Washington Water Heaters, Heating & Air Conditioning

Tc4117 C.

I normally don't take time to write reviews, but when the experience was either exceptionally bad or exceptionally good, then I think it is worthwhile to share the experience with others for them to make a well informed choice as I have benefited many times from others' thoughtful reviews.

I have a Navien tankless water heater that was installed in 2014. It had worked really well until about three weeks ago. The hot water supply was becoming inconsistent - sometimes working well, and other times providing only tepid water. When not working, I could see the burner was still firing, so I knew for the most part the unit was working, but something prevented it from heating or supplying the hot water at full temperature.

Unfortunately, I could not find the paper work for my Navien water heater but I remembered the vendor had ""Washington"" in its name. I then made the mistake in contacting the other water heater vendor that had ""Washington"" in its name. I made an appointment, despite that office not having me as a customer. The tech named Jose came out and immediately indicated the installation had not been done correctly. He claimed the gas line being split off from our furnace gas line would not adequately supply gas flow to the water heater. Further, he indicated that the drain pipe being tapped to the drain pipe of the furnace would cause backflow of air to the water heater that could cause problems. While what he said sounded logical, I questioned why the unit had worked flawlessly for over 7 years until now - if the installation was indeed the problem. Would I have experienced problems long ago if that were the case? He didn't have an answer. The water heater was not reporting an error code and he said as far he could see the unit was functioning properly. He further indicated that he could not begin to diagnose or repair until I rectified the installation problems he identified. That would have cost $650 BEFORE they would even begin to figure out the problem.

Obviously that was not welcomed news. I endeavored to find a better solution. I ended up searching the Navien website to identify certified service providers in hopes to find a vendor who should be able to recognized the symptoms I was experiencing with my heater unit. These units are popular and have been around for some time. Surely the problem I was experiencing could not be unique despite no error codes. To my dismay, the vendor I first called was listed as certified. However, Washington Water Heaters was listed immediately below them. With a little hope, I called Wasington Water Heaters. To my elation, they had me in their customer database as Washington Water Heaters had indeed installed my Navien unit. Toni took my called and I explained the problem. She made sure to schedule Len, who was supposed to be one of their most senior and experienced Navien techs, to come out in two days.

The appointment window was between 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM on a Friday. I received a call from Len that day at about 12:00 PM to let me know they ran early and could be at my house in about a half hour and asked if that would be OK. I had no problem with that and they promptly showed up at 12:30 PM.

I explained the issues to Len, and within 2 minutes of his arrival, he already had a strong suspicion on the cause. We did a couple of quick tests and he confirmed the issue was with the check valve. He took out the damaged check valve and showed me the problem. Turned out it was quite a common problem as these units aged - typical wear and tear - and consequently the cold water was mixing with the hot water. It made total sense. Why the tech from the other ""Washington"" vendor would not have known this only showed how inadequately trained or inexperience they were. At least I'm going to assume that and not believe they were so unethical as to try to gouge me $650 on top of whatever the repair would have cost.

In the end, Len and his partner replaced the defective valve, inspected the rest of the unit and were done within 1/2 hour. The total cost for parts and labor was about $430. My only regret was that I had not fully remembered the correct vendor's name at the start. That will not be a problem in the future as Len wisely placed a Washington Water Heater sticker on the unit. Len also explained the criticisms about their original installation are unfounded. While they could have installed it the way the other tech described, it was unnecessary and would have cost more. I have no reason to doubt his explanation as the unit had previously worked really well for over 7 years.

All in all, I wasted $165 on the original service call that accomplished nothing, but I was glad that I ended up finding Washington Water Heaters to fix my problem. They were honest, knowledgeable and great to deal with - not instilling fear, doubt, or blaming the customer. I would highly recommend Washington Water Heaters!

Hao H.

We installed a tankless water heater and enjoyed working with Tom and the whole team. The whole process went smoothly. They were upright, efficient, responsive, and on time. The installation was perfect as well. We'll definitely go with Washington Water Heaters for future HVAC work.

Charles J.

James was early, thoughtful and offered to mask, and efficiently and professionally did the work needed on our Navien tankless water heater. I am most appreciative of his craftsmanly work and recommendations. These are great folks to hire for this type of work.

Debra W.

