ECO 8

I (late 40's, mechanically-minded woman) just installed this unit in our home. Installation not too complicated, this replaced a 50-gallon tank water heater. Servicing two sinks and two appliances, (kitchen, 1/2 bath and laundry room) I sized this item to the available electrical supply, as I did not wish to incur the extra expense of additional wire and another circuit breaker. Existing wiring consisted of one double-pole 40-amp breaker and sufficient gauge conduit. Since this unit is supplying a dishwasher, washing machine, kitchen sink and bathroom sink, none of which would be likely opened at the same time, I figured this unit should be more than sufficient. So far, so good. Did not experience the leakage problems with the compression fittings others have noted, I think these fittings simply require a gentle hand. I did have to make adjustments from 3/4" supply lines down to the 1/2" necessary for this unit; the downsized pipe acts as a self-restrictor of sorts, slowing down the water flow to allow ample heating of the water before it exits the heater. I also installed an inline scale inhibitor filter, Aqua-Pur AP430SS, so reconfiguring the plumbing was necessary, as well as the addition of two 1/4-turn ball valves. (Highly recommend replacing the crappy spigot-handled gate valves that are typically installed with original tank water heaters, these things rarely actually completely shut off the water supply to the heater, especially in an emergency or during maintenance.) This was also my first attempt at sweating copper pipe and fittings, and after a few tries, achieved success with leak-free connections. Hubby seemed impressed that I did not burn down the house... although I don't think he really was confident in allowing me to play with the blow torch. A word of caution, as others have mentioned, the manufacturer stipulates installation by a professional plumber, (name and license number required on the warranty registration card) or apparently that 'lifetime warranty' is voided. That is disappointing, but if installation will cost more than the appliance, (as is common) sometimes you gotta do what you must. Did spend additional funds for the sediment filter, copper pipe and brass and copper fittings, and flexible SS supply lines, (highly recommend Falcon Industries' hoses, although they're made in China,) but estimate I saved a minimum $300.00 on installation, probably more. Be careful with the compression fittings, enclose your electrical connections inside a lidded junction or outlet box, and purge the line for a few minutes to ensure all air has been removed prior to turning on the heater, and you should be good to go. I do like the simple knob control, which allows precise selection of output temperature, and the fact that the unit can be turned on or off without having to mess with the breaker panel. This is handy when changing out the sediment filter, or for other non-electrical maintenance. It will be interesting to note the difference in the next electric bill or two; this is the second tankless electric water heater we've installed in the house. (Purchased previous unit on Amazon, see my earlier reviews for that unit.) After the first one about eight years ago, the following month's electric bill was about $30.00 cheaper. Eagerly anticipating the next one to see if similar utility savings will be realized. Also have plans to utilize the newly-found storage space in the corner of our garage that was formally occupied by the old water tank.

I built a 16'x20' wood floor shop and installed under floor heating in 2016. Bought this unit as a low cost proof of concept heat source because it met my power requirements and flow rate. I installed a meter to monitor usage and it has over 15,000 hours of flawless operation time on it even while pumping water/antifreeze mixture. I installed a thermal sensor to cut it off when the return temp reaches 110F to let the hot water warm the floor and save some electricity. When the temp drops it turns back on and doesn't need to need to run at full power. I keep wanting to put a current monitor to see what actual watts it draws when not at a full "burn." Our winters here lately have been in the sub 0 range and with this unit my shop will keep at a cozy 65F. I do need to do some more insulation under the floor to make it more efficient but that has nothing to do with the water heater. When this unit dies, I have no qualms about buying another one

So far, it's been a great heater! I have an old house, and the electric company only provides 75Amps to my house. With my old heater (11kW), the lights would flicker, as it would chop and suck the line dry (especially when combined with the 15Amps AC working at the same time). The old heater (11kW), would heat the water full power for a fraction of a second, and the remaining time use no power at all. This caused power throttling; led lights and ac capacitor blew quickly. Also, in summer the water was burning hot; no way to control the heat. That's when I knew I needed another heater. This new heater does not flicker the lights. I think it uses a more continuous stream of energy. No chopping frequency, no sucking dry the power line at 10x per second; just one smooth functioning. It also has a temp gauge, and at 100 degrees F, it provides sufficient warm water (slightly warmer than 100F), to take a shower, or wash your hands. 105F gives pretty hot water, only suited for dishes. It's noiseless, turns off immediately when the tap is turned off; and my next electric bill will tell me how efficient it really is! It works great for Florida temps so far; feeding one tap, and one energy saving shower head at the same time. Winter is coming up, and I'll write an update on my review, how it will warm up the water then.

