Calfone a gas replacement or repair in temporary rental, cost?

[GS_Dirtboy]

Seriously, don't mess around with the calefon! There is a bladder control unit typically located somewhere underneath the water unit that senses the increase in water pressure and turns on the burner to heat the water. Ours failed and the unit stopped working. We had our handyman come out and replace the sensor. The next morning I washed dishes and then turned off the hot water. The calefon went on full burner (with no water flowing through it). It took me a good 8-10 seconds to realize what was happening. I ran for the gas shut-off valve (underneath the unit) but before I could get to it the pressure built up so high in the unit that it literally blew the flex-pipe and connector out of the wall, went between my ribs and my arm, and shattered the tiles in the wall across the kitchen. The boom was so loud my wife screamed from the bedroom and we had neighbors coming to check on us from the floors above and below.

Keep in mind we have little kids in the house. I never liked calefons. We now have a thermal tank.

 

[Davidglen77]

Calefones are great, just follow these rules and you will be fine.
1) Don't buy a used one, new ones have safety features that will protect you from carbon monoxide poisoning and gas pressure.
2) ONLY get the unit installed or serviced by a gasista matriculado, and have him show you his/her credentials BEFORE they start working. You can verify their credentials on the Metrogas homepage.
3) There are 2 kinds of calefones 1) Tiro Balanceado and 2) Tiro Natural. This has to do with the way the exhaust gases are vented to the outside. Tiro Balanceado is better and safer (and a bit more expensive), but you need to have the calefon mounted to an exterior wall and they have to mount one of those black metal exhaust baffles on the exterior wall. If this is not possible, Tiro Natural is fine, they can be mounted on an interior wall but the exhaust pipe has to have certain angles and curves before it reaches the outside, and the new regulations require that the exhaust pipe reach up to the roof level, no more exhaust right outside your window.
4) The calefon must be placed several meters AWAY from any other gas burning appliance, including stoves, heaters, etc. Check the owner's instruction manual for specifics.
5) You have to have some small vents installed in either your windows or wall in case of a carbon monoxide build up.

Keep in mind, that if you have any type of gas problem, and Metrogas comes to your building, and they find even the slightest item out of regulation in ANY of the apartments, they will cut off the gas to the ENTIRE building and trust me you will be without gas service for months or years. First they will inspect EVERY apartment then they will have millions of verifiers come out to inspect and you know what I mean.