ECO 11 Electric Tankless Water Heater, 13KW at 240 Volts with Patented Self Modulating Technology

We purchased this water heater based on comments here and like others, we agree that it is a great water heater. We are using it as a whole-house water heater replacing a sixty gallon tank that started leaking. We expected that there would be some adjustment in going tank-less and using an 11KW as a whole-house water heater, for example like not using other faucets while showering, etc., but we were willing to make that sacrifice because we were going to be saving money on the heater, and on electricity with the bonus of doing the right thing for the environment. Well, this heater exceeded expectations by a LOT. We keep it set at 110 degrees which makes for very hot shower but not scalding and no problems using other sinks at the same time. My wife told me she took a shower while the dishwasher was running and expected it to be "cool" but to her surprise there was no problem handling the dishwasher and shower at the same time. It has been about a month since we installed the water heater in our 4 bedroom, 3.5 bath house and we have forgotten that we are heating water on demand because there is no noticeable difference compared to when we had a sixty gallon tank. One of our showers is a double shower and I tried that out, no problem the heater handled both fine with no reduction in temperature. You should be aware our house is a Florida house so our city water comes in at around 68 degrees. If you had well water you will have different results as you will be heating much colder water. One other thing to note, if you take a bath you will want to crank the heater to higher temp, it is so easy with the knob and digital readout I taught my daughter to crank it before her bath so she can add extra hot water to "freshen" up her long and hot bath otherwise 110 degrees isn't hot enough to heat up a cooled bath do to rapid heat loss. You can buy the remote control for about forty bucks and adjust the heater setting from anywhere, or just keep your heater set to a higher temp. We like running it at 110 so that we have maximum energy savings and eliminate scalding risks. I highly recommend this heater, keep in mind that you need upgraded wiring, you will probably have 220 volt electric for your existing water heater but ours was only 30 amp and this one calls for 60 amp so that means getting MUCH thicker wire that is expensive and hard to pull. If your heater can be located close to the breaker box you will save money in wire and the hassle of pulling super thick wire. I bought wiring and breaker for 50amp by mistake and didn't notice until after the installation was finished. We must have never drawn more than 50 amps because the breaker has NEVER kicked even running two showers so I plan on keeping the 50 amp breaker as the wire we used is safe for only up to 50 amps and I'd need to replace the wire to even thicker.

It's surprisingly easy to install and works great. I'd anticipated a significant performance loss when switching from a traditional water heater to a tankless model, but this thing is awesome. Instead of using a low flow shower head I went with a pressure enhancing head, the thought being that why should I limit the flow of water before I had the chance to find out exactly what the capability of the heater is. If the heater wasn't capable of keeping up with the flow I could simply turn down the volume of water, and the pressure enhancing shower head would make it tolerable. As it turned out water pressure wasn't a problem. One neat thing about a tankless heater is that you no longer have to use cold water to bring down your hot water temperature to a tolerable level. If I want hot, but not scalp scalding hot, I simply turn the hot tap to full and I'm set. If I want crazy hot I turn the hot water volume down about 20 percent and I'm lobster red in no time. I'm saving money on the electric bill by not preheating water 24 hours a day, and I have unlimited hot water for when I wanna zombie out in the shower. If that's not a win - win I don't know what is. The only real downside to a 220 volt tankless heater is that because it pulls much more current than a standard water heater you will most likely need to upgrade your existing electrical wiring. The paperwork says that it needs 6 gauge wiring, the largest I had on-hand was 8 gauge. For my short wire run it turned out to be plenty. Even after a long shower the wire temp remains perfectly cool to the touch. I also had to upgrade the existing breaker to a 60 amp model. Changing a 220 breaker sounds intimidating, but it's extremely simple. There are only three wires from the water heater to deal with. The red and black wire go to the new breakers wire terminals (doesn't matter which goes to which terminal) and the ground wire goes to a ground lug inside the electrical panel. Study up on the components of your electrical panel and follow basic safety procedures and you'll be fine. The water connections are super simple. The heater comes with a choice of a compression fitting for copper pipe, or a threaded fitting for use with whatever type of plumbing pipe you're using. I used the threaded connector to connect pex piping. If you've never used pex, think plastic bendable water pipe that can be snapped together to whatever configuration you need using press fit connectors. Press fit connectors are also used to connect your new pex to existing copper pipes. Snip snip, click click, and you're good to go. Gone are the days of soldering copper pipes till you're mad at the world. Having installed this unit in just a couple of hours as a newbie, when and if this unit dies I feel confident that I can easily install its replacement in less than thirty minutes. A water heater that will pay for itself in less than a year, AND reduce future headaches? Why the heck not?

