The search term “Navien Complaints” unfortunately has been getting searched quite a bit here over the past few months or so for one reason or another.
If you need immediate help with your Navien water heater located in Connecticut or New York City you’re in luck because we can help. Call us now. 800-524-4280
If you live in another state you should first get your Navien’s serial number.
It’s right on the side of the unit
(Example pic coming)
And get a phone.
After you get the unit’s serial number.
Call the plumbing company that sold you or your plumber the unit, and ask what to do. Ask for the Name & Number of the local Navien representative. If they are not helpful, ask to speak to a manager. Tell the manager the unit is defective, and tell them you need a new unit, and take it from there. If they are still not helpful demand the Navien factory rep’s contact in your area. The unit has a full warranty for 5 years, and it has a 10 year warranty on the heat exchanger, if yours falls into that time frame it will be replaced the thing is you need to find a local plumber that is Navien trained. This is how the Navien rep can help, he won’t be able to come right over if he is busy but he or she should know of Navien factory trained plumber near you. Unfortunately the process can be a pain in the butt if you’re in an area without a Navien trained plumber. Most plumbers don’t want to get involved with tankless water heater repairs.
Navien’s official website is pretty hard to navigate when trying to figure out what to do, but hopefully they will recognize this and make some improvements and you’ll be able to find a local plumber easily.
*Your family and business needs hot water to function, but try not to yell at your plumber, installing one is one thing, repairing them is a specialty. Also there isn’t much he or she can do until they are told what to do buy either Navien, or the plumbing distributor that sold you the unit. Warranty issues can be tricky for any product or device, not just Navien.
Note: If your looking for the meaning of Navien Error Code(s) – Trying to figure out what is happening – Looking for diagnostic & action charts click this link.
Navien troubleshooting guide (service manual)
We have created this post to discuss possible issues with your Navien tankless water heater, but before we get into the problems and solutions I want to talk a little more about the Navien tankless water heater in a positive manner, because most of these complaints are not the fault of the company, but bad installations by untrained/ under qualified plumbers.
There does seem to be a bad batch of units that were sold between 12/1/08 to 6/1/09. Those dates aren’t exact. It just seems that way to us. Navien admits to some problems with the computer boards, and they will replace your unit’s board if you’re unit was built in this time frame. Navien is great at replacing parts or faulty units altogether if a factory trained guy says it’s necessary.
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For those of you that don’t know Navien tankless water heater are some of the most efficient tankless water heaters on Earth with a 98% efficiency rating.
Navien is one of the ”newer” tankless water heating companies today, but their engineers and management team have been in the tankelss water heating business for a long time. Navien’s engineer’s originally had worked for a competitor. After a few ground breaking improvements a handful of engineers, upper management, and some sales force left the company, and acquired funding they needed to start their own company“Navien”.
Navien is great to work with from a professional level, they have sent our very own master plumbers through a trouble shooting seminar this year as soon as their newest training facility in New Jersey. We are proud to be Naviens’ factory representatives & repair men for Connecticut & New York City. If the time arises when we are called to a tankless water heater problem we can’t figure out, all we do is call the Navien tech support, or our area rep, and an actual human being from Navien will come to fix the problem. This is not the case with some other tankless water heating companies we have worked with in the past.
When there is a problem it’s not easy to figure out the problem unless you’re a trained factory representative, or someone with vast knowledge and experience installing and repairing them is like our very own plumbers. The first thing you need to figure out is; is there a problem with the unit, or if there’s a problem with the original installation.
About 90% of the problems have to do with improper installation. 10% or less of the “complaints” has to do with actual problems with the unit its self. Meaning if you had a professional plumber install your Navien tankless water heater, and that plumber has installed a few of them before you most likely have a problem with the unit its self, and should call the factory rep. However if you tried to do it yourself, or hired a under-qualified plumber that improperly installed the unit an entire host of problems can develop such as; problems with not enough heat, not hot water all together, error messages on the key pad, turning off for no apparent reason, water taking forever to heat up, strange noises, and about a dozen more possible issues..
Most installation problems that we are seeing and repairing are done by under qualified plumbers, under sizing the gas lines, under sizing the makeup air needed, forgetting about exhaust restrictions, under sizing the unit size altogether, installing them in wrong locations, and hooking heating components up to them. Everything you can imagine we are seeing. Why is this? Most un qualified “plumbers” have no clue how these things work, or care to, and these days many licensed plumbers are willing to do things they wouldn’t normally do because they don’t want to miss out on any jobs in this economy. I’d say in general 20% of our business is fixing other plumbers mistakes, but lately we are getting hundreds of hits a month from people who are Google searching the Navien tankless water heater problem, Navien tankless water heater trouble shooting tips, and what is wrong with my Navien tankless water heater. Whether it’s guys not taking pride in their work, or not taking the time to look at the installation manual, or real issues with unit’s having a bad computer board, or internal valves need to be replaced we are ready willing and able to help you solve your problem as quickly as possible.
