cant but can point in the direction to do as u have stated it would be appreciated :)
I know I'll take a lot of heat for this as most of Steve's viewer don't like these tankless or energy efficient units. I am in North Jersey, had the plumber installed a Rheem Tankless water heater about 7 years ago, I descale each year (there are many UA-cam videos for the process) and haven't had any issues whatsoever. I have a 2-unit house with 13 occupants including children but we never run out of hot water no matter how long the kids take shower for. I see many videos where Steve gives homeowners hard time for having these advanced units installed. These units are so efficient compared to the tank type water heaters. It only costs us when we turn the faucet on unlike the tank type water heaters constantly running 24/7.
Tank type gas water heaters are insulated with foam and the small pilot light helps maintain temperature so it's not a waste of energy. I live in CA with a 35 year old gas tank type water heater. In the summer my gas bill is only about $5 per month. Only repair to the water heater was replace the thermocouple about 7 or 8 years ago.
The thing I didn't like about them is the minimum GPM needed to get it to produce hot water. Here in SoCal, with natural gas, you don't save enough to justify the price. The state pushed them back in '05; kind of gave up pushing them after several years.
I have that water heater. It had been a great unit with no problems.
Thanks for another video Steve!
I would have separated the inlet from the housing after checked the outlet. Guarantee you would have found some crap in there. Love your videos Steve. Keep em coming brother
I don’t think I’ve ever seen Steve work on something like this.
i had one of these and it failed after only seven years . developed some internal leaks ,one was on the cold water inlet tube where a sensor is located. then other leaks started somewhere in the unit . impossible to repair and it was out of warranty . luckily the leak was very slow at first and had time look at other options . eventually replaced with a standard 50 gal. electric . cheaper and easier to install and maintain and the annual operating cost is about same .
It's weird watching this from the UK where near every house has a tankless like that that will heat the water and the home, in 1 unit. Its required there serviced annually here though, which is likely why there is less issues.
Your electric supplier doesn't have demand meters over there?
@@SovereignTroll There natural gas, sorry i didnt realise that this one was electric.
There is so much sediment in my municipal water the unit only lasted a year and cracked the heat exchanged due to overheating, despite descale every 3 months still could not keep up to it. Junk in rural north America.
@@duotronic6451 Its really bad for scale though (atleast in some areas)
@@djenson This one is gas!
I have this exact model and it's been running without issue for a decade.
Well thank you Steve I guess you answered that one for me
Should have just said I don't work on those
Simple service required, if you have hard water flush it every year for 20 - 30 minutes with vinegar and a pump in a 5 gallon bucket. Really not difficult, basic maintenance doesn’t make it junk. Had a few in the UK that worked like a charm. Wonder when he last changed his car oil?? Lol
Probably never or it's changed any the dealership when the little light comes on to tell you to change it
@@kaadeg it be 8 years old the plumber might not have know it needed flushed
No way is the average homeowner going to get a pump and circulate vinegar correctly. Not even all the older folks and single mom's. As said above, save money get a gas tank.
@@theoldbigmoose it's isn't that hard on my tankless has ports on the inlet and outlet the pump kit is a one time 100ish dollar investment you just have to power off the heater hook up 2 hose connections and turn the valves pour in the vinegar or the cleaner you can buy plug in the pump and let it run for an hour or 2 reverse the process then you should flush the coil to get out the cleaner but it wouldn't be the end of the world as long as you run water once your done to flush it it's more work than a tanked heater but it's not hard or physically demanding plus there's a lot of videos on YT on how to flush a tankless
@@sqike001ton Why should people have to do that? Standard water heaters can last 40 or 50 years with little maintenance. There is a plumber in SoCal who advertises on the radio. House calls are free for gas tank water heaters, but not for tankless.
Yo descubri que las valvulas de 2 direcciones de flujo los dueños suelen jirarlas y obstruir el flujo por mal pocicion . Para prevenir la dureza de agua yo instalo despues del filtro de papel un filtro de polifosfatos. Para que los minerales que puedan incrustarse queden alli. Es un poco caro pero he encontrado buenos resultados y clientes muy felices.
