****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
Here's my story review.I live in a mobile community, one college guy who can't buy a real house. Lived here for 25 years, one day the bathroom looks all wet on the floor, walls stained. The old waterheater sprung a leak and had to go. No floor pan was installed back in the old days so it seems *slaps head*. I shopped around for waterheaters but there were $300< starting price range. I decided to shop around and my main influence is comments (yes like this one) and youtube reviews. Found out tankless ones might save me money. Plus the initial cost was amazing I paid less than $250 for my 11kw EcoSmart unit. I use a drip/drain pan just in case it leaks somehow on the floor. I waited for this review to actually use it for 3 weeks now.I learned how to solder pipe (easy, fun, use lots of flux!!) to make some small 1/2" thread to 3/4" thread copper shortie pipes to adapt to the unit. I upgraded my circuit breaker to 60 amps dual pole (240v) from 40 amps. I was supposed to upgrade the wires to 8g but I did an infrared heat test on the current wires with hot water running and no heat problems, But I will upgrade the circuit to 8g when it's warmer out in the spring it's cold out now (winter 2011). Over all I'm super happy I bought this unit. It's perfect for one guy like me. It saved me a bundle over a regular water heater and install work (this unit was so small and so easy to install) and I'm happy to be participating in environmental/energy savings just by using this unit too. I did void the warranty by installing it myself, I'm kind of a self taught handy man, but I figure the whole unit only cost $250> so I could just buy a new one if anything goes wrong vs some novice electrican ruining stuff and I ended up paying the same amount anyway. If this brand ends up bad, i'll just switch brands. It's the darwin theory for appliances.But every review I've seen on this unit is that it is top notch quality, and when I got it I believe it also the thing is made Awesome, it has a digital dial for the temperature and it simple to install and use. I am so happy I went this route and the 11kw unit is perfect for my simple (one guy) purpose. What that really means is, one sink/shower at a time. At 120 degrees on the dial my showers are Insanely Hot and last forever. I had 3 people in here before (girlfriend and kid) and we all just respected the "showering" person by not using the water. Had to do that with our water heater before anyways. I live in the Seattle area.And MyRubberneck is a good seller too. I got my unit from UPS in about 6 days, the weekend interrupted the (3-5) delivery by a day. That's fine i'm not upset about that though. He saved me about $30 over Sears and their promise was two week delivery for online purchases (ya go check Sears). He sent it in the raw unit box, I kind of wished it had a cardboard sleeve or even a grocery bag sleeve, or bigger box for it. but the box was intact.The Benefits: endless hot water, power bill savings, no more tank pressure/old leaks etc.The Cons: my only complaint is that the warranty is nullified if you install it without a licensed electrician. Oh well. And also the documentation does not say which wire is power, neutral, or ground. The colors were Red, blue, and yellow/green. Ya I figured it out (red+, blue-, and yellow/grn=ground), but dang shouldn't documentation HAVE THAT in there? Maybe it was designed for licensed electricians only. LOL.*Also, an important factor. The water heat temp consistency directly depends on the temperature of the "ground" water coming into the unit. sometimes my shower temperatures got hot or cold (only slightly) but I'm sure it was "cold water sandwiches" but from the ground water temps, especially in winter. The unit is probably taxed to adjust to your preffered temp. Think about that in a "thermal" way. I think if you had a buffer tank or something say (a turned off small water tank 20-30gallons) that had a constant temperature before the unit heated it up then showers would be no problem. My water heater room is totally empty now sans the EcoSmart unit in there, I could put in a buffer tank easy. Or a more powerful EcoSmart unit might make this a non issue. My work around though...just turn up or down the shower dial accordingly, not that big of a deal to me.I give this thing 5 stars!! I get the feeling the big water heater, or power companies don't want people to get their hands on these types of new technologies. It was SUPER hard to find any in the stores that weren't in the thousand dollar range, this was a 1/4 that price. And this had THE BEST reviews from the internet I researched for 10 hours straight, ya I'm a nerd. When I get a real house I will probably buy the EcoSmart 27kw model. I love this unit very much. Take care.~TZ
