Customer Reviews for Rheem Performance 13 kW Self-Modulating 2.54 GPM Tankless Electric Water Heater

Other than having a problem finding the right combination of fittings to install this water heater, the installation was simple and straightforward. Within seconds of flipping the breaker on, I had hot water! (and plenty of it I might add). The inlets are 5/8" compression thread, but 1/2" NPT adapters are included. I had issue going from 5/8" compression to 3/4" PEX, since there isn't a fitting available at HD or their competitors to go straight from 5/8" compression to 3/4" PEX, or from 1/2" NPT to 3/4" PEX. I ended up using a 1/2" NPT to 3/4" NPT adapter and a 3/4" NPT to 3/4" PEX fitting. Once I got that figured out, rest was a breeze. This is for a small 3/4 bath in my shop, so it shouldn't have any trouble supplying enough hot water to meet my needs.

Easy to install, only had for a month, but love the endless hot water. Bought the larger unit for better supply. Also bought the valves to flush the system.

The review guidelines pose 4 questions as a guide of what to talk about. The first question is "What features stand out most?" I have to say blinking lights. I have had a tankless water heater since 1998 and it finally went out. I could fix it but parts are no longer available for it. My faucets used to be high flow faucets - 2 gpm or more. However, every time I replace my old faucets with new ones, the flow is less. All of my new faucets now are 0.6 gpm. The 13kW tankless heats the water fine at these low flow rates. However, to do this, it doesn't need to keep 13kW full on. So it pulses the heater elements on/off/on/off/on/off/on/off... so the water doesn't over heat. Pulsing that much power on and off quickly makes all of the lights in the house blink at the same pulse rate. I have two 200 amp service panels in my house - plenty of power. Three AWG 6 wire are run from a 60 Amp circuit breaker in the panel to the water heater. It's just the way the digital control "varies the heat" by pulsing full on and full off around 4 to 8 times a second. I can run two hot water faucets or take a wonderfully hot shower (1.2 gpm low flow shower head) just fine. If you use hot water only in the day time, this tank will work for you. If you don't mind blinking lights when you use the hot water at night, then this tank is for you. If you don't like blinking lights in your home at night, then you might try something different. If you have high flow faucets and showers, then the unit might stay full on trying to heat the water to your setting. Then it probably wouldn't blink lights. For the install, I was told it is best to have 3' of copper lines so I used 2 18" lines coupled together to make 3'. I have included a photo of my install. My photo is also part of a sweepstakes entry for $1000. I was going to post my photo anyway to give you an idea of how it is connected up. It was very easy to install. It does come with two 1/2 NPT adapters - 1 for the inlet and 1 for the outlet. I run 3/4" everywhere so I had to adapt 1/2" to 3/4". I placed ball valves to isolate the tankless and an additional set of ball valves so that I can flush the unit out regularly to keep the pipes nice and clean. Question 2: "What do you like or dislike about it?" I like that it heats the water fine. I dislike the blinking lights. I have a mixture of old school tungsten lights (filament lights), flourescent lights, 120V halogen lights in the kitchen, low voltage halogen in the wall decorations, and the new (non-dimmable) LED lights in the ceiling. I worry that the rapid voltage fluctuations are going to prematurely burn out lots of lights or my expensive digital stove. Question 3: "How long have you had it?" Almost a month now. Question 4: "Does it meet your expectations?" Yes, as far as I was expecting it to heat water out of my low flow devices. I was not expecting the blinking lights.

After a week of use, I have no complaints. Have to tune it a bit to get the water temp where I like it in the shower by reducing the water flow.

It won't stay hot with 2 showers and sink like it says it will and it takes so long to get hot water.

Bought one of these to reduce my cost to install a gas tankless. To install the gas tankless I was going to have to run gas lines and an exhaust pipe which would require me to cut a hole in my warehouse ceiling or wall. I instead choose the electric tankless which was easy to install and much cheaper to install than the gas. I realize overtime I will pay more with the higher electric bill. So far we have had no major issues with the unit. We did run a 3/4 water pipe to it and when we have the flow open all the way, it can not heat the water that quickly. So, you must test the throughput the unit can handle for your specific install. I have not received my 1st water bill yet, so I am hesitant to give it 5 stars. Overall we have been happy with the purchase and would recommend it.

