Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Less than three years after installing this and using it, the internal tank suddenly started to leak. As I read other reviews here I notice that the 6-year warranty only applies if the heater is installed by an authorized dealer AND if the heating anode is replaced annually. So, no need to even try to contact Bosch. I'll shop for a replacement and chalk this up as an expensive educational experience. Even after writing a 3 star review, I foolishly bought another Bosch water heater. This one lasted 26 months before blowing out. No, I didn't replace the anode. I have softened water in the house and didn't think it would need replacement so soon. Lesson learned. Never again. 1-star As I think about it, paying for professional installation, plus replacing the anode annually, plus the hassle of wrestling the darned thing out to service it, it's probably less expensive to just buy a new one every couple of years. It probably isn't even recyclable. ADDED: I've updated my rating from 2-stars to 3-stars for a couple of reasons, but chiefly because I felt I was dinging the product to heavily for a problem that is common for these kinds of devices. It did reliably provide me with hot water for 2 1/2 years. As I shopped for a replacement, I realize that some other brands do not even have replaceable heating anodes. In the end, I decided to replace the failed unit with another Bosch. At least I will have the option to replace the anode, or use it as a disposable heater. Live and learn. Some suggestions to the manufacturer: 1) do not penalize users for having the skills necessary to install and maintain the water heater. 2) make this obvious and essential maintenance issue more obvious in item description and on the heater itself. Very few people actually read the excessively wordy manuals.