This was purchased in Nov. 2018 to replace a propane tank water heater with an efficient electric tankless water heater, and it performed flawlessly until last night when it died in the middle of my shower. A replacement propane tank water heater costs between $750 - $800 and has a usable life here because of the hard water of 8 years, and the pilot light uses about 6 gallons a month. At the local price of propane, that's about $22 a month, around $265 a year, PLUS the much greater cost of keeping that tank of water constantly hot. This electric heater costs about $200 with the tax and unlike the propane one, there's no further costs if you don't use it. The monthly average use probably costs about the same as just the pilot light does, with propane. This heater has a lot of bad reviews but still less than all the others. A lot of people complain about customer service but it's bad everywhere anymore, which is what you have to expect for stuff NOT made in the USA. If it doesn't work, ship it back and try again. If you paid a plumber, then you're out the money no matter what brand you buy. Just saying, after reading many of those reviews, that we have to take our chances anymore. Start making everything here in the USA again if you want products that last.

Ecosmart 11 Paid $3000 to have 6awg 60amp lines run especially for this unit to be used as point-of-use in 5 locations in my house I ordered a new unit and received used. It was very obvious when opening the box that it was used. There was excessive cosmetic damage to the unit, and the seal that voids the warranty was broken. Amazon of course will return the item without argument, but I have to go through the hassle of boxing it up and dropping it off at UPS. The quality control needs to step it up. I don't appreciate being sent someone else's junk unit when I paid for a NEW item. I will post pictures. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Update #1 I received a replacement unit. A new one this time. I installed it and it does not work. I called Ecosmart tech support and they had me break the warranty seal, remove the cover, and use my volt meter to check the voltages of the heating elements. Everything tested good. 244v on one side and 133-215 on the other side depending on flow rate. I was planning to use this as a point of use system for my kitchen. It only has a kitchen sink and dishwasher connected to it. With the kitchen sink all the way open there is no change in water temperature. Running at .5 gpm, which is little more than a trickle, I could tell a very minor change in temperature. I would guess that the water temperature went from about 55F to 75F. This is not sufficient for a dishwasher or common kitchen tasks of washing items. The Ecosmart tech said it should be able to take 57F to 105F at 1.5gpm flow rate. I asked him what could be wrong with the unit. He told me the unit was working as intended because all of the voltages on the heating elements were correct. I told him something had to be wrong. I asked if there could possibly be anything else. He said since I had a single handle faucet it could be mixing cold with hot. I told him that was not the case since I had just installed the faucet and tested. I have water cut-offs on all of my lines, so it was a simple matter of turning off the cold water line to the sink to rule this out as a possibility. I asked if there could be anything else, no. I told him that if the unit is working as intended I would have to return it as it is not working. I suspect I received a bad unit, and they likely send a lot of bad units. There are a lot of good reviews on these units, and a lot of bad reviews. For some people these units work great and for others they don't work at all. I think there is a serious problem with the components, assembly, or testing of the equipment. I will return this unit and not purchase any more Ecosmart products. I cannot recommend this product. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Update #2 Since I still had the first unit that was sent to me, the used one, I went ahead and installed it because I was curious. Apparently the unit wasn't "working as intended" like the Ecosmart support told me. The first/used unit heated the water. The water got scalding hot if I didn't run the faucet at full blast. Running the kitchen sink at ~1gpm with the temperature set to 140F the water would get so hot it could burn you. At 140F with the faucet wide open at ~2.5gpm the water would get warm. I would guess around 90-100F. I can see why the unit was returned though. It cannot maintain temperature and it makes some strange noises. There were hissing sounds coming from the faucet and the temperature fluctuated greatly. I still cannot recommend this product. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Update #3 I bought a Rheem RTE 13 to replace the crap I had been getting from Ecosmart. I received the Rheem from Amazon today and installed it. It works pretty good. The flow rate on my kitchen sink is about 2.5 to 3gpm, and the Rheem is rated for 4gpm. With the Rheem turned all the way up the water gets warm but not hot when my sink is all the way open. Only opened about halfway the water gets very hot. It is going to work great as a point-of-use system for me; which was the intended purpose anyway. It will only be supplying hot water to the kitchen sink and a dishwasher.

