Comments on: I wasn’t insane after all! (Bosch tankless story ends well)

By: julio

julio — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 21:05:55 +0000

William,

Your comments and procedure are very thorough. However, I don’t think it is accurate to just lump everyone’s problem into the “they don’t know what they are doing” category. One should not need a combustion analyzer to get a brand new water heater working properly. In our experience, the first heater could not be made to work correctly even after dozens of attempts. The replacement unit gave us none of the noise problems. Ever. On occasion it will turn itself off briefly during a shower, but that’s not too frequent (and that’s at a flow well over the minimum required). Even though we hired a “certified” plumber to adjust the first unit, even he couldn’t get it to stay quiet for more than a day. Since we had completely different performance with the same plumbing and gas supply, I stand by my assertion that some of these are poor performers.

At best, the Bosch heaters are finicky. At worst, they’re defective. I just don’t see these kinds of complaints out there for the other brands.

By: William

William — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 18:25:20 +0000

Well the first thing you will find out is that most people commenting on how to fix anything have little to no idea what they are talking about. I have two Bosch tankless heaters. If you have problems with one the first thing you do is check the end of All faucets for trash in the antisplater devices. Then clean your shower heads. Then clean the filters in the input hose for your clothes washers hot water hose (check both ends of the hose) and the one in your dishwasher if it has one. Then take off the COLD water entrance pipe for the Bosch tankless and look up inside the heater cold water entrance and pull the filter out and clean it. You need a small hook device to pull it out.

Then go to each faucet and see if the hot water side will fill a quart jar in 20 seconds or less. That is the amount needed to light the heater. Assuming your heater was installed correctly it should be ready to operate. If it does not you have a problem in he unit.

Now you need to go to the Bosch site on the net and get the Service Bulletins on your heater model from Bosch. The water valve is a simple device that measures water flow and automatically adjust volume. It frequently is corroded. If you are adventuresome you can easily clean it. Turn the cold and hot water off and put a pan under the heater. Open the pressure relief valve momentarily to let the pressure off. the valve is a black plastic device with a little motor attached to it. Unplug the wires to the valve (two plugs) then look at the clips tht hold the valve to the pipes, note how they are fitted in the slots.. Then pull the clip at the bottom and top of the valve. Remove the valve and do not lose the o rings that seals the valve to the water line. unscrew the motor from the valve and lay it aside. Measure how far the brass splined shaft sticks out and then remove the valve screws. Pull the valve apart , do not wipe off the waterproof lube on the splined end of the valve. if the valve is corroded clean it with scotch brite but do not scratch the o rings, carefully take them off if needed. Carefully rub the lube arond the plastic threads and reassemble the valve. Put it back in making sure that the o rings and clips are in place properly.

Make sure that the yellow high voltage wires are still clipped to the burner and separated from each other and piping. Reset the error codes by holding the reset button in five seconds. The gas and combustion air are adjustable if you read the service bulletins. you need a combustion gas analyzer to get the proper setting. The high frequency sound is coming from the burner. Moving the gas valve adjustor just a fraction will stop it but it is hard to adjust. READ THE SERVICE BULLETINS

By: David

David — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 05:04:01 +0000

I have one and it is doing the same thing

By: jean

jean — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 19:30:50 +0000

I am sorry to say I bought a Bosch 1600H and I get tons of warm water in the winter and hot water in the summer. I have tried many different ways to correct the matter from calling the support team at bosch to going to the basement and tearing it a part myself. With my working on the unit I have a better understanding of how it works but it is not fixed. The customer service at Bosch tells me there are no complants on there tankless hot water heaters I am the only one. I wonder why it takes over 30 minutes to get through to the teck. I still though do not understand how Bosch sells their product at a do it yourself store, bought it a Lowes and installed it myself, but the teck said he could not talk to me unless I was a certified Bosch installer. I can not find anyone in a 100 mile area to trouble shoot it and they can’t tell me of one to call. Oh well what to do now just complain. The last one, the 2500, only lasted 6 years and they wouldn’t back that one Lowes did. So this one does not look like it’s going to last and well be replace in probably 5 years.

By: scooter

scooter — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 08:25:08 +0000

I’m glad I’m not alone. My Bosch has been a real let down and no one knows how to fix it in a city of 100,000. Cold bursts of water have turned me from a shower taker into a bath soaker. Not so great when you’re in a hurry. Everytime I use the dish or clothes washers there is a loud vibration noise. As soon as I can afford it I’m going to replace it with an old fashioned tank water heater. I think it is rare to find anyone in any of the service industries in the USA who is all that well trained any more. If you live in Germany it’s probably a well functioning unit as their service techs have far better training.

By: julio

julio — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 18:10:56 +0000

Steve,

Here is the link where I found the manual:
http://www.tanklesswaterheatersdirect.com/shop/tanklesswaterheaters/manuals/250sxman_manual.pdf

It looks like they may no longer have the 250 manual, as it was apparently replaced with a new model. I believe I have a downloaded copy at home somewhere, so I will try to find it and upload it to our site.

By: steve

steve — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 02:59:29 +0000

Thanks for the detailed info here and glad to know others have the whistling/ringing issue and have had some success resolving it. It wasn’t clear to me where one would find the details of making the gas valve adjustments on their own. I’d like to try that first before waiting on hold w/ Bosch to ask for a replacement. Can you tell me where to find that info? Thanks.

By: Steve in CA

Steve in CA — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 01:18:16 +0000

I have nothing but disdain for the Bosch 250 I bought with the illusion that it would be just as reliable, just like the tank water heater, only smaller and save gas and water. I have had nothing but problems and have grown to expect one of 2 things when I get into the shower: Cold water and an EC error OR hot water and then cold water, accompanied by the EC error or not, just random periods, brief or long, of cold water. This is every shower. This is probably the most expensive piece of junk I’ve ever bought.

By: Mark Dingus

Mark Dingus — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 08:32:56 +0000

I purchased a Reconditioned Bosch 2400E NG from CPO this winter. At startup it kept getting an EC error. A local plumber got into the Combustion Valve and found it contained rust. Bosch sent him a new valve to install right away. No more EC codes.
I have still to deal with a loud whistle when the burner first ignites. It only lasts a couple of seconds.

By: Matt in Irving

Matt in Irving — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 04:50:26 +0000

I posted a comment on Mar 22, 2007. Bosch has sent me a new unit with the vent pipe attachment that I needed. They back their product 100% even after 27 months of use.