BajaNomad

Too much pressure for a Bosche OD water heater

Angelos - 1-7-2013 at 06:16 PM

We just purchased and installed a Bosche OD water heater for our home. Space is limited and we thought this would work well. The heater automatically shut off after about a minute of running water.

Our plumber called Bosche who told him our water pressure was too high. Yet the technical specs indicate we are within range.

We were told to return it to Home Depot (where we bought it) and get another one - but the technician there told us to buy the exact same one. Conclusion was that the first one was faulty and we surely misunderstood the water pressure issue.

Got a second one installed by the Home Depot technician and the same problem again. He called Bosche and talked to a different technician who told him we have TOO MUCH water pressure even though the technical specs say we are within range.

We are trying to decide if installing a tankless OD system is worth it and if we should just go back to a tank - although we don't have a lot of room so it will be a small tank.

Anyone out there install a Bosche OD system and how did it work? If it did work, what is your pressure (psi) - thanks!

rts551 - 1-7-2013 at 06:18 PM

It didn't work. pressure too low.

Bob and Susan - 1-7-2013 at 06:32 PM

i had 7 of them...a BIG mistake

i have 2 now and they are ONLY used for point of use as they turn off using a pressure pump

i currently use 12 gallon small propane units
they heat really fast and use very little gas

rts551 - 1-7-2013 at 06:35 PM

Bob and Susan. We do the same (15 gallon) and it works great.

astrobaja - 1-7-2013 at 06:42 PM

We had a buddy back in Ontario that used a Bosch OD for a hydronic floor heating system and he had nothing but problems with it!

Initially for our house here we had some weird Chinese brand that was bought here in Baja and that was a pain in the butt too, so then we got a Takagi OD heater on the recommendation of the company that made our hydronic heat system. They said it was one of the best. In the end you get what you pay for!

http://www.takagi.com/

Tacodawgtim - 1-7-2013 at 08:20 PM

I use a Bosch OD water heater in my solar home in San Felipe. It has worked great for five years. My presure is probably about 25 pounds. Not real high presure but it works great.

monoloco - 1-7-2013 at 08:24 PM

I have two of them in my house and they have been working flawlessly for 3 years. I'm using a variable speed pump that provides consistent pressure without a pressure tank. If you indeed have too much pressure, try a pressure reducer. Bosch does make high and low pressure models of the smallest heaters they sell down here. If you are using a pump with a bladder tank the problem may be the differential between the high and low cutoff pressures.

rts551 - 1-7-2013 at 08:26 PM

we also had problems with the ignitor getting dirty and not working. and problems there either?

Hook - 1-7-2013 at 08:35 PM

We've had one for about two years on our palapa deck. Our pressure tank keeps our pressure at 35-40 psi. No problems with the Bosch.

J.P. - 1-7-2013 at 08:40 PM

I had a Bosh with a hydro generator it worked about 4 years pressure was trickey it had to be in range. It died and I went to Home Depot and they had a new style that is designed to run off gravity feed I installed it and it works great Its way cheaper than the original GE Heater with the water we have here nothing last as long as it should.

[Edited on 1-8-2013 by J.P.]

shari - 1-8-2013 at 09:12 AM

I have a suggestion for water heaters. Buy local...because when something happens, you can either replace it or fix it. We only use electric 110 volt Rheum tanks because they are available everywhere here, you can get the replacement heating element easily locally, no worries about the pilot light burning out and they are economical too. We use a smaller tank and install a switch to turn it on and off and it heats up in 15 minutes...quick and easy.

I often see expats bringing in stuff from the states that is a nightmare as it is often incompatible with plumbing here and impossible to fix or get parts for.

So..buy local and have less problems...likely to be cheaper too.

rts551 - 1-8-2013 at 09:18 AM

I live off-grid...as many others do leaving propane as the best option.

Bosch OD

baja09 - 1-8-2013 at 09:50 AM

We have had good luck ....you need full flow without that it does not work ...must have good flow, restricted screens in faucets will stop it from working...

Had three-- none worked

capitolkat - 1-8-2013 at 10:23 AM

I had three installed in our new house as we have three zones for hot water. None worked, we had the Bosch tech out three times, too much pressure, not enough pressure, pressure OK, but hot water came on and then shut off if you dared to touch the control in the shower.Nothing worse than a nice hot shower that ends while you are still rinsing off.


My contractor talked to the manager at HOme Depot where we bought them and he said many come back and they are all from gringos as Mexicans take the failure in stride. I really wanted to be green with the product but I now have regular propane heaters and I'm not looking back as I tried for 6 months to make the Bosch heaters work.

