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

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

1. 

   5 out of 5

   GaryNC – July 12, 2020

   I bought the Eco 11 and the aquapure pre-filter in Nov 2012. So it’s 5+ years old and still going strong. We’re a 2-person household and have 1500 sf house, single bath/shower, dishwasher, clothes washer. We never run anything at the same time as the shower so I can’t say how it would do for multitasking but, for our purpose, it works great. I replace the pre-filter as needed and haven’t had any problems with the heater.We have hard well-water with a high level of iron but I have 2-stage, 30 micron filters for the whole house (no softener), and the aquapure pre-filter does final cleanup. The water comes out of the ground at about 50F and I set the control to generate 112F output, so we do have to run the water for a couple of minutes for the 20-foot run to the plumbing wall.What I really love about it is that I was able to replace an electric 40-gal heater, that took up half of a 3′ x 6′ closet, with a unit that hangs on the wall and is about the size of a shoe box. Since this runs on a 60 amp breaker we did have to pull #6 AWG wire, which was kind of a pain, but that’s my only complaint.I’m back on this page to check current prices for another one for my workshop, so I thought I’d add my review.

2. 

   5 out of 5

   Edward Ambriz – July 12, 2020

   Reviewing the Eco 11 model. I purchased to replace a different manufacturer water heater. The Eco 11 requires a 60 amp double pole breaker and #06 wire that requires you to take apart the heater and connect (both breaker and wire are not included). A dial is used to adjust the temperature and has a small readout screen. I am using this for a kitchen sink, restroom sink and shower, only ever using one faucet at a time. Works good for it’s designed purpose. In comparison to my former electric water heater, this one has a higheroutput rating, but seems to not be as consistent. The water doesn’t seem to stay consistently hot (fyi – my water pressure is perfect psi for this heater), what I mean is that it fluctuates from hot to warm to hot. My other heater was constant with temperature. Still, this heater does it’s job, and is a good value, if you look at other similar models and brands. I’ve been using for a solid month from time of installation to this review, so not sure of the products longevity. I am satisfied, and do recommend, as I will be purchasing another for an upcoming project. Hope this information is helpful!

3. 

   5 out of 5

   David M. – August 6, 2020

   In our house the kitchen sink and dishwasher are about as far as they could possibly be from the tank style electric water heater that’s in the basement. This puts approximately 45ft of 3/4 inch copper pipe filled with cold water between the locations. The dishwasher always struggled with dirty dishes and the water had to run a LONG time to get reasonably hot at the kitchen sink faucet so I decided to add the ECO 11 as a booster in between and its working great.I mounted it under the kitchen sink and then ran about 50ft of 6/2 cable from a 60 amp breaker in the main panel. The ECO 11 has a built in cord a couple of ft long so I also had to mount a junction box where I could splice the wires together. The larger models are set up differently and you connect the electric supply directly to them internally which might be a little easier but this works fine.Out of the box the ECO 11 has nipples in and out that are designed to use compression fittings. Included in the package are two adapters to convert them to 1/2 inch pipe thread. I opted to use two short lengths of soft copper tubing that I had to make the connection and then I soldered the rest of the fittings including a shut off valve and another T type fitting to split the hot water flow between the sink and the dish washer. It turned out looking neat and it doesn’t take up much room inside of the cabinet under the sink.I let water flow through the system for a while before I turned on the power to allow any and all air bubbles to escape. According to the directions this is very important to prevent “dry firing” which would destroy the heating elements. After I turned on the power I experimented and adjusted the temperature up and down. The hot water is not instant but it happens very quickly once the flow starts and the ECO 11 starts heating. And then once its going even with the sink running wide open the water can be incredibly hot, scalding! I adjusted it down to 120 degrees as a start.This thing draws a LOT of power when its running and according to the instructions over 50 amps of current. This requires a 60 amp breaker and a number 6 wire. I ran 6/2 which consists of 2 conductors and a safety ground. While it does draw a lot of current this only happens when there is a demand for hot water and the rest of the time it doesn’t draw any significant power.We’ll see how it works over time but right now I’m very pleased. In the future I think I’m going to use another one of these in the guest apartment that I’m currently building. There the kitchen sink is going to be a long run from the water heater. With one of these I think I’ll be able to run just one water line and it’ll work.

