Review by F. PATCH:

My wife reminded me that our children and grandchildren were due to visit our cottage in one week, but not hot water. I placed my order on line and it was delivered in 3 days. Hot water at the cottage in 4 days. Wow it only took me 15 minutes to install. Then hot showers for all on the weekend. Great product.Bosch PowerStar 1.5 GPM Point-Of-Use Indoor Tankless Electric Water Heater #AE9.5

Review by Flashlight fan:

This heater works as advertised! The adjustments for temperature and the 220v hookup should be done by someone comfortable with these tasks – the instructions are not as clear as they could be. The indicator light is very helpful it adjusting the flow as it indicates when the unit is on (there is a click also).

Review by S. Knudsen:

Ever since we moved into our new house my wife has complained about how long it took the hot water to get to the kitchen sink from the hot water heater in the garage. Since installing the Ariston GL 4, she has been ecstatic!! Hot water is instant. It is such a pleasure not to have her complain about our former water problem. Even when I am “forced” to do the dishes, I can’t complain about our lack of hot H2O. Installation was easy except for the ill-fitting two top fittings. They will accept the hose extentions (hardware store), but you must be firm and patient. It took away alot of our storage space beneath the sink, but it was worth it.

Review by D. Kamp:

If your living in a place like mine where your hot water heater is a long way from the kitchen sink, then you are probably going crazy like I was waiting and waiting for the hot water to finally get to the faucet. There are technical ways to remedy this, but they involve a lot of plumbing, auxiliary pumps, and ripping half your house apart. Since I rent, I was thinking that the landlord wouldn’t take to kindly to this idea. So I started casting about for a better solution.

That’s when I came up with the idea of putting a little water heater as close to the kitchen faucet as possible. With this, the hot water is right there where you need it. No waiting and wasting a lot of water while running the faucet so that a half mile of plumbing warms up.

‘Only problem is a tiny tank has very limited capacity. If you’re only washing a dish or two like me, then no problem. But if you wash a sink full of dishes, it will quickly run out.

But the trick is to hook this little heater right in line with the hot water supplied from the big tank. As you draw hot water, cold water will go into the small heater, but only for a gallon or two. Then as you continue to draw hot water, the small heater now has hot water being supplied to it, so the hot water just keeps on coming.

I checked around with local suppliers and found small hot water heaters, but most were kinda short and stubby and wouldn’t fit under the sink well at all. But I stumbled upon this neat deal from Ariston. It’s a nice clean design, well insulated, and fits under the sink extremely well. I also felt that the price was very reasonable considering how nice it is. The funny thing is, it seems to be specifically designed for exactly the idea I had in mind. It was a snap to install.

So you may be thinking: Yeah. This all looks good in theory, but does it really work? I have to admit I was skeptical at first, but I have to tell you that this is one of those rare times when an idea I have actually works better than imagined. I’ve done small loads and big. The hot water is right there (immediately!) when you need it. And for all practical purposes it appears to be an infinite supply. I’ve had it in now for about 3 weeks and marvel each time I go to wash out a dish or two. Incredible! Don.

Review by M. Esaili:

This product is perfect for homes where the space is an issue or for locations distant from heating source.

The first heater we received and installed was mulfunctioning. After discussing the troubleshooting with BOSH, Amazon the same day we contacted them sent us new replacement. Returning the first heater could be easier. Thank you Amazon.com!

My electric panel was just some year new, we did not have to provide any additional works besides wiring the heater. I saved all closet space(where I had located 30gal. el water heater) for other use. Heater is very small, it would easily fit under the sink. Temperature of hot water can be adjusted to your needs. 2 gallons of hot water per minute are good enough. According to professional installer, the heater is so simple device, that it should not have any additional problems.

I am very happy with the product and am starting considering this type of hot water heater for whole house, no matter price for electrical works.

Where the space is an issue, this product is one of great solutions.

I am highly recomanding this heater.

Review by Brent D. Healy:

This is for Jack Stecker. maybe you shouldn’t be crushing all those pills buddy, I think it’s negatively impacting your brain. This water heater is not intended to replace a tank water heater, it is not for your whole house.

If it is tripping your breaker, it is because you did not wire it correctly, or are using the wrong size breaker. The wire sizes that Bosch says to use are NOT intended as a guideline, they are the size that the unit needs. You are probably very lucky you didn’t burn down your house. Next time follow the instructions, ALL of the instructions, and take the pills AFTER you are done with the wiring. I have two Bosch tankless water heaters, and they are awesome, but they need to be installed correctly. And yes, they do draw more electricity when they are on than a conventional tank water heater, it’s just that they are only on when you need hot water. that draw is why you need to follow the directives about wire size. If it says 8ga wire, you CANNOT use 10ga.

Also, the size requirement for your house service needs to adhered to as well, if is says minimum 200 amp service, you cannot use it with a 150 amp service, you could burn your house down.

My advice, buy the 220v unit and have an electrician install it for you.

Review by DoItYourSelfer:

EDIT – 1/11/08 ————————————————-

I’ve been having trouble with the Aquastar lately. It still works but doesn’t like to work when the furnance is running. I assumed the furnance was drawing down the gas pressure in the line but after having the gas company out and an HVAC technician they both concluded the pressure is steady and sufficient. Contacting Bosch technical support has proven to be an exercize in patience to say the least. Each phone call (there have been 3) has taken a minimum of 50 minutes on hold. I’ve spoken to three different techs and have been given three different solutions. First call, very nice lady, apolgized for the wait, I told her the problems and she sent me a new control box (didn’t work). The second time I called, the tech told me it was my problem and not the Aquastar. He said I had insufficient gas pressure (I didn’t), said I had a vent back draft (tested, I didn’t) basically he blew me off. He gave me the phone number of a local tech (wasn’t local-40 miles away) that I’d have to pay for (because it was my problem) to come and diagnose my Aquastar. I decided to call back because I was very unhappy with the technical support I had just received. My intent was to make a complaint, but on my third call I talked to yet another tech who diagnosed yet another possibility. He sent me another part to replace, which still hasn’t solved the problem. Which is where I’m at at the moment.

