TanklessTexas
New Member
Hello community, I have had the misfortune of replacing my two 11yr old AO Smith tank water heaters with a new Navien NPE-240A2 about a month ago and I am very displeased with the performance of it. The home: 3,000 SF single-story home, 11 years old. I live in Dallas-area. Location of the heater is above my garage, which is always warm, insulated-well attic. My 11yr old tanks were running great, hot water in ten seconds even at farthest fixtures. I had a Watts external recirculating pump and one valve under my master bath sink which dramatically increased the speed to the master bath faucets (2) and shower. Shower got hot in ten seconds, and you didn't need to turn the handle to all the way hot to get the windows fogged up in the shower. Cold water on the faucet came out warm to start with got colder in a few seconds, hot water started off warm as well. No complaints about the tanks, speed and temperature at the time of the Navien Install. During the install, he programmed the timer to be always on, no learning. Suddenly I heard water flowing under my sink at 6am and sometimes throughout the day on the faucet that had the valve in it. We got the air out of the system right after he turned it on. We checked faucets for sediment. We have NOT changed the filter cartridge out on the shower. It's 11yrs old Moen. Today, I'm dealing with 3+ minutes to get hot water in the shower. Faucet takes nearly a minute to get "hot", cold water is not warm like it was before. Hot water is not "hot" unless you turn the shower handle all the way hot, and even then you can stand under it. The plumber switched out the valve under the sink, installed a new one and it didn't make any difference, however he installed the old one under the kitchen sink and it's always 100% hot right away, but it's fairly close to the hot water heater in the attic. He's measured the temp in a cup and meat thermometer from the faucet and shower once they get hot and it's 125 or so. Navien is set at 130. Install has been triple-checked by plumber who's installed many of these. Faucets near the Navien are scalding hot immediately. It's not a big house and just a one story with the Navien in the attic. Maybe 30-50 feet away perhaps? Weather is mild here in Texas. Should I be putting another valve in perhaps in the absolute farthest bathroom? Should I check the programming and see why my valve under the sink sounds like water running in the pipes? Should I reset the unit? Should I change the shower handle cartridge? Perhaps the Navien is only coming on at a certain time? We've got the settings to external pump on the dial (6pm) inside the box and the computer is programmed to "no external pump" as prescribed by the manual. I don't believe there's any other setting on this to look at but I am seriously disappointed with the length of time and the temp on this. Any help would be greatly, greatly appreciated.