Have same one here no issues at all
Second step would of been to take the front cabinet off,And check if the ,water flow device was shut closed ,if you disconnect the pipework leg from heat exchanger to this part (easily done)it would show you if water was making it through ,Not a common fault but can happen.just a tip🇦🇺
I would have taken it apart and cleaned the coil somehow, probably just some junk in it but Stevo gave up pretty damn fast for a 1500$ unit...
Well, before you get too far ahead ....is this guy qualified to service this unit in the first place? He's only publishing the video portions that revealed some flow. We don't know how long he had been working on the unit to get to this point.
.
Why do that? Don't you know there is far more profit in deeming the unit junk and selling the customer a new heater?
Don't recomend any wall hung. Customers say they will do maintenance but never do
Didn't check if there was pressure in the cold supply.
Steve is not a dummy. The call would have been no water at all. Instead the call was no hot water.
@@rcpasc1948 Correct, but there could be another shutoff valve somewhere, and the other plumber could be trying to pull a scam.
There are some advantages to tankless water heaters, but putting them in a corner and forgetting about them isn't one.
but the disadvantages far outweigh them.
@@shupe1907 ...please enlighten us.
They’re great unit. They’re ideal with water softener to treat the hardness before heated to minimize scale
You can buy a submersible pump on Amazon for around 50 bucks and use 8 dollars in vinegar. It does take some figuring out on which values to open and close but there are plenty of UA-cam videos
This unit is now beyond a pump and a flush. It is junk.
@@NY411Info yeah they should have flushed it out 6 times or so in the 8 years.
Nice job and video like always ( Steven )
Dont seem like u have worked on too many tankless units… may wanna educate
Maybe check the cold water inlet servo valve? Can't assume that the unit is clogged without checking.
Steve is old school.
Oh Boy next week's new video from Steve!
I work in the auto industry. People don’t change their engine oil, and wonder why their engines fail…
These are going to fail if you don’t flush them. Same as a tank will rust through…
"The Hot Way to Heat Water." I guess that's true. The "hot way" is usually never the reliable way.
Question! Do you need to open a hot water faucet for internal valves to open to get flow? Just asking
May be limestone is clogging the heat exchanger. If water contaims limestone a filter with special salt to treat that is mandatory in the inlet pipe line otherwise this is the outcome.
So did you check to see if even get flow in from cold side ? Take out screen turn on cold to see ? If even have flow in?
You could have used the Milwaukee transfer pump to try to boost a tank of vinegar into the coil or replaced the coil but yeah when you don’t flush those for 8 years that’s what happens. I bet if you drained it & left it for a few days it might dry out the crud.
Had my rental Rannai for 8 years, never a problem serviced once. 125 f is the point at which water will scald you. 120 best on those. How did owner miss the slowdown in flow?
I use a pump to pump the vinegar through the lines
That is what my buddy does as well, once a year. I myself own a regular electric 40 gallon.
i’m buying a new house with one of these..i’m in MA and there is hard water, would you recommend servicing once or twice a year?
Because of propaganda. I like copper and 52 gallon electric with full blanket and hot supply insulated everywhere.
I work on a property that installed these in 300 apartments. 😭 So, I'm going to be uploading a lot of Rennai tankless water heater videos on my channel.
Good luck! Agree with Steve after working on about 16 of them installed in Dairy Queen stores. Trash them because nothing but leaking heat exchangers or blocked coils after only 2 years each! Better descale/flush them every 6 months at most and beg owners to go back to tank heaters. Best wishes! Love the channel btw!
Blocked solid!
What would you put instead of tankless?
Weil McLain GV boiler??
In Japan and most east Asia have soft water. I was use form 1986 in Hong Kong. Never hear need descaling, they usually run10 to 15 gas without problem.
Is a tankless better than a smaller electric water heater?
Try flushing with descaler solution
Surprised the cpvc didn’t snap when you disconnected the hot union and let it hang I was like snap, snap, snap and then you put it back together and I was like nooooooooo😂😂
EDTA Descaler annually for PM on these things??
Not junk, it's user error. If you have hard water, you need to descale every 6 months...every year at least.
Did you check the supply to the heater?
I watched this a couple of times.....Do you even know if there's cold water going to the unit ?...I didn't see you check the cold side. Also shouldn't a little bit of water have come out when you removed the filter ? I didn't see 1 drop.