I even went so far as to talk to a US supplier about the problems and gave him the serial nos. and models. They were all built in Mexico and he had never seen anything like them in the states.

CortezBlue - 1-8-2013 at 12:22 PM

I have a similar story but with a Rinnai od unit

we are in SF and at the bottom of our development on the beach. With the gravity, we have very high water pressure

Our tankless worked fine for a few years and out of the blue it died. We have a remote wired control panel in the house and it would beep and gave a code that said the gas was not getting to the system. I monkeyed around with it could never get it to work.

I brought down a small electric water heater I had at the house that I had replaced with a Hybrid heat pumped based water heater. But after running it for a month in the Dec/Jan time frame, I couldn't imagine continuing to pay the huge electric bill.

So I called the manufacturer of the tankless and they are not supported in Mexico. They suggested I bring back to the states, which I did. Got it home called them back and they gave me a list of service companies, however, the problem was, they needed it connected to the water and gas line.
That wasn't going to work, but luckily I mentioned this to one of the ladies on the phone and she referred me to a local guy that had a setup for repairing units for the Army at his shop.
This guy was really nice and he wanted $150 to hook it up, fix it and clean it. Since I found this brand new for $250 at an estate sale, why not.

He hooked it up and it worked like a champ. I couldn't believe it.

Took it back to Mexico, had my propane take emptied, which it was almost empty any way, and refilled the tank.

Worked like a champ and has for the past 3 or 4 years with no problems.

merlin - 1-8-2013 at 03:15 PM

I use these at my home and they work great. It took some trial and error to get them dialed in but once I did I've had about four years of trouble free service. The number one problem you will find is that almost all faucets and shower heads have water-saving heads that are not compatible with the OD water heaters. I found that when I installed high-end open flow shower heads I had less problems. On one shower head I even went so far as to drill out the port for less water restriction and it now works the best our of all of them.

As mentioned above - you need to clean all the water screens as well - any flow restriction and the hot water will turn off after a couple of minutes of use.

Good luck.

monoloco - 1-8-2013 at 03:20 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by shari
I have a suggestion for water heaters. Buy local...because when something happens, you can either replace it or fix it. We only use electric 110 volt Rheum tanks because they are available everywhere here, you can get the replacement heating element easily locally, no worries about the pilot light burning out and they are economical too. We use a smaller tank and install a switch to turn it on and off and it heats up in 15 minutes...quick and easy.

I often see expats bringing in stuff from the states that is a nightmare as it is often incompatible with plumbing here and impossible to fix or get parts for.

So..buy local and have less problems...likely to be cheaper too.
Good advice, down here Bosch on demand heaters are sold at Costco and Home Depot.

[Edited on 1-8-2013 by monoloco]

El Jefe - 1-9-2013 at 07:34 AM

Looks like the Bosch heaters have about a 50% chance of working for you. Ours didn't work either with our bladder tank system. I bought two 20 gallon gas heaters to replace the tankless and they have worked just fine thank you.
Better to keep it simple when you can.

mrfatboy - 1-9-2013 at 08:13 AM

Our San Diego home uses a nortiz tankless for 8 years now. Awesome. 5 friends have put them in based on our experience. Everybody loves them. Bosch is garbage.

Edguero - 1-11-2013 at 09:14 PM

I bought a used Marey off Ebay a few years back to see if that was the direction I wanted to go, the entire house (2 showers, 2 lavatory sinks, kitchen sink and outdoor shower) is pressurized with a 12v Shurflo and works pretty dang good.

durrelllrobert - 1-12-2013 at 12:38 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by baja09
We have had good luck ....you need full flow without that it does not work ...must have good flow, restricted screens in faucets will stop it from working...

..and a mixer valve on the shower is even worse since cold side overuns the hot side after a few minutes. need to have individual H & C faucets.

durrelllrobert - 1-12-2013 at 12:44 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by monoloco
Quote:
Originally posted by shari
I have a suggestion for water heaters. Buy local...because when something happens, you can either replace it or fix it. We only use electric 110 volt Rheum tanks because they are available everywhere here, you can get the replacement heating element easily locally, no worries about the pilot light burning out and they are economical too. We use a smaller tank and install a switch to turn it on and off and it heats up in 15 minutes...quick and easy.

I often see expats bringing in stuff from the states that is a nightmare as it is often incompatible with plumbing here and impossible to fix or get parts for.

So..buy local and have less problems...likely to be cheaper too.
Good advice, down here Bosch on demand heaters are sold at Costco and Home Depot.

[Edited on 1-8-2013 by monoloco]
...and they don't have all the "safety" interlocks that the US requires + a lot cheaper.