This is a fantastic tank less water heater. I beevised the wiring and I did not have hot water. I had a Sets unit and it required 2 40 amp double pole breakers.I installed a sub panel per Sets specs. This Rheem needs 3. So I got 2 - 1 inch double poles and the 2 inch to fit the box. DID NOT WORK. That made the 2- 1 inch breakers single phase. Not 240 across both terminals. So. Hook it up correctly and you will love it as we do. No heat fluctuations. Can run a dishwasher and still take a shower!! Just call tech support if needed. They are easy to work with. HIGHLY recommend.

Bought this as a replacement to an older (2012) eEmax solid state electric water heater. First thing is the price of these units has come down a lot in recent years (-30%), so that is nice. Also, the heating elements are threaded inside copper vessels instead of press fit into plastic vessels. Finally, the temperature controllers are digital instead of steady state so there is no loud "clunk" from the relay switches each time the unit starts and stops. Thanks to some sharkbite fittings, I was able to replace the old unit myself in a single morning. All in all, this unit is a huge upgrade from what we had in place before and is working like a dream.

Plan was to replace a condo 50 gallon tank with this as a condo wide solution. It's recommended to use a the larger 18 or 24Kw model for my volume of water but I wanted to do self install without major electrical upgrades. When I first turned on shower it was lukewarm but bathroom & kitchen facets were mild hot. Played with the volume of water by half opening faucets and perfect hot water. So my problem was too high water flow. Bought low flow shower head and faucet aerators, then played around with cold water inlet valve and found that half open it gave me perfect hot water on shower. Bet it would work perfect out of box if I bought the correct size for my needs but with some adjustments, you can use this smaller heater for an entire small 1BR/1BA condo. Note: I solve the inlet/outlet water connection issues with a 3 inch compression copper pipe with 3/4 converter end into a corrugated copper hose.

Works great for our entire household hot water needs, the cold water is freezing and it heats it up to a nice and steamy shower temp. I have it set to 115F and that's perfect for our needs and it's winter here, it's able to go up to 140F in the settings if ever needed. Would buy this heater again if ever needed! Love it!

So far the space saving and the consistent heat with my water has been amazing, the only downside is that I had to upgrade my house electrical. So beware of that when upgrading these water heaters because they require a huge amount of power draw. And beware cause the water gets hot!

Just installed in my painting studio in the desert. i love it! Next is putting one in my house!!! This puppy does the job!

It works great for a sink and our clothes washer in the laundry room. It does pull quite a bit of power when in use (You need a 60 Amp 2-Pole breaker), but not in use very often. Waiting to see if this makes a difference on our electric bill. It is a great space saver and a relief that we don't have 50 gallons of water in the attic!

Love it! I never run out of hot water. Several showers at the same time and over and over. This takes the place of my 80 gallon water heater tank. More room and I use electricity only when I need it. Not heating a tank all day and not needing it. I was skeptical, but now I am so glad I got this. Thanks.

I requested this unit so that I would have an electric tankless water heater that could be installed in my detached garage. Since the garage is not that large, it was vital that the water heater be wall mounted and have a very low profile. This water heater also has durable construction to resist damage over time from heat and cool cycling and the heating elements are connected to quality copper tubing. The only area this product doesn't get full marks is with Ease of installation since it requires 3x 20amp circuit breakers to be dedicated in the main breaker electric panel and for water piping to be run that is completely leak proofed. For this work, it is highly recommended to have skilled trades people who perform this work regularly and are licensed by the state.

The Performance 27 kw Self-Modulating 5.3 GPM Electric Tankless Water Heater requires three 40 amp double pole breakers (6 single pole breaker slots in total). This was the hardest part of my installation. I did not have 6 slots free, and I had to add a sub panel that was rated for at least 120 amp. Once the sub panel was installed I was able to run the 3 pairs of 8 AWG wire from the panel to the heater. I made the water connections using 3/4 NPT to PEX push fit connectors. Here in Texas we had no problems running at 5 gallons per minute to get water hot enough for a shower or bath, I love the fact that we have a constant flow of hot water. We can finally fill the soaker tub with hot water instead of running out mid fill and having to either wait 30 minutes to add more or add luke warm water. A simple control sets the desired temperature. This is a little difficult to use as a replacement to a standard water heater tank as you'll need three 240v feeds, a total spare capacity of 120 amp, and a total of 3 double pole breaker slots. If you have this, or this is going in a new build or remodel then I highly recommend it for a constant flow of hot water. This heater freed up a closest that used to house the water tank. We got free storage space by swapping the tank for this tankless heater.