Same thing I thought, he never tested the cold side!! He gave up way too easy even if the coil itself was plugged...
Could we mutually agree that this guy,....with his plush dolls sitting beside him in his very clean vehicle ...oh ...and doggy .....doesn't come across as being too intelligent when tackling this job? Perhaps he has no idea what he's doing to begin with ....to even get started.
.
Spent thousands to save hundreds.
Miss Molly is workin again!
I was going to put one of these in until I found out how much of a pain they can be and I am using propane they told me I would need twice the size pipe I have now, just replaced the electric 50 gallon with a 45 electric turned it up to 130 and have more than enough hot water to fill the Jacuzzi also the best part had it done in less than an hour
many downsides...are you really saving on gas? normal 40 gallon tank is 30k btu...these tankless take 100k btu plus..
I put a used 19-year-old Rheem water heater at my house. That was 10 years ago. Haven't even thought about it in 10 years
I wouldn't have one of these things, but if you've gotta have it, you need a serious water filter of some kind ahead of it.
Hey Steve and Miss Molly!
Well Hello Sir!!
It has to be plugged in and running for water to go through that model by the way....the impeller won't spin
He has it plugged in. When they get clogged like that, Nothing will work because there is no flow. The impeller works as a result of the water flowing not the reason for the water flowing from What I understand.. I could be wrong on that.
@@URBANAMERICANTAC The impeller is only for detection of flow so the unit fires up. So you are right.
@@URBANAMERICANTAC they have a draft inducer like any other furnace but it does depend on a flow switch..
It probably gave a lime scale code and was reset.
😂😂😂 I'm dealing with the same ish.
My Takagi has been going strong for 20 years with zero maintenance and no noticeable change in performance. City water though. Hope I didn't jinx myself. When it does go its replacement sure won't be a Rinnai 😬
I have a Takagi for almost 17 years, all I do is clean the flame sensor every few years, also have a water softener for the hole house.
My Takagi has been going without a hitch for 18 years now. Zero maintenance. We have very soft water here though.
I love my wall hung junk!
Steve the flow switch on these are garbage. They're called a water adjustment valve and a bypass valve they have an impeller inside if that impeller gets blocked you won't get any flow through it regardless of how open the pipes are......
Hence JUNK! Regardless
Clean the Wazoo!
He hates them, he is not going to do anything over what he did to make work! He may know about them, may not. He does not care for them so. If not a quick fix it is out. With all he does to help and save people money Etc, comes to these it is just junk to him! He should just tell people he does not work on them and leave it alone! Did not even take cover off to see if a second filter or screen inside or if had power to the internals!
Rdlyme would clear that up.used on plugged water source heat pumps many times
That plastic piece on the intake side of the water heater is a filter and that’s why it had no flow
I COULDN'T AGREE MORE STEVIE.
I have a 40 gallon gas-fired water heater. When the power goes out I still have hot water :)
Unless you're on a private well, in which case you only get water flow until the line pressure drops to nothing...
Does your power go out that often that this is even an issue?
@@jcreazy YES - Couple outages a year is typical. My 92 y/o mother lost it for 6.5 days last Aug after a tropical storm. For her, the next power loss could be a death sentence. Now installing a generator there.
Its not blocked solid one day and working the day before! They are definitely not junk
Must the water reach a pre set temperature before it flows?
NO ITS UNDER PRESSURE ONCE THE COLD VALVE IS TURNED ON..IT DOESN'T NEED ANY TEMPERATURE OR ELECTRICAL ASSISTANCE TO RUN THROUGH THE HOUSE.THE PLUG CAN BE PULLED AND IT WILL FLOW UNDER NORMAL CONDITIONS...
Just like any other water heater ..
Steve I install Navien Tankless units all the time, they work great. Any unit not serviced will turn into junk. On tankless units the power has to be on. There must be a error code why the valve is not opening.
Lol go check out Mikey pipes on UA-cam. You'll regret installing those naviens after that @mikeypipes
Navien's are junk, they leak combustion gases and in my honest opinion? All the tankless nonsense is junk. Just get a regular water heater tank. Tried and proven, little to no maintenance necessary and will last at least a decade. Tankless stuff needs annual maintenance that most homeowners don't do and they still fail within a few years.