I just received the product, and haven't yet installed it. It appears to be well constructed, and it includes adapters for either compression or Pipe thread connections. But here's the rub: There's a big warning on the case, and a sealing sticker that the warranty will be void if the case is opened. Sounds like standard boilerplate, right? ...Until you realize that the mounting screws and plumbing connections are external, but the Electrical conections are internal. The description on the web seems to imply that a power cord is pre-installed, but the unit I received had no power cord, and just a female threaded hole on the bottom for a conduit connector. The actual electrical connections are inside the case, so there is NO WAY that it can be installed without breaking the seal and opening the case. So expect to file a lawsuit if you ever need to make a warranty claim. Hopefully, I will rely on the other good reviews for this unit and trust that I'll never need to do that... It's probably an excellent unit. I chose it because it is the smallest unit on the market that uses a modulating thermostat. I live alone in the country, on a private well, and the fixed on-off thermostat in the Atmor 6.3kw unit I tried drove me crazy with varying output temp as my well pump varied the pressure from 40 to 60psi. I have much better hopes for a comfortable shower without scalding or freezing surprises with this unit. It's also listed as having a .25 or .3 GPM cut-in flow, which is less than the .5gpm of the Atmor unit. I believe that was responsible for some of the chilling 60-degree surprises in the shower as well. So the bottom line is this: Insist on a modulating thermostat if your use case is a shower, or even a handwashing sink with a single-handle control. The simple on-off models would be fine for a non-human use like a dishwasher or washing machine, and probably manageable for kitchen or handwashing with dual-handle controls. But in my opinion, a single-handle control is incompatible with an on-off thermostat because output temp varies inversely with flow rate, so the use of a single-handle control is dangerously non-intuitive. UPDATE: Well, I've had it installed for a day now, and I've used it for a single glorious shower. The temp wasn't absolutely constant, but the variation was well within a safe, comfortable range. I have an energy monitoring datalogger on my electrical supply (OpenCMS), and a review of the energy use during my shower showed a clear repeated sawtooth pattern as the well pump kicked the pressure up to 60psi, then fell slowly to 40psi. The difference in flow was not obviously apparent in the shower, but clearly the sensors in the ecosmart unit responded quickly and appropriately to the changing conditions. There's one other grmbl I should mention. Not only are the electrical connections located inside the unit, so voiding the warranty is a necessary pre-condition to installing the unit, but the 'Earthing' Green screw is located UNDERNEATH the central thermostat control and display. Not only that, but it's much too small for the 8GA wire that the code requires in this area. I was forced to remove four additional screws so I could lay the thermostat assembly to the side to make the connections, and find a crimp-on fork connector for the wire. That was non-trivial in itself. It's not common to connect an 8GA wire to a #6 or #8 stud, so every one I had on hand was either too small for the wire, or too big for the stud. Is it too much to ask to design it with a three-terminal block instead of a two-terminal block and a tiny hidden screw? How much would that cut into your profit margin? Back to the plus side... The internal plumbing parts appear to be stainless steel, and the inlet and outlet temp sensors are actually inside the water flow. That's probably responsible for the fast response and small variation in temp control. On the other unit, the internal parts were plastic, and the single temp sensor was just zip-tied to the outside of the heater chamber. The insulation value and thermal mass of that plastic I'm sure contributed to the wide temp swings and scalding surprises. Bottom line: This EcoSmart 8 appears to be mostly well designed and constructed, so I'm expecting a good service life from it. It was the only model I could find that has a modulating thermostat and would run on a single 40Amp breaker. (Did I mention I live in a mobile home with a 50Amp main supply?) Oh, one other thing: Both inlet and outlet connectors are near the top of the case, and there is no gravity drain provided at the bottom. So avoid this unit if your use case is a seasonal summer home and you need to drain in the fall for winter freeze protection. With this unit, you'd need to use an air compressor to blow out the unit, and even then, it would only be effective if you applied the air pressure backwards, from the outlet side.