We have a new water heater (3 months old) that we purchased from Home Depot. Unfortunately it had problems just 3 months in. Since it was purchased at HD and installed by a handyman, I could not find any water heater company or plumbing company who would come out to diagnose and repair it. After calling 10 such companies, I found Washington Water Heaters. They set an appointment 2 days out, then called stating they could come in an hour due to a cancellation. What luck on my part! They were professional, extremely knowledgeable, and didn't give up when the problem was a little intractable. Instead he got on the phone with Rheem and worked through the diagnostics with them. Although the problem seems to be on again and off again, Rheem agreed to send me a new control panel. Although he stated he had not yet come across a Rheem Gladiator tank water heater, his knowledge of water heaters was enough to diagnose and resolve the problem. Definitely a life saver for us. I don't know why other companies can't or won't work on a Rheem from Home Depot. It is just a water heater, not some mysterious object. Thankfully Washington Water Heaters came to the rescue. I highly recommend them.

Jeff B.

This outfit earned one of my rare 5-star reviews. They took care of our tankless water heater need, and then we also used their furnace maintenance/repair service.

Our 17-year-old Rinnai tankless water heater needed replacement, and we wanted another Rinnai. After doing some research I contacted three distributors; Washington Water was the easy choice based on manner, knowledge, and price. Installation was precisely aligned with the expectations they set, with excellent results. It was a pleasure dealing with them over the phone and email, and with Tom - who visited to survey the situation and provide a quote, and then returned to do the installation.

Relative to the other two firms, Washington Water was the most knowledgeable. Tom clearly enjoyed the technology and was up-to-date. Of the three companies I contacted, he was the only one who pointed out that the new high-efficiency units would meet my needs at a lower ""max"" BTU rating then my older less-efficient model, and thus I could save money by purchasing a lower-BTU unit.

Washington Water felt the most customer-focused. Everyone I communicated with seemed genuinely interested in understanding my needs, meeting those needs, and setting my expectations appropriately. The quote seemed fair based on my research and on what the other two firms had proposed. Those firms were focused more on making a sale that met THEIR needs. One was very highly priced, even after reducing their quote following my resistance. The other insisted that my town's updated building codes required me to replace my external unit with an internal unit, which was a higher total cost and would leave me with an outside wall to fix; after I researched the codes and found this was untrue, they admitted they only sell internal units.

It took less than two weeks to have the new Rinnai in place after initiating contact. With his attention on detail and quality, Tom was careful to ensure the new unit covered the same area of the exterior wall as the previous unit, thus requiring no finish work from me. Excellent appearance and function.

Pleased with these results, I decided to use this firm to perform maintenance on our furnace and diagnose the issue with its newly-squeaky blower motor. Another good experience, this time with a visit from Jeremy and his colleague.

Though not a major criterion for choosing them, I also liked the paperless efficiency with which Washington Water provided on-line quotes and received our post-work payment.

Lucy C.

Installed water heater by Dewey, a good technician, clean and nice work. Highly recommend. Also Jackie is very fast answer phone and move up my schedule one day. Good company and good service.

Robin H.

The installation went smoothly and Len and his helpers were very considerate about cleanliness and safety (Re: COVID)
The first day we were using the unit, we had one small error code that Len addressed very quickly (over Christmas)
So far so good- we are loving our new unit
Thanks to everyone we have dealt with at Washington Water Heaters for being so professional.

Pat W.

Immediate response in submitting a quote via email. Very completive price, however, it was an open ended quote since they did not come out to the job site to finalize the work statement.

Hired the company who did come to our house and submitted a firm quote.

John M.

Our old gas water heater finally died. It leaked all over the floor and after we clean up everything we called a few places to get bids and settled on Washington Water Heaters. We corresponded on Yelp for a bit and they were very responsive, informative and professional as well as polite.

Tom came over to do the installation. He offered ideas to give me the best value; even saving me money on the cost of the water tank.

Throughout the process I was impressed with the level of service and efficiency.

In the pandemic environment they are very conscientious and understanding making sure to do everything right.

I recommend this company.

Sophie H.

Just had Len from this company come by (in a mask and on-time) to take a look at our Navien Water heater. Very happy with the whole interaction. Turns out that though many companies can install tankless water heaters, very few seem to service them (maybe since they are sortof new? who knows). Len clearly knew his way around our tankless water heater, worked quickly, and even seemed excited that he was making changes that would improve our hot water situation. Couldn't really ask for more. Thanks!