The Stiebel Eltron 29 replaced a failed 40 gal tank heater in my attic. It supplies hot water to my master bath and my kitchen. The master bath faucets are about 20-30 feet from the Eltron one floor below the attic while the kitchen is 2 stories down. I had a plumber and an electrician install the Eltron in my attic. I kept it in my attic because that is where the existing plumbing connections are, but that meant running 3x 50amp conduits from outside my house through some dry wall and into the attic. I spent more on the electrician and parts than I did on the heater itself! Oh well. This unit was installed in July 2012 and this review is March 2013, so I've had a pretty cold winter's use out of it. By cold, I mean outside temps getting to upper 20's, low 30's (°F) overnight. I set the temperature at 125 F. For the master bath, I have hot water for a shower first thing in the morning in about 30 seconds. It stays pretty constant unless my wife runs the hot water at her sink or flushes the toilet. There is a noticeable dip in temperature when that happens but nothing that will shock your system if you know what I mean.

As for the kitchen, it takes seemingly forever for hot water to come out. Yes, I know, line losses and distance, but it seriously takes about a minute for hot water to come out of the spigot. Then, after I turn off the hot water and turn it back on again after a few minutes, it takes about the same amount of time to get hot water out. I didn't experience that lag with my tank heater. I liken it to heating up food in a conventional oven vs. a microwave. The conventional oven heated food stays hot longer than microwaved food. My old tank heater seemed to keep the water in the lines hotter longer. Don't know why. Anyway, this is my biggest complaint about this unit.

During the warmer months, there is a definite improvement in the time for hot water to come out of the faucets and not near the losses in between uses. But of course, the fact I don't run out of hot water and I don't have to worry about another flood more than offsets my one niggling complaint.

I am very happy with my decision to switch to an on-demand style water heater. This unit, SE Tempra 29 Plus, has performed very well during the first week of use. It is capable of running at 3.3 GPM with incoming water at 49 degrees F and output at 122F. This will fill my garden tub and run a shower at the same time, or run two showers and a faucet with the flow slightly reduced.

Different functionality/Limitations- Please remember when you switch to a on-demand style heater that the flow (or max number of points of use) will be limited by the power rating of the unit; however, you will not be limited by the amount of time you can use the heater. I found this ideal for the garden tub as a tank style heater can fill the tub, but is then out of commission for about an hour. The same goes for showers. Two showers and a washing machines could be ran with the tank, but after doing this the tank was down for an hour. This does not happen with the on-demand style and it will continue to put out hot water as long as you want to run it.

Minor temperature fluctuations with well water - I do notice small temperature fluctuations while using the unit. I believe these are associated with the pressure tank and cycling of the well pump. When the tank is charging (well pump is running), the water drops a couple of degrees (just noticeable enough to feel, not enough to adjust the water temp). I believe this is due to the water bypassing the pressure tank and coming directly to the heater. This incoming water is slightly colder than the water that has warmed up inside the pressure tank in the crawl space. This water then makes its way through the heater and reduces the output on the hot line side (because of the constant temperature control of the plus unit). The cold line side rises in pressure due to the pump pressurizing the tank and mixes slightly more cold water. I believe this could be eliminated by adding a buffer tank (5-20gal) between the pressure tank and house inlet that would allow the water to mix and acclimate, but this would only be added if someone was extremely sensitive to temperature variations.

Some other positives:
Easy installation. If you know plumbing and electricity this can be installed in an afternoon if your lucky with the placement of everything. It took me a weekend by myself to install. Most of the time was spent routing the power cables and mounting boxes.

Saves space, No Footprint! This unit was ideal for my house. I had a 50gal tank in my half-bath and it was an eyesore and a space hog. The SE 29 was wall mounted on the garage side of the wall without taking any floor space and minimal wall space that wasn't being utilized.

Others: Unlimited hot water, Better looking than a tank heater, and easily adjustable temp.

We bought this 1 year ago and installed it in our house in mid-New Hampshire. Our house runs on a well, and I was concerned that the cold (40 F) ground water would create a challenge for this water heater. I was wrong.

I installed this Stiebel-Eltron Tempra 29 Plus to replace a propane powered water heater that the previous owner had used. Our home was wired for electric heat in the 1970's, so it has a 200a service, and I wanted to avoid fossil fuels.