Unit worked fine for the first few months. Admittedly I have hard water so I needed to flush the unit with vinegar occasionally in order to keep it running tip-top. After 7 months, water temps became erratic, and when I contacted the company, after doing all of their troubleshooting, they told me I needed to purchase repair parts because I didn’t send the warranty in within 30 days of purchase despite my willingness and ability to submit all of my proof of purchase.

I would like to point out that we bought an open box version of this through Amazon so I would like to point out a few things if you are looking at those as they are a good amount cheaper than the standard. 1) Just because they say "Like New" doesn't mean that it comes with all of the parts. Ours was missing all the connectors and adaptors. The price was cheap enough that if we had wanted to we could have purchased what we needed from a local hardware store but it would have taken a good chunk of our savings. * 2) If you do get an Amazon open box and it is missing parts your only option through Amazon is to return it, I wish you could just e-mail them and ask for the missing parts. As for the water heater itself, it is a pretty rocking little unit. We live in Phoenix AZ so the water coming into our house is about 70ish degrees, but at that temp this little thing gets our water to 140 at the showers with no problem (We do have low flow shower heads that are about 1 gallon per minute), the kitchen sink sees temps of about 135 and the bath tubs see temps at about 120. Now this will probably not work when winter hits (we are looking to upgrade then and use this one on another project) but our water heater went out and we were looking for a quick solution that we wouldn't have to run new wires for (we had a single circuit 240 with #8 wire so it could handle the breaker upgrade to 40amps). When winter comes and it isn't 160 degrees in the attic I'll run new wires and upgrade with not problem. We were worried that we would have to live with tepid water until a more permanent solution was available but honestly we love this little sucker and kind of hope that our fears that the water temp will drop too much in the winter are unfounded. The thermostat control is great too. With it being an on demand unit, I can lower the water temp to the exact temperature I enjoy for my showers and not even have to fiddle with the cool water at all. * EcoSmart was awesome. When we opened the box and found parts were missing we were able to contact them and they sent out what we needed for free. Unfortunately because it was an open box they can't warranty it (which I completely understand because it was installed by whoever returned it to Amazon in the first place) but they were still willing to work with us to get the unit installed. Great customer service.

I read many reviews of this water heater before buying it. One common complaint was that the water heater leaks. When I first installed it, I did have major leak at the threads which connect to the flexible hose. Another quarter turn of the wrench and problem solved! The other problem is that the instructions say to use flexible water heater hoses. That would be fine except that this model has 1/2" connectors and not 3/4" connectors. I used regular 1/2" hoses and connected to 1/2" pex. I also installed a cutoff valve on the cold side. I did have one hiccup. When I installed this, I had not put the final mixer in the new shower valve body. Instead, it still had the plug which keeps it from leaking. However, hot and cold water can intermingle when the mixing valve is not in there! The first time we tried the hot water in the sink, it wasn't too hot, but had moments of scalding hot and moments of almost cold. Once I installed the valve in the shower controller, all of that went away and we have water hotter than we could shower in! I installed this is a guest room which is not part of the central house. Therefore, only the shower and bathroom sink are running off of this. I do not think it would do more than that. However, it is perfect for our use! We have a water well and the water is fairly cool, so it can get the water more than hot enough for a shower. Currently, our well house is not insulated, but we plan to do that before winter comes.

I can't rate the energy efficiency or Tech Support as I have only had the unit installed for 3 weeks and no problems so far. I got tired of running the hot water in my kitchen sink for 4 + minutes before getting hot water as the kitchen sink is about 80-90 feet from hot water tank. My faucet was flowing 1.2 gallons a minute so it was close to 5 gallons of water down the drain before it got hot. I initially set the temp at 110 but that was not hot enough so went to 120 which was just perfect. I used a fairly good temp gauge to check it and it read 121 so it is very close if not perfect. I doubt I will ever recoup the cost as I had to run 110 feet of 8 ga. Romex + labor but the convenience & time was worth it to me.