EccotempFVI12-LP Liquid Propane Gas Tankless Water Heaters, White

I bought this product for my small 360 sf studio building because it is one of the few gas fired heaters that can be used in-doors. I wanted a gas fired unit after reading on-line reviews that noted electric heaters are slow to heat up water. I am using an in-door cistern so I don't to waste water while I am waiting for it heat up. My sink and shower is about 8 feet from the unit, and the water line runs through a crawl space which is 40 degrees today. The cistern water temperature is probably less than 60 degrees. The water begins to flow warm in just a few seconds and is fully hot in less than 15 seconds. I have set the unit controls for approximately maximum water flow and minimum gas in order to keep the water from becoming too hot. I estimate that the unit will easily raise the water temperature 45 degrees as advertised, and probably more in my experience. This heater works exactly as advertised. The unit itself is sleek and attractive looking. It feels very sturdy and the cabinet is fairly heavy gauge metal.I have some experience as a home owner/handyman and I was able to install the heater relying on the directions that came with the product. I made the mistake of over-tightening the water line and broke the brass connector. I called Eccotemp and left a message. Shortly thereafter I got a call from the help desk. I got excellent advice on how the obtain and install the replacement part. I ordered the part and it came in a few days. Next, I couldn't get the unit to fire up when I turned on the hot water spigot. The fault was mine. I didn't know at the time that my propane gas tank was empty. I emailed the help desk and got back a call within two hours, but when I didn't respond to the call, I got another call about 7:00 o'clock that night. This is the first time I have ever had a vendor pursue ME in order to get me the advise I was asking for. Terrific really. In addition to being out of gas, it turned that I didn't have a regulator on the tank. I got very specific advice on the kind of regulator I needed and how to install it.Buyers should note that the device requires a gas regulator if you are using a portable propane tank, but the instructions do not say so. The help desk advised me to get a 11 inch water column regulator, or the standard regulator sold for propane fired grills. I couldn't find a regulator that specifically said it was 11 inch water column, but a regulator from Home Depot for grills worked just fine. It cost $16.This is the best vendor service I have ever received for a mail order product.

As long as nothing goes wrong with this unit, you'll love it. If it fails for some reason, you'll just get the runaround from customer service, and all that love will disappear. This water heater had some great features compared to the Bosch it replaced, and it worked well for a few months. Then it sprung a pinhole water leak in the heat exchanger tubing. The leak was right on the bend in the tubing, a natural weak spot, and appears to just be where the water pressure wore away at it until it broke. My husband removed the unit so we could at least restore cold water flow until we could get a replacement. I e-mailed the customer service address in the manual to ask how you go about a warantee exchange. They replied by e-mail that I would need to call them, because they had questions. My husband called customer service. Their brilliant analysis was that the unit had to have frozen from cold air coming down the vent on a 31 degree night. Really? Inside the warm house? Come on! If that is the case, what is going to happen to the unit on the other end of the house when we get to the actual cold weather, below zero? I guess we get to look forward to some major water damage. They couldn't stand by their warantee, because it just had to be our fault that their product failed, but, hey, they will kindly sell us a replacement at a discount. What kind of warantee is that!?! Buy at your own risk- maybe it will work great and you'll have no problems. But if you have a problem, the warantee isn't going to apply, and you'll be stuck with buying a replacement.Update: We never were able to get this company to back their warantee, and got tired of arguing with them. We ended up having the pinhole repaired, and that lasted about a month. Then, a new pinhole leak started in another place in the tubing. Water sprayed all over the electronic connections, ruining them as well. We've had it with this piece of junk, and won't be repairing it again just to wait for the next leak. Do not waste your money on this product!

I bought this after a lot of research to replace a 40 gallon gas water heater that went out after 7 years. It had a 6 year warranty. It was as easy to hook up as the old heater. The only problem I had was that I was on well water and have a water pump. The water would turn hot, but when my pump went to prime, it would cut out and the pressure went down and the water would turn cold. I called the company and they said I would have to buy a diaphragm pump at around $160 to add on to keep the pressure level. I looked to find a used one or get a cheaper price for weeks. I happened to go to the store where I had bought my wayne water pump. The salesman told me that maybe I could just put a higher pressure switch on my pump. What they normally sell in the store is a 30-50 pressure switch which is what city water runs at. There was a 40-60 pressure switch they didn't carry that he thought would give me enough pressure to run the heater consistantly. I bought one from amazon with a low pressure cutoff in case there was a problem with a leak or broken pipe. The salesman told me to open a faucet and drain my lines then check the pressure of my tank. The lines need drained so that you are checking air and not water pressure in the tank. Then to put the pressure to 2 below the pressure switch lower number. Since the switch was at 40, I put the tank at 38. The switch was very easy to change out. That did the trick. I had to readjust the temp and gas switch on the heater after this. I now have consistant hot water all the time. I am thrilled that I am not heating water all the time, only when I need it. I am sure I will save a lot of money over the years with this new system. I hope this helps anyone who also has a water pump, so you don't have to buy anyextra equiptment.

After more than a year, I am still very pleased with performance and cost to run. Extremely cold weather does require adjustment to keep predictable output and have had to learn to drain back at 0f/-18c to prevent freeze ups...at -29f/-34c the vent chimney will freeze the water even if a tap is left running. So far ruptured areas are exposed and repairable.

I've installed this in our off-grid cabin and so far it has been working well. Couple of items to note though:1. This unit would not work with a modified sine wave inverter, it would shut down almost immediately with an error. I was planning to upgrade to a pure sine wave anyway and once I did it's been working fine.2. The temperature controls are a bit weird and it took me some time to figure out an optimal setting. This could be in part due to water pressure being lower as we're on a well but I found the best way to adjust water temperature was by setting the Temperature gauge to highest setting and using the gas regulator to fine tune - I have the gas setting on almost the minimum and this gives me about 120F water temperature.For cottage / occasional use this unit is perfect, especially for the cost. It's not something I would install in a house.

I had a plumber install it in British Columbia where we have cold winters and he set it up in an outdoor washroom which had plumbing but not much power. I’m impressed! The water was hot and will last as long as the propane does and it doesn’t use hardly any power

Amazon loves to send me , pre used units and let me pay new price. be aware! my 3rd unit(was scratched, even water came out) But it works good. fvi12.-1 Stars for amazon. 5 Stars for the eccotemp waterheater

I use this water heater in my small meat cutting shack. Works great on my one tap sink.Very easy to install.