@@losferwords100 My 160kbtu Takagi tankess is going strong after 20 years of zero maintenance.
@@jerseyjim9092 I have one 17 years only have to clean the flame sensor once in a wile, nothing is simple, most appliances have control boards in them.
@@luisalthaus7249 For sure. Mine has a diagnostic function in the control panel. I've thought about buying a replacement so ill have it on hand when this one goes. Or I may take Steve's advice and replace the "wall hung junk" with a tank water heater. 🙂
Not gonna Check the cold supply? lifetime cost of these systems is high for sure.. Just replaced a rinnai commercial unit that lasted 15yrs no maintenance. Some are clearly better then others
You gotta know when to hold .......and when to fold
I like my tankless, but yes you must flush them once a year at least. Don't have the space for a big tank, so was a compromise.
Have one or those units running treated water through it with no problems for ten years your customer must have very hard water that would cause problems even with a tank water heater
The incoming water was shut off outside. It wasn’t blocked it didn’t have any incoming water.
Not worth the complexity and extra maintenance these require. Sometimes the old way is the better way. 60 gallon, gas fired , rapid recovery. Install it and forget it!
For the $$ he paid he could have gotten 2 regular everyday water heaters that don't need maintenance like that! I agree with you Steve ! Wall junk!
These things have a flow valve in them. My Rinni won't flow hot water if I
have the gas valve shut! I would check farther!
Think about it! Most of the world uses these with minimal issues...only seems to be north america with the problems. So what's in the water? Lol
They need a much larger gas line too...
No they dont its 3/4 or 1" more than enough
That's why you need a descaler on the Inlet side
People with tank water heaters should drain it once a year and I'm willing to say 95% of owner dont do this. I think because they dont see these tanks everyday and it doesn't make any noise. If this was a kitchen faucet, something we see everyday, we would have fixed it. Unfortunately this is an older owner who does know or remember the maintenance for tankless.
No how ya doing today 😳 needs a full Monty 😆
…. but……is it blocked solid ?
He's a mean one Mr Grinch I like that Steve I like it you're awesome dude love you channel Grinch feet that was great be safe brother love you videos
It’s a screen above the cold side shut off valve .. unscrew it and clean it or replace it heater should be fine
He checked it at 4:08 it was clean.
Funny cause 53 million households in Japan have em. No one in Japan has a hot water tank cause their houses are too small to accommodate it. According to Google Japan has very soft water.
I just went to change out my anode rod tonight its a 2 yr old rheem electric from home depot first time i changed it out so i do my thing get a little water out and what not and all i pull the cap i go to start cutting the insulation out to get to the rod the first stab with my flat head and water pushes out from the insulation im like wtf i get down to the anode rod the insulations SATURATED with rusty water theres no water around the elemnts and t stats nothing in the pan no visbile leaks whatsoever now i know i got nothing backwashing my well water so i pull the anode rod i know its only two years old but it suprisingly came out pretty easy i didnt need much pressure to lossen it it had thread sealant on it but there was rust all on the threads and the rod was a little beat up but it had alot of life on it idk maybe a case of the good ol home depot special! Update just figured out the thing was condensating around the anode rod, i turned the t stats down to 125 and left the cap off that should do the trick.
5:39 Never heard Steven say: Holy shit mama, before.....then you know you have a problem...
why is that item so expensive ? About $1400. And what warranty does it have ?
From others comments, seems Steven needs to bite the bullet, take the time to learn more about these devices, how to diagnose and how to attempt to clean them out. Never fun learning something new from scratch....takes trial and error and patience. You amaze me at how you are able to work with customers bothering you.
I am a retired auto tech. At work I needed others only to bring me a tool occasionally, after that, get the fuck outa here and leave me alone until I need something else.
My 40 gallon is 15 years 0ld and still going strong without a single issue. The one it replaced was 23 years 0ld and while it didn't work well it still worked. Most people don't do a thing with their water heaters and they last for years. These things are a pain and no one wants to have to deal with something like this to save a little energy and to not run out of hot water. What people don't know is while these give endless hot water, they are slow to warm up.
godzilla says "not good"
If this was a Navien I'd love to hear what Steve would say. Maybe Mikey can use the footage in his lawsuit 🤣