ON DEMAND

We have a CINSA Propane On Demand Water Heater. I did scroll back to 2017 topics without any luck.

Can anyone recommend a tech who might be able to diagnose and correct issues? The individual units in our small condo complex in Riberas seem to have minds of their own with intermittent performance. I understand that Riberas is known for sand and grit in the water supply and don't know if this is the source?

I have yet to find anyone that knows and understands on demand water heaters. Do you mind answering a few questions? I have a Cinsa LOW FLOW (says BAJA Presion on the front of the heater) and I bought it from Amutio (now Tool Town). This heater works with water coming from a Tinaco. I did install a 1/3 horsepower booster pump approximately one year after the water heater installation... more for the pressure to get the shampoo out of my hair. Still works fine.
I also have a filter before the tinaco to get most of the sediment out of the water... it gets changed as needed. I also automatically change the two D batteries for the piezo ignition every January.
The water is also hard here... so I run vinegar through it once a year as well. PM if you want detailed instructions.
I installed the Cinsa in 2016 and other than the above maintenance and tweaking, it's been just fine.
I still need to have a check valve installed because it's a bit disconcerting to have the heater fire up when I flush the toilet. In the meantime, I turn the heater on when I need hot water for whatever and turn it off when I don't.

Ferret: Thank you for the response and questions raised.I will do some digging tomorrow to see what I can find out. At this point they have the maintenanc3/pool guy taking care of it and he may be better qualified for another job?

I have found it is easier (and sometimes cheaper) to replace them if it is a problem beyond the igniter. The smaller ones are quite reasonably priced.

Thanks for the ideas! These units were all brand new about a year ago and the installer gave them a 5 year warranty. So I guess we shall see what that means when contracted between Mexicans. Our primary suspect is sand or grit in the lines or in the unit itself?

Is the water supply coming from an aljibe or a tinaco? If an aljibe, when was it last cleaned out? If from a tinaco, when was it last cleaned out? It is fairly easy to put a filter(s) 1) from main source of water BEFORE it gets to an aljibe or 2) on the water coming out of the tinaco or 3) both. It makes sense to do a good cleanout of both water holding facilities before installing filters... and those filters need to be checked on a monthly basis and either cleaned or replaced. I get this gross black, slimy stuff on the filter and just replace it because I tried to clean it once and gave up.

Since there has been a gradual degradation of our water supply, I suspect you are on the right track. We had some discussions yesterday and more scheduled for today. It is a touchy subject since this complex is owned by a wonderful Mother and her three daughters. And while we couldn't ask for better people, they put a great deal of faith in the maintenance/pool guy who is here 6 days a week. He comes across as knowing what he is doing but he has his limits. So we are being very cautious with any criticisms. I think we did get through to the #1 daughter that maybe a call to their original installer was in order.

There are 3 antibes on the property and 3 buildings with large tinacos but at this point, it seems that our 4 unit building is the only one with issues. And it is just the upper and lower units at one end. I was able to determine that the plumbing of these two units wasn't common as there are separate loops to each..

One of those great mysteries?

Yup. Bienvenidos a México. Such fun figuring things out here but I'm sure you'll get to the bottom of the problem. Let the fun begin. It is so very gratifying when you figure something out.

Came across this... https://www.cinsaboilers.com.mx/calentadores/instantaneo
The link provides contact information that may be of help.

I have an older ON DEMAND unit that requires a new battery (D cell) change occasionally.