I’ve done some more research on the internet and it seems that Bosch Hotwater tech support is reknown for poor service. Unfortunately that’s something you only find out when the unit isn’t working.

I’ll have to change my recommendation from a buy to a don’t buy at this point based solely on customer service. Hot water is not something you can readily do without for any period of time and if you do have a problem with the Aquastar, waiting days to have it fixed is not a solution.

Another curious observation, why is there such a wait for tech support? Must be a lot of broken Aquastars out there.

END EDIT ————————————————

I installed the Aquastar 1600H myself in about 3 hours. I bought it at Lowes and like the other reviewer, had to go to HomeDepot to buy the 5″ class B ducting. I gave the Lowes sales ppl an ear full about that but it just went in one ear and out the other.

If you’re comfortable with sweeting copper and plumbing your own gas lines its really not that difficult. My biggest problem was positioning the unit so I could vent the exhaust gases. If you don’t have a straight vent stack and have to feed the exhaust into the chimney like I did, it required placing the unit really low on the wall. You are required to vent straight up for the first 12″ before you can elbow the vent. Along with the minimum run vs. rise of the vent pipe, it forced me to place the unit just barely a foot off the ground. Your situation may be different but keep it in mind. Also, it requires a minimum of 3/4″ inside diameter black iron gas pipe. In some cases if you’re tapping into the same gas line as your furnance, you may have to install 1″ gas line. This unit requires a lot of BTU’s and if you choke down below 3/4″ it will not run properly. So that means no yellow flexible line to make the last connection. You’ll have to hard plumb the iron pipe all the way to the unit.

There are both benifits and negatives to this unit. First the benifits. Long, long, long showers. Literally, you can take a shower all day. Then the next person in line doesn’t have to wait for the water to heat back up. It’s ready to go. Great for a family getting ready in the morning. Second, big savings on the gas bill. My bill dropped the month after I installed this unit. I figure it will pay for itself in less than two years after the tax credit.

Now for the negatives. Low hot water pressure. That takes some getting used to. The unit has a maximum 4.3 gpm, but that’s really unreasonable.(Take into consideration that I’m in the Northern USA and the water in coming into the house is at 50 degrees.) At that flow rate the water doesn’t heat up above 90 degrees. That makes it warm not hot. You have to turn down the flow rate to 2.3 gpm to heat the water to 120 degrees. At that flow rate / pressure, if you open two hot water spigots anywhere in the house at the same time it becomes a trickle. There is no way you could run the shower or any other appliance like the dishwasher or washing machine at the same time. If you turn the Aquastar back up to 4.3 gpm you could, but you’ll be taking a warm shower not hot (in my case).

Also, at 2.3 gpm, it takes a long time for the hot water to actually get to the faucet. It probably takes 4 to 5 times longer than it used to for hot water to flow from the tap than it did with the old tank system. For example, if I’m washing my hands, by the time I’m done lathering up and rinsing, the water is just now starting to get hot. I’ve come to realize its not even worth turning the hot water on for short burst of hot water like that.

It takes adaptation to get use to this, like this trick I use in the morning. I turn the hot water on and brush my teeth while the water is slowly making it’s way to the tap. Once it’s hot, then I turn on the shower. Otherwise I have to let the shower flow for what seems like a very long time before it starts getting up to temperature.

Would I recommend this unit. It depends. If you really need the ability to run two showers or two appliances at the same time, then no way. You’ll have to go with the next unit up that has a faster flow rate. There’s no way this unit can handle that.

But if you think you can adapt to the low flow rate and really enjoy taking all day hot showers while saving money on your gas bill then this is the unit for you. I really enjoy the savings and long showers.

One more thing. The manual says you have to clean the unit once a year to maintain its efficiency. That means disassembling some parts in the unit. Clean them and put it back together. I haven’t had to do this yet, but its just one more thing to consider before you switch to tankless hot water.

Review by Macs R We:

I installed a Bosch 1600H-NG in a small (900 SF) home a little over a year ago. Installation wasn’t tough, and hot water flow was adequate for a small home in our warm climate.

I bought this unit because its piezo ignition feature would guarantee us hot water even if power to the home went out. There were battery-driven units, but I figured if you had a choice between having to change batteries regularly or not, why sign up? Trouble is, the turbine in the ignitor is insanely sensitive to small particles of grit and rust, which jam it and shut down the heater. I have had to disassemble and clean this turbine three times in the past year (twice in the past three weeks) which is a messy job (the plumbing attachments on the bottom of the unit ensure that all spilled water is generously dispersed over the floor). This is despite my having put a whole-house grit filter on the water feed after the first instance. Right now, changing batteries looks a lot more attractive. I wouldn’t buy this unit again.

Update, 9/09: After the first problem with grit and the installation of the whole-house grit filter, it appears that the subsequent problems were caused by the improper reinstallation of the turbine rotor. The instructions are completely unclear on this step, and it’s possible to install the rotor reversed and have it work, at least for a little while. Once I installed the rotor in the proper direction, I have had no more issues with this heater. I’d like to upgrade my review to four stars, but it appears that it’s no longer editable. The basic point stands: don’t install this heater without a grit filter on your water system.