Bosch Tronic 3000T ES2.5 Electric Water Heater

colbysmith

colbysmith

Active member
Several of us have removed the 6g water heaters and replaced them with the Bosch Tronic 3000T ES2.5, 2.5g water heater. It fits under the sink and works pretty well. I'm not really sure what the life expectancy of these little units are, but they cost around $180 currently. I have not pulled the anode out until today. I installed the water heater in June 2020, so it's now had 4 seasons of use. Water remains in the tank about 5 months out of the year. TO get to the anode, you have to remove the front face plate, and the heating element. My element was covered in corrosion and the anode was fairly pitted. I cleaned everything up and placed it back in the tank. However, I also noticed that while the inside of the tank was glass lined, the outside was metal and rusted. See photos:

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A lot of corrosion on the heating element and anode, and the anode was quite pitted.

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Little better view of how pitted the anode is after some cleaning

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If you look close here, you can see the tank is pretty well rusted on the outside.


A new heating element and anode costs around $90. I think for the price of the tank I will just replace the entire tank, as there are some reviews of it leaking after 3 years.

Just sharing these photos for others that have this heater. With a new tank, I will likely follow the instructions to pull the anode (which means pulling the element) annually to check and clean. I do use a RV water filter when away from home when filling my potable water tank, but that doesn't change the hardness of the water going through the system. Colby
 
Looking at the anode I would say it isn't horrible. Yes there is some expected corrosion of the anode which means it is doing it's job. The anode looks to me to be able to be replaced individually. I would research it further and see if you can just buy the anode alone without the heating element. If you find one I'd just replace it and flush the tank out, reassemble and call it good for now. I learned the hard way to replace the anode in the 5th wheel trailer. I wasn't aware that there was an anode to change out. When a neighbor commented that he noticed a drip coming from my heater I did some further investigation and pulled the anode out. It looked like a piece of corroded metal coathanger wire. Needless to say it was not protecting the tank any longer and i had to replace the entire unit. But in your case I would say it is still in very good shape. Not sure if this helped but good luck with it.
 
Thanks Dave, but the main reason I decided to replace the entire heater is due to the rust on the outside of the water tank and numerous reviews of leaks after several years. The cost isn’t overly expensive and I prefer not to wait until it’s leaking. :( Colby
 
Salmon Fisher":259oakda said:
Thanks for bringing this up to discuss!

Here is a replacement anode:

https://www.amazon.com/Eleventree-Airst ... 50188&th=1

We are probably going to buy this water heater to replace our 6 gallon unit.
Seems way more efficient.[/url]
Click to expand...

I think you will like it. Less space than the 6 g, lighter weight and still provides enough hot water. Even with the corrosion and rust issues I’m still happy with this model. I’ll keep a closer eye on the new one and pull the element and anode out to clean annually. Colby
 
Just pulled the heating element and anode out of my new Bosch water heater. Same model as the previous one. I've only had this in use one season. And, I've been using a water softening water filter when filling my potable water tank. It appears that this brand and model water heater is eating away at the anode. Here are some photos I took of the element and anode, after soaking them in vinegar for several hours and cleaning them up:

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The bottom two photos are just showing different sides of the used anode, along with a brand new anode. There was quite a bit of calcium deposit on the unit when I pulled it out of the heater. I do leave/run water in the heater during the entire boating season. (March thru October.) Colby
 
Looks to be that you did well to check that anode at this time. That is a lot of corrosion after just 5 or 6 months in the water. This is a wake up call for me to check my anode in the RV. Thanks for posting this. How did the tank look this time?
 
How are you guys winterizing these heaters?

I converted mine to the ES 2.5 earlier this year and didn't think about this until now.
 
WCF":25nqmf09 said:
How are you guys winterizing these heaters?

I converted mine to the ES 2.5 earlier this year and didn't think about this until now.
Click to expand...

Pretty much like the rest of the potable water system. Drain the tank. In this case, it's a little more tricky than just opening a valve, since there is no drain valve on it. There are two stand pipes inside the tank. The hot water stand pipe and the cold water stand pipe. The hot water stand pipe only drops down slightly into the tank, whereas the cold water stand pipe drops down to nearly the bottom of the tank. To drain it, you need to open the cold water faucet, and blow air into the hot inlet side. I've installed a winterization valve in the hot water side, so I can blow air there. Once the tank is empty, or spitting more air than water, then it would be prudent to pull the heating element and anode to clean the calcium off, and replace the anode if necessary. The other method for draining the tank would be to remove it from the boat and tip it upside down and let all the water drain out of the hot water side. Once you pull the heating element, you'll still have about a quart of water in it. You can either suck it out if you left the tank in the boat, or just finish dumping it out. (I used a kitchen baster to suck out the remaining water through the element mounting hole.)
 
Thanks Colby - I blew air through the whole system a few days ago - Was just making sure I wasn't missing something about the best way to get the water out of the heater.

A little plumbing to make an easy way to blow out the water heater specifically is a great idea.
 
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