Endless hot water for the whole house with two showers and a house full of kids is priceless. Takes a bit of electrical work if the water heater is not close to your main panel or if you do not have enough open breakers. Only unexpected issue is we have dimmable LED lights, if you are using a small amount of water like just one faucets you get a mild flicker in the LED turn on the shower or a couple faucets and it goes away has to do with how the unit regulates the temp at low volume and the dimmable leds don't like the pulsing draw of the heating elements. Moving the heater breakers close to the feed wires in the panel reduced it but its still there just slightly.

This product is extremely beneficial! It saves energy on monthly bills because I am no longer paying for water in a holding tank that I am not using! Additionally, it saves so much space because I no longer need the huge water tank. It is very easy to mount and can easily be installed by an electrician and plumber. You can read the temperature on the tank to set the temperature desired. Please see the attached picture so you can see what size unit is necessary depending on where you live .

When I saw this 36kw electric tankless water heater show up on the Home Depot Seeds campaign this month, I instantly knew that this would be my big item for the month. After having watched the utility costs in my home continue to rise steadily year after year, I knew I had to do something to slow the flow of money out of my wallet each month. This water heater has a few features that not only save the average homeowner money on heating water for showers, kitchen/bathroom sinks, dishwashers and laundry washing machines, but it also takes the much more efficient approach to heating the water by only turning on only the required heating elements for only the required amount of time during immediate call for hot water. What this means is that instead of counting on having sufficient quantity of near boiling water held in a very large tank 24/7/365 for heated water demands, you can heat a smaller quantity of water over an extremely small fraction of that time. This means no wasted energy heating water only to have it lose heat while no one is home to use it. One thing to take note of though is that in order to connect this water heater properly, you will need 4 slots in your breaker box and 4x40A breakers used for the 4 heating elements in this unit. Note though that you won't have 160A for 36kw of power being utilized unless you max out the capacity of this unit. That means 3 showers, a fast flowing sink pulling only hot water and a toilet flushing all at the same time.

I ordered this from the homdepot with anticipation of hot water need for the shower, kitchen sink and bathroom sink. I liked tankless heaters vs triditiinal 5 gallon tank heater because of the space this tankless heater will save by creating 7 square feet Unlike other moldels this tankless has adjustable heat settings And Can see just how this wlll save money aswell

Overall good quality water heater. I'd say use it for point of use only. I use it in my home brewery with 3/4" water lines so i did my own manual valving to get the perfect hot water mix. I dont have the pressure i want with my spray nozzle but that's okay. I'm almost debating on adding a second one in line after the first so i can open my valve alittle more. Other than that, it does what i need and fills my kettles with 130 degree water. With 30' of water line across the brewery, it does take about 30 seconds of running to get the hot water to the sink, kettles, or spray nozzle. but thats fine for my use.

The Performance 13 kW Self-Modulating 1.97 GPM electric tankless water heater is good for small apartments, utility areas, office, boat or many variety of areas. I will be using mine for my whirlpool tub. Each time I fill the tub it exhausts all the water in my electric water heater. The whirlpool tub is on the other side of the house from the stand-up heater. The point-of-use heater has made a huge difference. I did need to have an electrician update the amp power in my breaker box because I did not meet the voltage requirements needed for this unit. We installed the unit near the water heater but with the compact size (8 ¼” width x 3 5/8” depth x 12 5/8” height) it can be installed in different areas inconspicuously. There are several videos available for installation before you start but I do recommend having a professional do the install.

It makes a particular noise while working and is kicking my breaker. Even though he's on a 60 amp only for it.

Fairly easy to install.

Based on many of the 1 star reviews, there's the potential for issues in a few years, but I just installed my heater yesterday and I'm loving it so far. Had the plumbing professionally done, ran the electrical myself. People complain about the time it takes for the water to heat up, my upstairs shower has heat in under 10 seconds, so I'm not sure what the problem is. Hot endless water. I have 3 sinks, a shower, a dishwasher, and a washing machine in my house. Seems to be doing the trick.

Oh my endless hot water

Brand new installed yesterday, worked for a couple hours and then stopped working, bad control board. Rheem won't offer a good solution.

After 2 years, water stopped heating. Troubleshooting revealed that Triac and control board failed. Replaced both parts. A year and half later, having the same problem.