Of the less than 10% of “issues” with the actual unit usually have to do with two things, and after the proper fix the Navien will again provide endless hot water. The two components that sometimes “go bad” have been improved since the company first began selling the units are. 1. a new computer board. 2. internal valves. Both take about 30- 45 minutes to complete by swapping out the old parts for new ones.
To avoid problems associated with poor installations Navien tankless water heaters are only allowed to be sold to licensed plumbers, the company mandates this to avoid most problems in the first place, (unlike many other tankless water heating companies). Surely they are missing out on millions of dollars with this rule, but they do it for the homeowner’s protection. However there are always ways around rules, and unfortunately home owners wanting to so badly to save money try, and manage to buy one themselves, and install the tankless water heaters themselves, or the classic “we let our father-in-law install it” (we hear that one once a week) There are hundreds of things you can DYI , but installing tankless water heaters is NOT one of them.
Why can’t I get a plumber to fix my tankless water heater problem?
Not to many plumbers are willing to “patch up” a hacked up job because we don’t want the responsibility of other problems down the line, or have our names attached to bad installations. The other thing is 99% of your “normal” plumbers out there have absolutely no clue how to fix them. Installing them is one thing, I’d say most plumbers could install them correctly, but less than 0.05% of licensed plumbers in America have any training on how to fix tankless water heaters.
Warranty warning!
Also if a licensed plumber didn’t buy the unit the home owner will have warranty issues because the company will say. “What seems to be the problem with your unit”, and you’ll say whatever the problem is, and their very next question will be “who was your installer”. They will want to know if a licensed plumber did the job or not. You must call us before you make this call! Or you may not get covered under the warranty at all. The tankless company will still help you correct the problem, but you will be paying full price which will be at least 100- 200 for parts, then the labor for a real plumber to make the corrections isn’t cheap. If you are covered under warranty, they will ship the new parts if needed at no cost and will also kick in 200 – 300 hundred dollars to cover a plumbers labor charges to make the corrections. If a qualified plumber can not be found in your area, you will need to have the factory send someone out, which could take a couple days.
To wrap this up. If you had a professional installation and don’t have hot water.
You most likely called your plumber to tell him about the problem, and he will say that he can’t help you because he doesn’t know how to fix them, only install them. At that point you became frustrated, and searched the web for information/ finding this site.
Next step is to… Call Navien and tell them you had a licensed plumber install the water heater, but he doesn’t or will not try to fix it.
When you get a hold of Navien, tell them you need someone to come out to fix your unit. Hopefully you live in a populated area an they can get someone out that day. If you are in a lightly populated area Navien I have no idea what the process/ wait time is like. (Hopefully someone from Navien will get involved with waterheatinginfo.com so we can shed more light on this matter)
If you didn’t have a professional installation and don’t have hot water.
With no question you have an issue due to one or more installation mistakes.
You most likely called a plumber to fix the problem and after many calls to different plumbers you realized that there aren’t to many plumbers that can fix these things. You get frustrated searched the web, found us.
Next step is to call us. I will try to figure out the problem, and give you some direction over the phone, or come over in person if you’re in Connecticut. Other than that you’re going to have to bite the bullet, call Navien, get prepared to spend some money to have it fixed, and be prepared for no hot water for a day maybe two. Attempting to save will cost you more money, no hot water for a couple days, and a pissed off wife. Why risk it?
Leave installing tankless water heaters to professional and experienced installations only!
Ps. If you’re looking for quotes for new tankless water heaters and a “plumber” says anything less than 2k for the entire job parts & labor, watch out!!! It’s just to good to be true, and the guy most likely has no idea what he Is doing, and there’s a good chance your asking to be one of the next countless victims of “To good to be true pricing.” by under qualified plumbers!!! If you do have a problem it will cost you twice as much to correct the problem than it would have if you had if you had the unit installed correctly the first time.
Don’t forget about the extra costs, high quality whole house tankless water heaters cost about 1,000 bucks, but you have other costs also you need to remember.
valve kit, gas line, exhaust piping, condensate pump, gas termination plates, strap hangers, water piping, electrical outlet near by (or outlet installed), black pipe, brass, and copper fittings etc.. Then you have the labor.
If you make less than 215,000 dollars a year, you most likely qualify for the federal 30% up to $1,500 tax credit, and another 300 dollars from your local gas company. Together it’s almost crazy not to do it. (From a return on investment, future saving in your pocket, space saving, and environmental stand points)
*My 2 cents.*
Things to remember when selecting a tankless water heater installer.