We heat with 2 pellet stoves. We have back-up electric heat as well. I was concerned that the current draw for this unit would cause a problem with many electric appliances running at once. We didn't have a problem, even when we had guests and multiple showers running at once. Plus, the winter of 2013 was quite cold here with some mornings as low as -15F, and still no problems.

I would consider myself to have above average handyman skills. I installed this unit myself and had no problems at all. If you are comfortable replacing a circuit breaker, you can install the electrical portion of this, but I caution you, if you aren't 100% confident, then hire a professional, because working near the bus in the breaker box can be dangerous, and 200a could probably cook you like a hot dog if your screwdriver slips. I have several years of experience working for an electrical contractor during the summers when I was a teen, so I felt comfortable taking on this project.

I used shark bite fittings to plumb this unit. I got 2 valves to shut it off so it can be cleaned/flushed annually and I used 2 braided stainless steel connections to hook into the unit directly. I found these fittings on the shelf at Home depot. I also got the 8/2 wire at Home Depot. Total cost to install myself was ~$100 for wire (125 ft), ~$30 for 3 50a breakers, ~$60 for all sharkbite fittings. I had some other misc items on hand (screws, wire straps, tools, etc).

My impressions of this unit over the year we have had it are very positive. There are some quirks, because this is not the type of system most of us are accustomed to as Americans. Contrary to the experience of another reviewer, I notice a slight, but noticeable increase in the temperature of the water when I'm in the shower and another tap is opened. It is not enough to scald, but it is occasionally uncomfortable. There is also a minor dimming of the lights when the water heater comes on. It does draw a lot of current, but not 150 amps. We have it set at 106F, which is the temperature I prefer in the shower. I can have the electric oven and range on, the microwave on, lights on around the house, the stoves going, and fill a pot with hot water in the kitchen. You won't have problems hosting guests.

My inlaws were concerned that we weren't running the water hot enough to kill germs in the dishwasher and the clothes washer. I say hogwash. I haven't gotten sick more often or noticed dirtier dishes or clothes. The water at their house burns my hands straight out of the faucet.

My monthly electric bill with 2 people living in the house is somewhere around $100. It went as high as $150. last winter with stoves and humidifiers going, and as low as $80 this summer with no AC running. I don't have previous bills to compare to since we installed this water heater as soon as we moved in.

As always, YMMV, but I have been very pleased with this water heater. I probably could have gotten away with the unit one size down (tempra 24), but I like to do it once and do it right. The endless hot water and excellent efficiency are wonderful benefits, and we've had no significant drawbacks. If we ever move, I'll get one of these for our new house.

I had a Bosh Powerstar tankless water-heater that worked for 6 years. Then the plastic heating reservoir developed a hairline crack = a bad LEAK.
I looked in my owners/operators manual and that part # was not listed, so I called Bosch Customer Service.
With lazy, no help attitude, they told me to call their parts warehouse, so I did call and was told that they cannot send me a part if I do not have a part #
I again called Bosch Customer Service and explained the problem and asked to speak with a Service Tech. I was told (again with attitude) that Techs only answer technical questions like how to correctly wire the unit, so I am supposed to contact the parts warehouse.
I called the warehouse again, offered to email a photo or the manual diagram with the defective part circled - I was told that without a part # they could not help me........

I thought that I would just have to buy a whole new unit and just R&R (repair by replace) it.

However, I found this equivalent unit, a Stiebel Eltron Tempra 24+ unit here at Amazon for $150.00 less than the Bosh-Powerstar price at: Hm Dpt or Loes or even Amazon!
...and Amazon would have it delivered to my house in 3 days for free vs. 10 day shipping from any of the other big box or local stores!

A "No-Brainer" right?

I did hire an electrician to correctly wire the 240v to make sure the warranty would be honored, and still saved $50 overall and got it installed a week early.

