Navien Tankless Water Tank |
Firstly let’s get this straight; Navien is a brand of tankless hot water heater not Navian.I have seen this 
spelled wrong many times, Navian (I googled it) is nothing, definitely not a tankless water heater.
Navien has 6 residential models (CR-180, CR-210, CR-240, CR-180A, CR-210A, CR-240A) and then 3 commercial units (CC-180, CC-210, CC-240). These tankless water heaters are all relatively similarly designed but as you go up in model number you increase the amount of hot water the tankless unit can provide.Here is a quick list of each units performance.
- CR-180 and 180A are able to provide roughly 3.8 gallons per minute with a 77 degree F rise.
- CR-210 and 210A are able to provide roughly 4.5 gallons per minute with a 77 degree F rise
- CR-240 and 240A are able to provide roughly 5 gallons per minute with a 77 degree F rise
We should definitely look at the efficiency of the Navien tankless water heater which is currently the only condensing unit on the market.This extra step gives Navien the efficiency title, currently rated at 98%, therefore 98 cents of every dollar spent on heating your water is actually turned into hot water.This is an amazing number as most tankless water heaters are 10% to 15% less efficient. Of course being the first on the block has its issues, the Navien tankless water heater is facing some problems from rubber hoses becoming blocked. This has been reported numerous time in several forums around the internet.
The good thing is that most of the other Tankless water heater manufactures are working on their own form of tankless condensing units.This should give the consumer a good choice in high efficiency water heating.
CR-180, CR-180A……Specifications Sheet
CR-210, CR-210A…… Specifications Sheet
CR-240, CR-240A…….Specifications Sheet
Navien UPDATE-2010
This write up was done in February of 2009 so its been over a year now and there are a number of alternate condensing tankless water heaters available now. Navien was the first on the block and realistically you cant beat the price of the unit, even today its still lower than all condensing tankless units. Sure there has been some issues regarding the system but thats to be expected from a new technology (we will be authoring a new post on all these problems and their fix, check back soon).
Navien problems and the Fix – Click here to read
If your interested in a Navien tankless water heater fill out the form below and we will contact you, there’s no obligation and at the very least you will be more informed on whether a tankless is right for you or not.
Navien UPDATE – Feb 2012
Navien has spent a lot of time reworking their tankless water heaters and removing all the bugs and issues that have plagued them in the past. I feel more than confident in 2012 to recommend their new tankless water heaters.
Call 647-925-1930 for any questions, issues, or for Navien prices Also check out GoTankless.ca for Sales and Service within the Toronto, Barrie, Newmarket areas….. Otherwise feel free to send us a quick message with the form below.
June 1, 2016
It’s fantastic to see such a useful post. Thanks for the sharing, I also found a useful service for forms filling. BTW, there is an online service through which you can fill out a CA CR-180.
March 15, 2016
I just had a Navien model 180a-ng installed. Is it normal for it to have a loud humming coming from the unit? it is installed in the pantry inside the house and you can hear it in the bedroom. what is causing this?
September 14, 2010
These Navien Units are not the best on the market and its unfortunate that sales people are still selling the older models…. Sears is a big company, keep complaining they seem to have relatively good customer service. Try to get them to switch it out to a Rinnai Tankless water heater as they are much more dependable units. You will be way happier.
September 12, 2010
I had a cr-180 installed about a year ago last July. Right from day one we had a problem with gas smell outside in my drive way. We had Union gas come down and the shut off my gas until the unit could be repaired, service came down twice and replaced mother board
Then they replace igniter. Weeks later my co monitor was going off, the fire dept shut my gas off again. The original installer came back and installed a 3″ intake to the heater. Now when the heater starts up it sounds like a drum for three seconds, shaking sound when the temp outside is cooler than inside, very annoying, I have noticed a presure drop since a year ago, 1″ main 3/4″ through out my home. I have been building a kitchen addition so i have not had any time to look at these problem. I have given up on my Sears installer. and I dont think my service people are very compitant
Where do I go from here?
July 9, 2010
You must have the wrong company, there is no Maria nor has there ever been one that worked here.
Give me some details on the unit and maybe we can help.
Take care
July 9, 2010
My father purchased one of your tankless water heater vevy unhappy with this product, Spoke to a Maria at your company today and she provide me with her e – mail address in order that I could send a letter outling the problems my father is having with this product, The e – mail address appairs to be invalid. Can some one in your company please get back to me asap.