4. 

   5 out of 5

   Hayden M. LandryHayden M. Landry – August 13, 2020

   I have a small apartment out over my garage and needed to replace an old 10 gallon hot water heater. This little guy (EcoSmart ECO 11) was the perfect fit. I have a bathroom with a shower, sink and toilet and one kitchen sink. It keeps the hot water coming. The slim and small profile is also nice in that I could install it under the cabinet and it doesn’t take up much room at all. I did learn that you definitely need a 60 amp breaker as they suggest. I had a line already run that was set on a 50 amp breaker and this heater tripped it after 5 minutes of running(while I was in the shower i might add, lol). It was easy to install for me. I do have some experience with plumbing and electrical so if you don’t then maybe have a qualified plumber and electrician install it. Overall I’m extremely pleased with it so far.

5. 

   5 out of 5

   SeanSean – August 22, 2020

   I was looking for a solution for hot water for a small kitchen I built in our detached garage. This unit fit the bill perfectly. I’ve read some reviews saying this unit will not pass inspections because you cannot run conduit to it. That is false, i used 3/4” PVC electrical conduit in the walls, then put a male adapter on the PVC. Lowes/Home Depot sell a 3/4” flexible electric conduit. I put a female adapter on one end which attatched to the pvc in the wall, then a male adapter on the end of the flex, which screwed directly into the unit. The heater is threaded to accept the fitting. I was extremely impressed with how this unit works so well. It requires a 60amp breaker, and 6 gauge wire. If buying romex you need 6/2 with ground. It was much cheaper for me to buy individual 6 gauge thhn wire by the foot at menards along with a length of 10 gauge solid ground and run it in conduit. I highly recommend this water heater. It handles our kitchen sink and dishwasher at the same time with no problem!!!

6. 

   5 out of 5

   Chad Kuhn – August 24, 2020

   I bought this unit as an experiment, since my old water heater died. It was $500+ for another tank heater, and with the hard water in my area they only last a few years. I saw this unit (Eco11) on sale for $200, and decided to give it a shot. I’d always wanted to try a tankless heater.First off, I bought this unit *knowing* it wasn’t big enough to be a whole house heater in my area. I live in West Virginia, and our water is too cold, particularly in winter, to run a decent shower. Still, with proper preparation, it is currently serving me well. I’ve installed a low flow showerhead, and I don’t open the valve all the way, but it’s plenty of heat for a shower in winter. In summer, when I bought this heater, I could run almost fully open, so it’s really only winter here that is the problem. If you live any further North than southern WV, I would not try this.Secondly, this was not the money saving alternative I had hoped. While the unit itself was $200, I’ve easily spent over $300 on the circuit I ran for it (I am a licensed electrician so I did it myself), the hard water filter, and the fittings to connect it into my system. All told, this was probably slightly more expensive, at least short-term, than buying another tank heater, but time will tell if it proves a better investment.Overall, I’m pleased with this unit. While it isn’t strong enough to seamlessly replace my tank heater, I’ve learned a lot about the limits of electric tankless systems from this. Prepping my system for it will make it easier to upgrade to a gas-heated tankless in the future, which is a better option for a whole-house unit if you have gas available. Doing your whole house with electric would require too many double-pole breakers for my home, as I’d have to size up my panel again. I’ve rated this 5 stars not because it’s perfect, but because it met my expectations of what it should do. I will update this review if I encounter problems.

7. 