( Whom not to let install or service your tankless water heater! )
*If someone/even a friend tells you they will install one for “a few hundred bucks”, run away/ do not let that person in your house!
*If your father was a plumber in the Navy 40 years ago, don’t let him install your tankless water heater!
*If your nephew just got out of plumbing school, do not let him install your tankless water heater!
*If your getting estimates for a new tankless water heater, and the plumber can not show you at least one picture of a previous tankless water heater installation he or she did, do not let that person install your tankless water heater!
*Do not buy or install an electric tankless/instantaneous hot water heater, unless you have a one bathroom house or less! Unless you are preparid to do major electrical upgrades to you house.
*If the plumber shows up at your house and doesn’t bother to look around to make sure the installation will work out at all by (checking gas lines, venting areas, installation site) do not let that person install your new tankless water heater!
Note: Tankless water heaters can not be installed in every home/ building due to Connecticut plumbing codes, and manufacturing requirements.
*If someone tells you they will install one for less that 2,000 dollars do not let that person install your tankless water heater!
*DO NOT BUY A TANKLESS WATER HEATER FROM HOME DEPOT OR LOWES!!!
(They provide the least hot water on the market, and had a massive recall a couple years ago)
2008 – 2009 figures that Home D doesn’t want you to know about. About 65% of all tankless water heater bought were returned. People thought they were getting a “good deal” but they got major head aches. Leave tankelss water heaters to the pros! and tankelss water heating companies like Navien.
If you stick to my 2 cent worth of advice a large % of these tankless water heater problems and issues would never arise. Your natural gas or propane tankless water heater will provide 20-30 years of hot water, and save you a small fortune in the process. (Maybe enough to send those kids to college)
Note: I have not seen/ installed every brand of tankless water heater on the planet, but I have seen and installed many. I go to every trade show there is in the water heating industry I can get to. I talk to dozens of plumbers threw my travels every week, and read everything there is to read about them. I’d say Navien tankless water heaters are definitely one of the best talkless water heaters on Earth, and personally I think they will be industry leaders in the business of heating water within the next few years. *Navien is launching a new modulating, condensing, combination boiler which will be taking the country by storm at the end of Feb 2010. It will be able to provide hot water for all your domestic water & hydronic heating system needs from one small wall hung unit, at a price no other company is near currently.
If you have a complaint about Navien make sure your are directing your anger in the right place. (The plumber that promised you the world, but didn’t know what he was doing.) most likely
Stay tuned for part two, an in depth look at real tankless water heater problems from the inside out with pictures.
**Up date!** Here is part two -Navien troubleshooting guide (service manual)-
Thanks for reading, and feel free to let us know how we can be better, more accurate, or help you out by leaving a comment below. (It’s free and we will swear not to email u any junk, we ask for your email for spamming prevention tactics)
Jay Sullivan aka Mr. waterheatinfo
Bruce Somes - Bruce Somers plumbing
mr.waterheaters@yahoo.com
We provide top quality plumbing information about services, free estimates, installations and repairs on all Rheem, Ruud, Bradford white, State, and A.O. Smith electric, gas, propane, Bock, Thermaflow/Everhot oil fired hot water heaters, Navien, Rheem, Noritz, and Takagi tankless water heaters, Ruud, Bock, and lochinvar oil fired water heaters, SuperStor storage tanks, Peerless, Laars, and Crown tankless coils, and repairs on all hot water heater throughout the state of Connecticut including Bridgeport, CT- Bristol, CT- Cheshire, CT- Danbury,CT- Derby,CT- East Hartford,CT- East Haven,CT- Enfield,CT- Fairfield,CT- Hamden,CT- Hartford,CT- Meriden,CT- Orange,CT- Middletown,CT- Milford,CT- New Britain,CT- New Haven,CT- New London,CT- Norwalk,CT- East Norwalk,CT- Norwich,CT- Putnam,CT- Shelton,CT- Southington,CT- Stamford,CT- Stratford,CT- Southport,CT- Torrington,CT- Wallingford,CT- Watertown,CT- West Hartford,CT- West Haven,CT- Westport,CT- Wethersfield,CT- Willimantic,CT- all shore areas, and surrounding Connecticut areas.
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Dear Navien.
Please Add a (HELP NOW) area on the front page of your site! We get calls every day from people that can’t figure out what the first step to take with their problematic unit. We can’t help everyone, and we don’t know where to send them..
This page is looked at THOUSANDS of times every week for good or for bad. Tell us how we can help these people that are having issues, and add a HELP NOW section on your front page where people can find straight foward step-by-step help on what to do, or how to get their unit replaced.
Let us know how we can help.
J. S. &
Team AMNindustries
amnindustries@gmail.com
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