The only company I could find in Houston was going to change more than $200. They would not accept my diagnosis and would not tell me if they even had the part! I ordered it online with two-day shipping, which cost more than the part. Still the total was less than $45. Your instructions were so easy to follow it took me about 6 minutes! Thanks a million! It is so satisfying to do it yourself.
Thanks very much for this video! I found this really useful. A few points from my experience of dealing with this issue and Navien error code E-38 twice (4 years apart; model CR-240 installed 2010.) The first time I had that code and no hot water I changed the sensor. The inner "spinner" in the sensor - a tiny propeller inside the water flow chamber on my sensor unit - was stuck together with mineral deposits. I think this is what has to spin to send voltage to the control unit (via the wire connector). This time, I took the sensor out as instructed in your video but the spinner was fine. I soaked it in vinegar and replaced this and then found the problem: the inlet water filter - it was >95% clogged with mineral on the wire mesh. This led to the same Navien error code (E-38). Once I screwed it out and cleaned the inlet water filter (a super fast job) along with the "catch drain" next to it .....that solved the problem. I suspect the error code E-38 on my unit is generic and means there isn't water flow (I'm not sure but it's all working now). I found a good maintenance video for a unit similar to mine was at ua-cam.com/video/eLX3wMIqfyQ/v-deo.html . I just made a note to clean out that filter more often (a very fast and easy task). One mistake I made was not being ready to catch the water from the upper sensor connector - that tube can be gently pointed outward to drain away from the electronic panel. Additionally, it's important to get that lower clip on properly you you will get a bath once the water is turned on. As you illustrate the water should be turned on very slowly to insure all is sealed. Again...many thanks for your helpful video.
Best to open your hot water faucets and run them for a bit first before turning the unit on to ensure there are no air pockets in the heat exchanger. Heating with air in the heat exchanger could potentially damage it. Also, Navien will void any remaining heat exchanger warranty if they know you did this yourself, just FYI. But I agree this is easy.
If problems linger, I found the check valve, part number #30002282E for my NR-240A was faulty and would not shutoff properly allowing cold water to mix with the hot reducing the temperature. Just pointing this out to those that continue to have the issue after replacing the flow sensor. It costs $10 plus shipping from Navien.
Several commenters have recommended a "vinegar" flush, which I assume is white vinegar. According to Navien, you're supposed to use a special solution, either "Flow-Aid" or "Calci-Free". I'd be interested to know for sure if it's safe (long term) to use vinegar.
I have a Navien CR 180 and it’s leaking from the cold water intake adapter. It’s a small drip but I would like to fix it. Do you have any videos that shows how to to change that. I really appreciate how easy you made it look on your video. Thank you for any help.
You can skip the part about the pliers. Just remove the clip above and below and the flow sensor and a bit of piping will be off. Just use your hands to loosen and reattach the new sensor hand tight. Place back in place and re insert the clips. Done
my gas water heater ignites but after opening the tap in full speed it doesn't starts if i open the tap in low or medium presher can u please tell me what is wrong here also due to heavy water flow from tap it can not fully warm the water and cold water mixes with hot . the water flow button don't work at all nothing heaped when sliding from low to high
When mine quit,I had the installing company look at it. Of course it was just 2 mos. over the 5 year warranty. These guys are sneaky. I asked him if I could watch what he was doing, and he said he wasn't a big fan of that.Five minutes later he comes upstairs to tell us we need a flow switch and a vinegar flush.I flush it every march,but haven't gotten to it yet.I told him no to the flush,and his office was going to call me with the repair price.After watching this video, I ordered the flow switch from Amazon.A BIG Seventeen dollars.The plumbing co. Called the next day.They quoted me a mere THREE HUNDRED AND FOURTY TWO dollars part and labor.Needles to say, I'm installing the part myself this morning.I forgot to mention, I had to pay them a Ninety dollar trip fee. Best Ninety dollars I ever spent. I figure over the years of watching you tube videos I have saved a ton of money doing the repairs myself. Thanks for taking the time to film this video.
