RANDELL
New Member
I bought a Bosch 250SX tankless water heater in 2007 hoping it would save me money. Had it installed by a gas company after home addition was finished in 2008. The unit cost $834 then I think I paid $150 or $200 for installation. The thing has never worked as advertised. It lights, turns off, lights, turns off, then lights the third time and either stays lit or if it goes off this time has to be reset. This is not something that happeds occasionally but ever time we turn on the water. This has happened ever since it was first installed. I called Bosch and they sent me a part, which was a wire that wraps around the heat exchanger, with instructions on how to replace it. I replaced the wire but the unit still did the same thing. Every time we want hot water we waste several gallons of water before we hot water or have to reset the water heater then waste more water going thru the cycle again. I called them several more times and they gave me the run around, first they said I didn't have it vented properly. I had went by the instruction manual which clearly said the fresh air intake could be vented with just a 90 degree elbow on the top of the unit. After They told me it was not properly vent I installed a vent through the roof for the intake. Still the same old water and time wasting piece of junk. I called them several more times and they told me that it was probably not getting enough gas. They would not connect me to a technician because I was not a licensed plumber or gas tech. I called several plumbers and gas people but nobody would even come out since it was a Bosch brand. One plumber told me that Bosch wanted a licensed plumber out here so that they could take the blame for whatever went wrong. Like I said we got this thing installed in 2008, and our water bill has been about double what it was before we got this installed. And I have been close to taking it off the wall and throwing it away many, many times. Finally I got a plumber to come out, he charged me $85 but couldn't fix it because he was not trained to work on Bosch water heaters. I called Bosch again and was told to email their resolutions department , which I did. The email I sent was basically the same info as I am giving here. I got an email today saying that Roto Rooter would come out and service the unit but that I would be responsible to pay for all repairs. With the cost of the water heater, installation, service calls, wasted water and gas ( the water heater is the only gas appliance we regularly use). I would say that hot water has cost us about $7200 for the past 7 1/2 years, that's about $80 per month. Now it looks like I will be paying Roto Rooter. even more. I have heard so muh how tankless water heaters generate huge savings. I just don't know how much more I can afford to save. I get overheated just thinking about Bosch and their water heaters, I guess I need a cold shower, but that's kind of the norm around here.