   5 out of 5

   Joel Rodriguez – January 11, 2021

   I owned this product so far for a month and has been doing great. Excellent performance, consistently hot water and great energy savings. I installed it my self and I have a few tips:Make sure you use #6 electric cable, it’s the recommended and safer cable width. You will need three cables and a 60 amp breaker. For the water pipes. You will NOT need any water heater hose. You only need to adapt the house water pipes to the heater with pressure fitting (which are included with the water heater) make sure that after you install all, BUT before feeding the heater with electricity, open all the house hot and cold water faucets to remove all the air inside the pipes. THEN, feed it with the electricity. After this you will be amazed by its performance.The only thing that I am concern is: how much time will this water heater will last without any problems? For me anything beyond 2 years is acceptable. Before 2 years will be very disappointing. So I will be informing you during time, to tell about it’s performance.If you have read all my review, like it, so I can be more motivated to give you more updates.So far this product is definitely a MUST BUY… And if you have any doubt if this water heater will work for all your house, the answer is yes. It has more than enough heating capacity for any normal house unless you have a huge house with 3 bathrooms or more and expects 3 or more persons taking a bath or shower at the same time.FIRST UPDATE:WOW, My first electricity bill came and I save 33 dollars compared to the previous month. Nothing in my house has changed from previous billing cycle to this current cycle. At this pace the investment will pay for itself in like 6 months, that its VERY IMPRESSIVE!!!SECOND UPDATE (DEC 9, 2013)It’s been 14 months since I installed this water heater and it is working beautifully and it paid for himself in energy savings alone. This product is worth every cent. I hope it last more years…

8. 

   5 out of 5

   Mike – January 18, 2021

   We have 2 of hese a large on and a small one so far they are great. However the warranty is worthless. It cost more to higher a plumber than the unit cost so why bother. Im a electrician so I installed it myself. I would recommend valves on each side and turn down the output valve so no one can use more water then the heater can Handel. They used to tell you this but current instructions say nothing about it. You open the largest valve in your house and turn down the output till the water is the correct temp. Water running to fast through the unit causes it not to heat.

9. 

   5 out of 5

   David A Tate – February 10, 2021

   I purchased this unit to replace a standard 50 gallon electric water heater. The price of a kilowatt hour of electricity here on the Big Island of Hawaii is .39 cents, and going to go higher. Installation was pretty straight forward with a cardboard template to mark the 3 holes required to mount the unit. I had to use reducers to get from 3/4 inch to 1/2 inch for the connection to the unit. I used the brass adapters supplied with the unit to make the connection to standard 1/2 inch stainless hose. Teflon tape is required to make sure there is no leaking from the brass adapters.The unit says that a 50 amp breaker should be used with #6 wire. I wired the unit temporarily using the #10 (30 amp) wire that went to the original heater. The current draw with a shower and sink faucet wide open was 38 amps with an inlet water temp of 70 degrees. I ran a new circuit of #8 wire as the water temp here is never going to get lower than 70 degrees. If you live in a cold climate or have a well I am sure the current draw will be higher so the #6 wire should be used.The temperature regulation with this unit is very stable. I have it set to 115 degrees and have no problem in the shower when a sink or dish washer comes on and demands more hot water flow.My concerns are #1 how long will this unit last, and #2 because some places here in Hawaii actually have water supplied above ground will the unit be able to tell when the inlet water temp is higher that the set temperature? This could be a problem when you have 1/4 mile of 1.5 inch black plastic pipe sitting out in full sun!!To sum up, make sure you have access to electrical panel to run new circuit, use Teflon tape on the brass fittings, then enjoy on demand hot water.2020 update. When I installed this on demand unit, I left the standard 50 gallon tank unit in place just in case the on demand unit fails. During this 2 plus year period, this eco smart has performed above my expectations. 3 teenage granddaughters all taking showers after a day at the beach was no problem.In 2019 I purchased a 9 KW generator as emergency power back up thinking that said generator would run the eco smart unit. It does not, even though the generator has a 50 amp outlet. I installed valves and piping to the old 50 gallon unit and bought replacement heating elements at 3800 watts instead of the 4500 watt original so the generator would be able to heat water in power outage.(earthquakes and hurricanes here in Hawaii!!) When I pressurized the tank, it leaked from a hole just below the top element!! Go figure.So now I have ordered an eco smart 8 KW to replace the 50 gallon tank and will pipe it in as a back up to the eco 11 My generator should power the eco 8 in case of emergencies or the eco 11 going bad. Will update when installed.