My wife bought this for us as a Christmas present in November 2022 because she knew our old water heater was on it's last legs and I had been researching and liked the ECOSMART 11. I received it on Christmas day and installed it in early January. At that time I sent in the Warranty card simply because I always do. Well, on January 6th of 2024 one of the elements died. No problem, I have a warranty which also just happens to be a Limited Lifetime period (but not on the elements). So I called to get a new element...and was told very rudely that the unit was NOT registered for warranty within the 30 DAYS of purchase therefore I HAVE NO WARRANTY! Keep in mind I didn't even KNOW I had it until December 25th and therefore had NO WAY to send the card or register online for it. I explained the situation and Rheem confirmed they DID receive the warranty card but since it wasn't within 30 days of purchase Rheem would not honor it. It is NOT a standard element although readily available...ONLINE. Hardware stores carry many standard elements but NOT THIS ONE. I had to order a new pair, luckily for less than $60 but unluckily we went without hot water for a WEEK waiting to receive the part...and that was with Prime shipping! So I got it back up today and immediately ordered another element so I would have a spare pair (which ironically NOW will arrive in two days on Prime). While I was at it I ordered spare Triacs (Q6040J7's) since the elements and the Triacs are the most likely part to ever fail. I'm an electrical engineer so I know how to troubleshoot/replace those parts if necessary. And I live by the adage "If you have a spare then you never need it; if not then it will fail at the worst possible time". I don't want to go without hot water for a week without a good reason...and this wasn't a good reason since it shouldn't have failed this early. According to most estimates that I've found these units, including the elements, usually last 20+ years without problems as long as you descale them periodically (which I do and just did in November) so mine failing is a rare event so I wouldn't worry too much about that happening but I recommend you HAVE A SPARE PAIR OF ELEMENTS on hand because they aren't locally available, at least not for me. AND DON'T COUNT ON EVER GETTING ANY WARRANTY SUPPORT FROM ECOSMART (RHEEM) BECAUSE THEY ARE DESPICABLE IN MY OPINION. There wasn't any way to meet their requirements. Completely unreasonable.

