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Customer Review
Reviewed in the United States on September 24, 2015
I purchased the ECOsmart ECO 18 tankless water heater in April from Amazon during one of their open box warehouse sales for a very cheap price. The unit arrived as a wreck (as I expected it would). After beating out the smashed in cover (from improper shipping packaging) I inspected the inner workings, and found several parts ajar, and the cold water inlet fitting missing. Amazon offered an additional discount to me, so I took it, and set out to fix the unit, and replace the missing part. The cold inlet fitting has a one of a kind unique fitting threads, and I quickly found out that it’s irreplaceable. A call to Ecosmart tech support was personally and professionally handled. The tech told me that this part is not available. He then went into their spare parts junk drawer, found one used, and sent it to me for next to nothing. I couldn’t be happier with Ecosmarts service! The unit sat for 4 months until I had time to install it myself. I wanted to be sure it worked before gutting out my perfectly good water heater, so this report is what I found by permanently wiring, but temporarily plumbing the unit so as to not disturb the existing water heater. First of all, I live in South Florida (Broward County). Our water is fairly warm as supplied (70 Deg. Inlet temperatures in summer). I can only report how the unit worked with reasonably warm inlet temperatures. I’ve lived in the past in places where the water is 50 Deg. Year round coming out of the tap (NE Ohio), so I know I’m living in ideal conditions for a tankless electric water heater set up. I can report the following: I measured my normal shower water temperature. I like a hot shower. Using a lab quality thermometer, I find a water temperature of 95 to 98 Degrees is pretty darn hot. Maybe not hot enough to thaw out a frozen Ohio Linesmen, or firefighter with ice frozen to your face, but plenty hot for normal humans. I have the ECosmart 18 because electrically, my house only has 150 amp service. Larger Ecosmart units would overload my supply service. As tested, a 5 GPM flow (That’s enough for two old fashioned shower heads AND a sink running hot, the outlet hot water as measured was 115 degrees. This is with the unit set as high as it will go (140 Degrees). The unit will maintain a 45 degree water temp increase over inlet temperature. Testing at a flow rate of 2.5 Gallons per min.(enough for an old fashioned shower head and a sink), the unit maintained 135 deg. With the temp set at 140. My unit had no problem maintaining 115 deg. output if set at 120 deg. With a flow rate of 2.5 gallons a minute. In testing, I found a constant 5 degree error between what the unit says the set temperature is, and actual. Not bad considering it’s not an aerospace product, and some small gauge error is possible. The hot water tank I’m replacing is a 65 gallon unit, and IT DOES flicker the house lights every time a heating element turns on. (Noticeably annoying). I am super happy to report that the Ecosmart 18 unit does not flicker my house lighting. If you look very carefully, a very, very slight, teeny, weeinee load can be seen in the interior lighting of the house when the Ecosmart unit turns on, but it’s MUCH better than my existing standard tank type water heater. The ECO 18 turns on with very little water flow (a sink just turned on enough to wet a tooth brush will trigger it to heat the water) so flow sensing is perfect, and not a factor at all. My overall opinion is that yes, the unit is delicate, and is prone to damage in shipping. Once placed in service, it’s rugged enough to last a long time, and it works better than advertised. If you are in very cold water climate, you will need the biggest unit, and adequate power supply. Ecosmart lists what the unit will actually do modestly. If you read up on the specifications for each of their units, and match your water need and water temperature and follow the installation instructions you will never be disappointed by purchasing an Ecosmart unit. These things are great! Do your homework before you buy, and match it properly, you won’t be disappointed! Removing that old tank water heater and replacing it with the Ecosmart gave me a whole lot more room in my garage, as an added benefit too!