Job has been completed just a few hours ago. A screw driver, slip joint pliers and ten minuets was all it took. Now I have $325.00 to buy some new tools.
Any help with my issue - went to get shower and no hot water - went down to unit Navien NR-180 and just shows temp. And time on remote screen. Unplugged unit - plugged back in - unit sounds like it’s firing up so go upstairs no hot water. Any ideas?
here is your service manual. Clean Air intake at top. Clean "cold inlet filter"and syphon at bottom. After 5 years its ignitor rod will get corroded and burnt so replace that..Vinegar flush,inlet to outlet, for around 40 to 60 minutes if that dont solve, you need to diagnose it in detail.
I have the same model (nine years old). If you found a fix it would be nice to find out what the problem was. Without an error code or more information it's hard to diagnose. An error code every couple of years indicates I have to clean the air intake screen. I had a flow sensor go out but a youtube video showed how to replace it in 5 minutes. Presently, my NR-180 cycles on-off-on-off, that I've read may be due to a faulty control circuit board.
I test water flow meter with an Android app EMF METER. Remove one screw to detach sensor and a cable connected to it. Now touch Smartphone to that pad ( there is a spinning magnet inside). As you turn on flow of water using shower hose , this reading will increase and start flickering. If the spindle is jammed due to hard salts, soak clean it with vinegar and check again.
my gas water heater ignites but after opening the tap in full speed it doesn't starts if i open the tap in low or medium presher can u please tell me what is wrong here also due to heavy water flow from tap it can not fully warm the water and cold water mixes with hot . the water flow button don't work at all nothing heaped when sliding from low to high
The only company I could find in Houston was going to change more than $200. They would not accept my diagnosis and would not tell me if they even had the part! I ordered it online with two-day shipping, which cost more than the part. Still the total was less than $45. Your instructions were so easy to follow it took me about 6 minutes! Thanks a million! It is so satisfying to do it yourself.
Thanks very much for this video! I found this really useful. A few points from my experience of dealing with this issue and Navien error code E-38 twice (4 years apart; model CR-240 installed 2010.) The first time I had that code and no hot water I changed the sensor. The inner "spinner" in the sensor - a tiny propeller inside the water flow chamber on my sensor unit - was stuck together with mineral deposits. I think this is what has to spin to send voltage to the control unit (via the wire connector). This time, I took the sensor out as instructed in your video but the spinner was fine. I soaked it in vinegar and replaced this and then found the problem: the inlet water filter - it was >95% clogged with mineral on the wire mesh. This led to the same Navien error code (E-38). Once I screwed it out and cleaned the inlet water filter (a super fast job) along with the "catch drain" next to it .....that solved the problem. I suspect the error code E-38 on my unit is generic and means there isn't water flow (I'm not sure but it's all working now). I found a good maintenance video for a unit similar to mine was at ua-cam.com/video/eLX3wMIqfyQ/v-deo.html . I just made a note to clean out that filter more often (a very fast and easy task). One mistake I made was not being ready to catch the water from the upper sensor connector - that tube can be gently pointed outward to drain away from the electronic panel. Additionally, it's important to get that lower clip on properly you you will get a bath once the water is turned on. As you illustrate the water should be turned on very slowly to insure all is sealed. Again...many thanks for your helpful video.
You, sir, are my hero. I am grateful for the hot water that I now have, thanks to your tutorial. Much appreciated.
Thank you very much. Your video/slideshow saved me lots of headaches today.
Best to open your hot water faucets and run them for a bit first before turning the unit on to ensure there are no air pockets in the heat exchanger. Heating with air in the heat exchanger could potentially damage it. Also, Navien will void any remaining heat exchanger warranty if they know you did this yourself, just FYI. But I agree this is easy.
