Navien
Local Roots is an authorized Navien dealer with factory-trained technicians, and Navien is the tankless water heater we install most often in Phoenix homes. The reason isn't efficiency. Most modern tankless units are efficient. The reason is wait time at the fixture. Phoenix homes have long pipe runs from the heater in the garage to the master shower at the back of the house, and without recirculation a tankless makes you wait longer for hot water than the tank you replaced. Navien's NPE-A2 builds the recirculation in. That's why we install it. We stock Navien parts and train our technicians on Navien specifically because that's how the work holds up.
Certifications & Credentials
Our team's qualifications with Navien equipment.
Authorized Dealer
Local Roots is an authorized Navien dealer with full parts access for warranty work.
Factory-Trained Technicians
Our technicians complete Navien factory training on installation, diagnostics, and service.
Why We Choose Navien
Why We Install Navien Tankless in Phoenix
Two things matter most for tankless water heaters in this valley: how the unit handles long pipe runs, and how it handles hard water. Phoenix homes are spread out by national standards. The heater is usually in the garage or a utility closet near the front of the house, and the master shower is at the back. That's a lot of cold water sitting in copper between the burner and the fixture. Without recirculation, "tankless" means waiting two minutes for the shower to warm up, which is the opposite of why anyone buys one.
Navien's NPE-A2 line solves this with built-in ComfortFlow recirculation. The pump and buffer tank are inside the cabinet, so you get near-instant hot water without bolting on a third-party recirc kit. The condensing design pulls more heat out of the combustion process, which means lower gas bills and a smaller venting footprint. And Navien builds their heat exchangers to handle harder water than most tankless brands tolerate before they need descaling. In Phoenix, where we measure water hardness in the 15 to 25 grains per gallon range, that matters.
We've installed enough Navien units across Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Arcadia, and the rest of the metro to know how they behave over the long haul. They hold up. The parts we need most often (flame rods, ignition components, condensate neutralizers) are stocked locally and the error codes map to real causes instead of sending us hunting.
NPE-A2 vs NPE-S2: Which Navien Is Right for You
Both the NPE-A2 and NPE-S2 are condensing residential tankless water heaters. They share the same heat exchanger design and the same general efficiency tier. The difference is recirculation, and that one difference drives most of our recommendations.
Navien NPE-A2
The NPE-A2 is what we install most often. It includes ComfortFlow built-in recirculation, which means a buffer tank and a pump live inside the cabinet. You don't need a separate recirc loop or a dedicated return line back to the heater. For homes with long pipe runs, or any home where someone's tired of waiting for the master shower to warm up, the A2 is the right call. It's also the unit we recommend if you have multiple bathrooms and any pattern of simultaneous demand.
Ideal for: Phoenix homes with long pipe runs to the master bath, two-story floor plans, households that already have a recirculation loop or want one, and anyone replacing a tank because they were tired of running out of hot water.
Not ideal for: Tight budgets where the recirculation feature isn't going to be used. The NPE-A2 costs more than the NPE-S2, and that premium is wasted if your fixtures are all close to the heater.
Navien NPE-S2
The NPE-S2 is the standard condensing tankless without built-in recirculation. Same heat exchanger, same gas efficiency tier, same parts catalog, just no pump or buffer tank inside the cabinet. It's smaller, lighter, and costs less up front. If your home doesn't need recirculation, the NPE-S2 gives you the same long-term Navien quality without paying for a feature you won't use.
Ideal for: Smaller homes, single-bath setups, or installations where the heater sits close to the primary fixtures. Also a good fit if you're going tankless to free up garage space and aren't concerned about wait time.
Not ideal for: Larger Phoenix homes with long pipe runs. Adding an external recirculation kit later costs more than buying the NPE-A2 to begin with, and the install isn't as clean.
The honest answer most of the time: if you're spending the money on tankless and you live in a typical Phoenix home, the NPE-A2 is worth the upgrade. The recirculation pays you back every morning.
What We Install
Navien equipment installed and serviced by Local Roots in the Phoenix metro. Specifications, sizes, and install considerations are covered in the brand context above.
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Explore Navien system types we install and service.
About Navien
Navien isn't the loudest brand in the residential water heater market, but they were one of the first to build condensing tankless from the ground up instead of bolting a condensing heat exchanger onto an older platform. They committed to the technology early and the product matured. The dealer network is deep, parts move quickly, and the service documentation is detailed enough that a factory-trained technician can diagnose a problem on the first visit instead of throwing parts at it.
That parts and training pipeline is why we stock Navien specifically. We're an authorized Navien dealer, which means we get warranty parts directly and our technicians complete Navien factory training. When you call us about a Navien error code or a descaling cycle, you're getting someone who has worked on the same model dozens of times and knows what the codes actually mean. That's how a tankless install holds up for fifteen years instead of becoming the homeowner's problem at year seven.
The NPE-A2 has Navien's ComfortFlow recirculation built into the cabinet, with a pump and buffer tank already inside the unit. The NPE-S2 is the same condensing tankless platform without the recirculation hardware. For most Phoenix homes, where the heater sits in the garage and the master bath is at the back of the house, the NPE-A2 is worth the upgrade because it cuts wait time at the fixture. If your fixtures are close to the heater and you don't need a recirc loop, the NPE-S2 is the cleaner fit.
We typically recommend descaling Navien tankless units every one to two years in Phoenix. Valley water runs around 15 to 25 grains per gallon, which is hard enough that scale builds up on the heat exchanger faster than it does in soft-water markets. Skipping descaling shortens the life of the unit and triggers efficiency and error-code problems. If you have a water softener feeding the heater, the cadence stretches and we'll tell you so during service.
The codes we see most often are E003 (ignition failure), E012 (flame loss during operation), and codes in the E04x family (high or low water flow). They can mean a few different things: gas supply, condensate line blockage, scale on the flame rod, or a venting issue. We diagnose the actual cause on site rather than guessing from the code alone. Resetting the unit without finding the root cause usually just delays the same failure.
Navien condensing tankless units commonly last 15 to 20 years with regular maintenance, and that's a realistic range for Phoenix when descaling stays on schedule. Skip descaling and the heat exchanger fouls early, which can cut that lifespan close to a tank heater's. The biggest variable here is water treatment: a softener upstream of the heater extends both the warranty-covered components and the parts that wear out anyway.
For most Phoenix homes, yes, but the math depends on your gas line, your existing setup, and how much hot water you actually use. Tankless costs more up front and usually requires a larger gas line than a tank heater, but it lasts longer, takes up less space, and (with NPE-A2 recirculation) cuts wait time at the fixture. If you're choosing a brand of tankless, see our full water heater brand comparison for an honest read on Navien against the rest of the field.
See Also
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