Here's my story review. I live in a mobile community, one college guy who can't buy a real house. Lived here for 25 years, one day the bathroom looks all wet on the floor, walls stained. The old waterheater sprung a leak and had to go. No floor pan was installed back in the old days so it seems *slaps head*. I shopped around for waterheaters but there were $300< starting price range. I decided to shop around and my main influence is comments (yes like this one) and youtube reviews. Found out tankless ones might save me money. Plus the initial cost was amazing I paid less than $250 for my 11kw EcoSmart unit. I use a drip/drain pan just in case it leaks somehow on the floor. I waited for this review to actually use it for 3 weeks now. I learned how to solder pipe (easy, fun, use lots of flux!!) to make some small 1/2" thread to 3/4" thread copper shortie pipes to adapt to the unit. I upgraded my circuit breaker to 60 amps dual pole (240v) from 40 amps. I was supposed to upgrade the wires to 8g but I did an infrared heat test on the current wires with hot water running and no heat problems, But I will upgrade the circuit to 8g when it's warmer out in the spring it's cold out now (winter 2011). Over all I'm super happy I bought this unit. It's perfect for one guy like me. It saved me a bundle over a regular water heater and install work (this unit was so small and so easy to install) and I'm happy to be participating in environmental/energy savings just by using this unit too. I did void the warranty by installing it myself, I'm kind of a self taught handy man, but I figure the whole unit only cost $250> so I could just buy a new one if anything goes wrong vs some novice electrican ruining stuff and I ended up paying the same amount anyway. If this brand ends up bad, i'll just switch brands. It's the darwin theory for appliances. But every review I've seen on this unit is that it is top notch quality, and when I got it I believe it also the thing is made Awesome, it has a digital dial for the temperature and it simple to install and use. I am so happy I went this route and the 11kw unit is perfect for my simple (one guy) purpose. What that really means is, one sink/shower at a time. At 120 degrees on the dial my showers are Insanely Hot and last forever. I had 3 people in here before (girlfriend and kid) and we all just respected the "showering" person by not using the water. Had to do that with our water heater before anyways. I live in the Seattle area. And MyRubberneck is a good seller too. I got my unit from UPS in about 6 days, the weekend interrupted the (3-5) delivery by a day. That's fine i'm not upset about that though. He saved me about $30 over Sears and their promise was two week delivery for online purchases (ya go check Sears). He sent it in the raw unit box, I kind of wished it had a cardboard sleeve or even a grocery bag sleeve, or bigger box for it. but the box was intact. The Benefits: endless hot water, power bill savings, no more tank pressure/old leaks etc. The Cons: my only complaint is that the warranty is nullified if you install it without a licensed electrician. Oh well. And also the documentation does not say which wire is power, neutral, or ground. The colors were Red, blue, and yellow/green. Ya I figured it out (red+, blue-, and yellow/grn=ground), but dang shouldn't documentation HAVE THAT in there? Maybe it was designed for licensed electricians only. LOL. *Also, an important factor. The water heat temp consistency directly depends on the temperature of the "ground" water coming into the unit. sometimes my shower temperatures got hot or cold (only slightly) but I'm sure it was "cold water sandwiches" but from the ground water temps, especially in winter. The unit is probably taxed to adjust to your preffered temp. Think about that in a "thermal" way. I think if you had a buffer tank or something say (a turned off small water tank 20-30gallons) that had a constant temperature before the unit heated it up then showers would be no problem. My water heater room is totally empty now sans the EcoSmart unit in there, I could put in a buffer tank easy. Or a more powerful EcoSmart unit might make this a non issue. My work around though...just turn up or down the shower dial accordingly, not that big of a deal to me. I give this thing 5 stars!! I get the feeling the big water heater, or power companies don't want people to get their hands on these types of new technologies. It was SUPER hard to find any in the stores that weren't in the thousand dollar range, this was a 1/4 that price. And this had THE BEST reviews from the internet I researched for 10 hours straight, ya I'm a nerd. When I get a real house I will probably buy the EcoSmart 27kw model. I love this unit very much. Take care. ~TZ

I installed my EcoSmart ECO 11 on September 12. The basic installation was fairly easy. Running the 6 gauge wire, not so much. I got it done, correctly and up to code, but a major pain. Would hire an electrician if I had to do it again. Many have said they had trouble with leaks when connecting to the unit itself. My guess is that those folks failed to use the included washers. Not surprising since I saw noting in the instructions and only found out about them on the third or fourth YouTube video I watched. The washers are located inside the red and blue protector caps on the input and outputs of the unit. If you didn't check, they probably got tossed out without realizing it. THEY ARE NECESSSARY. DON'T THROW THEM OUT. Since the input and output on ECO11, (and the ECO 8), are 1/2 inch and most water connections are 3/4 in, you will need to add an adapter to both in and out. Don't make my mistake and buy brass. Most brass, while easier to find, is not allowed for 'potable' water connections. I had to return mine and get stainless steel. Minor inconvenience, but avoidable. I found that the easiest connection method for me was to use steel wrapped washing machine hoses. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0915TVZGY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Pex pipe would probably have worked, but have never used it before. I did install the 3M Aqua-Pur filter. Easiest for me was at the cold water input just before attaching the washing machine hose. Bought, but did not use, the isolating valves. Tried, but had too many leaks and got frustrated. Since I live alone, I figured I'd only need to flush the tank once a year and will simply disconnect the washer hoses and utilize another set for the flushing procedure. Be a good time to check for any wear on the original hoses. I'm in South Florida, so the incoming water is quite warm. Not like where I grew up in northern New York. The unit works great and will the thermostat goes to 140 degrees, water temp reached 143 degrees when tested at the kitchen faucet. That being said, I keep the thermostat set at 104 degrees. That, for me. is a perfect shower temperature. Just turn the hot water on all the way and once it there, no need to adjust. Why heat water to 120 degrees then add cold water? Not cost effective. My dishwasher has its own built in heater so no worries there. If you do need hotter water for any reason, it's very easy to simply turn up the thermostat and then back down when you're done.

I bought this in 2020 and it still works great. I also notice that in 6 years its only 6 bucks more. good job guys