Takagi=Excellent Customer Support

[CastIronCook2]

This past weekend our Takagi Junior, a propane-fired on-demand water heater, suddenly stopped working.

We are in a remote location two hours from town. Getting it fixed would have meant detaching the entire unit from the water system, taking it back to the place we bought it from, paying shipping both ways to send it back to the factory (it's just barely out of warranty, of course), waiting for it to come back, and then reinstalling it ourselves, obviously a consternatious process.

Now that it's Monday, the hubbest was able to phone Takagi's customer support division. Their technician, James, provided competent and patient advice on how to diagnose and cure the problem. It did take three phone calls, although James volunteered to remain on the line while Hubbest followed his directions. This was not possible because the phone is in the car (hooked to a booster) and the Takagi is in the house.

The problem turned out to be the flow sensor, a $28 part that Takagi will ship today and we will receive tomorrow or Wednesday at our city home.

Meanwhile, hubbest figured out how to trick the unit into believing that the flow sensor is presently working, so we have the use of the unit until the part arrives.

Thank you, Takagi.

[NCLee]

That's great news. I'd been following your posts, but didn't have any advice.

Good to hear that both you have water again, and a relatively inexpensive replacement part is on it's way.

Lee

[CastIronCook2]

It was a relief, fer shure. However, I subscribe to the maxim that every problem contains an opportunity. The opportunity here will be to put in place a reliable back-up system.

Back in the old cabin we abandoned when we built the house on the lake, there's a reasonably new gas-fired water heater (the old-fashioned kind with the tank). Hubbest is going to install it as a fail-safe so no matter when consternation strikes next, no matter how many house guests we have at the time, there will be a dependable supply of hot water, indoors or out.

We've enjoyed our Takagi, though, because it's much more efficient to fire on demand rather than holding a tank full of water at an even temperature 24/7. In the city we also have on-demand, but it's a different brand and repairmen are readily available.

Good thing my fella is so handy. (Sailors learn to pretty much do everything. They have to.)

[CastIronCook2]

During this past week we have had multiple follow-ups from Takagi's technicians, wanting to know if the fix worked and if there's anything else they can do. They've e-mailed and they've phoned--in native-speaker English. Hubbest says they've done everything but fly a tech out here. He is very pleased with their customer support. Truly a fine company to deal with.