Wow, this 'Stiebel Eltron 24+' unit is so much better than that last unit. I especially like:
+ the water heating reservoir is made of real copper, not plastic.
+ the digital set temp readout on the front of the unit box = no guessing via a knob underneath the box.
+ instead of running 0.8 gal/min to get hot water I only have to run 0.2gal/min
--> that makes a big difference between running the water almost full force to wash hands vs. a normal/reasonable flow.
+ the internal sensors keeps the constant water flow hot.
--> the old unit would turn on when it detected water flow. Then when the water pressure equalized it would turn off for a moment before it realized that there was a consistent flow demand, then it would turn back on.
Hence the 'cold water sandwich' in the beginning of taking a shower.

The only thing that I did not like about the Stiebel Eltron unit is the utility door of the cabinet box.
- It only opens from right swings left - and of course I needed it to open from left swing right. So....

I went and bought a small pair of 1.5" hinges and some very short nut & bolt hardware. Drilled a few new holes in the unit cabinet and viola! It now swings open in the direction that I need.
(You would think that they could make the cabinet door hardware ambidextrous like a refrigerator door.)

UPDATE:
I noticed that the price of this unit jumped $200.00
Now is $50 more expensive than the Powerstar, quality still worth the investment!

Having lived overseas for many years, I was familiar with tankless hot water heaters, but they were always gas. I was a little weary about an electric unit. After reading many reviews about the different ones out there, I went with the Stiebel Eltron. So far, I have been very impressed.

FWIW, I have an 1800 sf older home in eastern PA. It only has 1.5 bathrooms, HE washer, and dishwasher. I have the unit set at 105 degrees. That is more than hot enough for what I need. Perhaps in the winter, I might need to turn it up a little.

People has commented on Ytube and other places that water pressure will suffer, but I haven't found that to be the case. In fact, my water pressure actually improved. I'm not sure why. The only thing I could think of is that I installed this unit a little closer to the bathroom, eliminating about 8 foot of copper piping. Also some of the old piping or my old tank could of had some hard water build up.

People have also commented about the water temperature fluctuating. I haven't found that to be the case either. I think this only happens with the non "plus" models. The "Plus" model has the advanced flow control that seems to eliminate the problem.

Other people have commented about lights flickering. Once again, I haven't found that to be the case. I don't see why this unit would cause that. I would guess those people have some other issue going on in their panel or wiring.

I did the install entirely by myself, including the wiring. I'll go on the record that I don't consider myself an experienced handyman, but I have taken a few adult ed courses and read a few books on wiring and plumbing. I also read the Tempra manual front to back, and checked the manufacturer's website for more information.

I spent about another $300 at HD for extra tools, parts, and the NM 6-2 wire. I used Sharkbites for all the fittings. The hardest part for me was running the 6-2 wire from the unit to the panel and make it look clean. It took me a full day but I took my time. An experienced person will probably be able to do this a lot quicker.

Contrary to what many people seem to think, you DO NOT need to use the Watts tankless heater service valves with an electric unit. In fact, the manual discourages it. The cold side of the unit has a tiny filter screen that needs to be cleaned annually, and the manual says it is best to use flexible stainless steel hoses to connect to the unit.

Because I didn't use the Watts service valves, I did install the 3M Aquapure scale filter. This requires shut off valves before and after the filter, one of them with a drain plug, so keep that in mind when planning your install.

You also do NOT need to have a T/P valve on the hot water side of the unit. There is a built-in T/P valve. However, if your local inspector won't pass it without one, you might have to install one for show.

UPDATE (A Month later): Okay, it has been a month since I've installed this. So far it has been working great. However, I have an LG HE washer. I've noticed if you try to take a shower while the washer is running, there is some pretty dramatic pulsing on the water pressure. Also, because the HE washer rapidly opens and closes the hot water valve, it doesn't leave enough time for the copper piping to heat up to get hot water to the washer. This is not really a problem for me, since I mostly wash with cold water anyway, but for some, this might be a deal breaker. Running the hot water for a minute to heat up the pipes may also be a solution. A small tank with circulation pump might be another solution if you really need your wash water to be hot.

A friend who is a fire fighter also recommended that a fire alarm be installed on the ceiling directly above the unit. He has responded to several house fires where the cause were cheap quality Chinese made units. Apparently, the cheap units sometimes catch fire. A fire alarm directly above the unit would have detected when the unit starts to smolder before a full on fire occurs. The Stiebel Eltron is a high quality German made unit, however, fire alarms are inexpensive and make sense as a precaution.