If problems linger, I found the check valve, part number #30002282E for my NR-240A was faulty and would not shutoff properly allowing cold water to mix with the hot reducing the temperature. Just pointing this out to those that continue to have the issue after replacing the flow sensor. It costs $10 plus shipping from Navien.
Thanks. This helped a lot. Saved me at least $125.
Several commenters have recommended a "vinegar" flush, which I assume is white vinegar. According to Navien, you're supposed to use a special solution, either "Flow-Aid" or "Calci-Free". I'd be interested to know for sure if it's safe (long term) to use vinegar.
I have a Navien CR 180 and it’s leaking from the cold water intake adapter. It’s a small drip but I would like to fix it. Do you have any videos that shows how to to change that. I really appreciate how easy you made it look on your video. Thank you for any help.
Tredsaw12, you are a bonified hero!!! Thank you!!!!!
You can skip the part about the pliers. Just remove the clip above and below and the flow sensor and a bit of piping will be off. Just use your hands to loosen and reattach the new sensor hand tight. Place back in place and re insert the clips. Done
Thats very nice of you. Thanks.
my gas water heater ignites but after opening the tap in full speed it doesn't starts if i open the tap in low or medium presher can u please tell me what is wrong here also due to heavy water flow from tap it can not fully warm the water and cold water mixes with hot . the water flow button don't work at all nothing heaped when sliding from low to high
I beleave this is what's wrong with mine..if I'm not getting continuous hot water is this the case?
Tredsaw12 yes I was getting no error codes..thanks for your help!!
When mine quit,I had the installing company look at it. Of course it was just 2 mos. over the 5 year warranty. These guys are sneaky. I asked him if I could watch what he was doing, and he said he wasn't a big fan of that.Five minutes later he comes upstairs to tell us we need a flow switch and a vinegar flush.I flush it every march,but haven't gotten to it yet.I told him no to the flush,and his office was going to call me with the repair price.After watching this video, I ordered the flow switch from Amazon.A BIG Seventeen dollars.The plumbing co. Called the next day.They quoted me a mere THREE HUNDRED AND FOURTY TWO dollars part and labor.Needles to say, I'm installing the part myself this morning.I forgot to mention, I had to pay them a Ninety dollar trip fee. Best Ninety dollars I ever spent. I figure over the years of watching you tube videos I have saved a ton of money doing the repairs myself. Thanks for taking the time to film this video.
Job has been completed just a few hours ago. A screw driver, slip joint pliers and ten minuets was all it took. Now I have $325.00 to buy some new tools.
Any help with my issue - went to get shower and no hot water - went down to unit Navien NR-180 and just shows temp. And time on remote screen. Unplugged unit - plugged back in - unit sounds like it’s firing up so go upstairs no hot water. Any ideas?
here is your service manual. Clean Air intake at top. Clean "cold inlet filter"and syphon at bottom. After 5 years its ignitor rod will get corroded and burnt so replace that..Vinegar flush,inlet to outlet, for around 40 to 60 minutes if that dont solve, you need to diagnose it in detail.
I have the same model (nine years old). If you found a fix it would be nice to find out what the problem was. Without an error code or more information it's hard to diagnose. An error code every couple of years indicates I have to clean the air intake screen. I had a flow sensor go out but a youtube video showed how to replace it in 5 minutes. Presently, my NR-180 cycles on-off-on-off, that I've read may be due to a faulty control circuit board.
hello sir how to testing flow senser water heater wrong or right plzzzz help me
I test water flow meter with an Android app EMF METER.
Remove one screw to detach sensor and a cable connected to it. Now touch Smartphone to that pad ( there is a spinning magnet inside). As you turn on flow of water using shower hose , this reading will increase and start flickering. If the spindle is jammed due to hard salts, soak clean it with vinegar and check again.
my gas water heater ignites but after opening the tap in full speed it doesn't starts if i open the tap in low or medium presher can u please tell me what is wrong here also due to heavy water flow from tap it can not fully warm the water and cold water mixes with hot . the water flow button don't work at all nothing heaped when sliding from low to high