Thank you, Glen Caines, Canada 416 918 – 5167
March 18, 2010
I remember also from the tech training that if you think you are having a pressure problem from the unit and you are running two different sources it may depend on how many GPM of water you are asking for and how much it can give you. If your one tap uses 2.5 GPM and the other shower for instance uses 2.5 thats 5 GPM there. If you have a dishwasher or perhaps an old tub filler and it is on but lets say it uses 3.0 + GPM, you turn on a 2.5 GPM tap thats 5.5 gpm. Lets say the unit is only capable of delivering 5.0 or 4.5 then you have trouble. A CR-180 A or non is Spected at delivering a MAX of 4.6 GPM @ 40 F inlet temp water. By the look of the symbols on the chart that is a shower and a tap. To be sure though, I would make sure the flow sensor is not restricted, the inlet shutoff valve is not faulty (Its an emergency shutoff valve when the unit leaks and I think it also throttles off the inlet water in the case where you are asking for more water than it is capable of delivering). If you had a CR 210 it would deliver a MAX of 5.3 GPM = 2 showers and if you had a 240 it says a MAX of 6.0 GMP = 2 showers & 1 tap. Up in Canada here our water is cooler which puts a limit on how much the units can deliver. Hopefully your issue is a clogged or restricted line in the unit and not that the unit is undersized. If the unit had not given trouble like this in the past then I would suspect a restriction and an issue with your pressure system or city water, perhaps both. If you are having problems still after doing the flushing, phone Navien at 1-800-519-8794 and or speak to the contractor.
March 17, 2010
Are you on a well? or city water?
How old is the house?
This could be a number of problems.
First narrow out the tankless, if you turn on two sources of cold water does the pressure drop then? If thats the case then it is the water pressure in the house. You can purchase booster pumps that can bring it up.
Otherwise if water pressure doesn’t drop then it appears that the tankless is the bottle neck in your system. It could be partially clogged or have buildup in the heat exchanger causing water to take longer to heat up. Try a tankless flush, there is a post on this site on how to do it.
Good luck.
March 17, 2010
My problem is that we have very poor water pressure.It is fine if we are only using one source but can not draw water from two place without almost a 90% drop in pressure.
March 14, 2010
What you may be talking about is the hot/cold/hot water stacking. Also known as the cold water sandwitch. Even though your unit has a buffer tank and recirc line (for inside the unit) the earlier models had them on the cold side and the new NR 240 A would have it on the hot. (or it may be the other way around I cant remember however I do remember them saying during the tech course that they changed what side the buffer tank is on in the new units). If you can I would run a hot water recirculation line from your furthest fixture (kitchen or bathroom whichever is the furthest and run it back to the unit), then you or your contractor whoever is doing it opens the valve and you can even set the pump timer on the controller to what hours of the day you want it to circulate before a shower bath or kitchen use. Also you might want him to check the flow switch to be sure it is not plugged or slowing down to much. On the newer models they use stainless steel brush where as the older ones were a plastic like brush and shaft.
March 11, 2010
I cant think of anything, maybe someone will pipe up here and come up with the cause.
March 11, 2010
We’re having a continuing issue with our newly installed Navien tankless (CR180A) in our home.
Twice now (in the last month or so-and it has only been installed for just over a month) the hot water stops completely just when it reaches full temperature at the tap. It trickles off and then when it comes on again it is cold. If we keep the faucet open the cold will turn hot again, and the process will repeat itself. We’ve checked the intake filter and the first time it had some residual solder bits. After cleaning it out it seem to be working fine, but now it has done it again. We thought it had something to do with the filter system being pretty sensitive, but this time it was relatively clean, and a further cleaning hasn’t solved the problem.
I should also add that we don’t have it piped in for external recirculation yet so it has only been on internal since we’ve been using it.
Any ideas?
March 11, 2010
Whenever there is a circulating pump a small potable water expansion tank is a good idea. It will usually save the dripping relief valve.
March 10, 2010
I have replaced many pressure relief valves in these and other units, could try t-tape with a little pipe dope, wait 6-8 hours and then turn the system back on.
February 28, 2010
Just had 3 Navien’s installed – 1 – cr240a and 2 cr210a’s — working fine but there’s a drip coming from the pressure release valve’s when the recirculation is on — the installer has replaced it twice with a larger one well over what the BTU’s of the unit require — the Navien’s tech person didn’t have a solution but said Navien has there own valve but couldn’t be certain that would stop the drip???Any suggestions?
February 24, 2010
Hi
do you have a separate system for you garage floor and you domestic drinking water? in you do not it could be that the water in the lines are frozen because there is not antifreeze in the lines. if that is the case you should consider separating your systems by using a heat exchanger that will allow you to heat your domestic water and will also allow you to to put antifreeze in you garage floor pipes and heat it using the same water heater
February 17, 2010
i have a big problem my naviansysytem heats my garage pad it shuts down when heavy frost in the winter time.is there any way that i can stop that from happening what can i do .