This was an exact replacement for the old one that lasted about 10 years. ru-vid.comUgkx7yWIKcrbA9KMHkGSfcgxW2lsjHT6B8Sh The top of my mitigation tube by my roofline was just a 90 elbow which allowed too much debris to fall down into the fan, eventually ruining it. Without this issue, I bet it would have kept running another 10 years. When I replaced this fan, I added an extra elbow joint so the top tube now it does a 180, which should solve that problem. The radon guys around here wanted to charge me a $300 diagnostic fee, then parts/labor (probably close to $600 total). I installed this all by myself in about an hour for the cost of the fan; it would probably be even easier/faster with two people. FYI the manufacturer's warranty greatly differs depending on whether you install it yourself (1 yr warranty) or have a licensed installer do it (10 yrs).
Had mine since 2004. I have hard water and had it flushed once in 2018. The serviceman said it was remarkably clean. I would buy another one in a a heartbeat
So far, so good! I installed this fan yesterday. ru-vid.comUgkx7yWIKcrbA9KMHkGSfcgxW2lsjHT6B8Sh I've been watching a continuous radon monitor in my house for about a week, and the levels have been running between 4.5 and 7.9 pCi/L. Shortly after I installed this fan, the radon level started dropping, and in less than 24 hours since I installed it, the level is now 1.9. My basement is approximately 2,000 square feet. Total home square footage above basement is approximately 4,000 square feet. The noise level so far is very quiet. Mine is installed indoors, so I had to purchase a cord and connector. If I have any problems later, I'll update my review. But for now, I'm very pleased with it.Update after 48 hours: Using a constant monitor, my radon is now fluctuating between 0.38 and 0.45 pCi/L. I've moved the monitor to my basement and am getting a constant 0.43 reading. After 24 hours, and when I know the weather will be safe, I'll place the monitor outside for about 12 hours. I'm thinking that the 0.38 to 0.45 may be the outside "ambient" radon level. I'm using this monitor (purchased from Amazon): Corentium Home Radon Detector by Airthings 223
Matt, you left out the most important fact that anyone considering a tankless needs to know!!! It requires a Massive Gasline Replacement that will be a hidden additional expense. From the street to the heater to accomadate the High BTU Demand of Instant Heating. No small issue or concern.
Your conversation with Gary Klein, about hot water delivery systems was great too. It's a must watch. I've listened to it x3. You guys got me to rethink my whole approach. One small step for building science, one giant [systems thinking] leap for me. Thanks!
I’ve had mine for 9 years now with zero trouble. This video missed a few other important factors. 1. Requires a larger diameter gas line than a tank heater. Depending on how the existing pipes are plumbed, this could be a real PITA. 2. Plumbing routes must be changed to get cold water feed and hot water out. Could be a real PITA if pipes are not accessible with cutting wallboard. 3. May need to add an electrical circuit to the new location of water heater. 4. Size of heater. Get bigger that you think you need. While hot water is endless, water pressure is not. I’m considering modifications to create discrete upper and lower floors hot water with a second unit.
I've been putting these in for years. And they are valid points. Well done on providing solutions rather than just complaints. Also good point is proper sizing. Good video
No, @Tyler Lowden... *EVERYONE* needs a 26.9kW unit and a monthly maintenance contract, even if they are by themselves in a small >800 sqft apartment! Remember, if you oversize the unit, you make money!! bahahaha jk
As a plumber and consumer I'm not sold on tankless w/h , as a plumber they're awesome. And you should descale 1 or 2x a year to insure your invesment. Also should have a water filter or softener before the tankless no exceptions. As a consumer the fact that I would have to pay a plumber for matainance every year not so much. Also plumber probably aren't going to have tankless part on them so they will have to be order, it could be a couple of days with out. Not to mention you will most likely need and electricians to add a power source... Just some extra knowledge that no one ever tells consumers
... cannot be sure anymore what with climate change... it has never been 62*F here in February ... but today it is in Detroit ... So careful what you know
My parents built a home in Bastrop in 2014, they have two gas tankless water heaters mounted within the conditioned space of the home. The water to the home is provided by a well and it is filtered and treated for hardness. Recently, one of the heaters had been shutting off approximately 5 minutes into use. Turning the water off and back on again was the temporary solution to get the hot water back on. It was discovered that the exhaust vent was getting obstructed causing the unit to shut down. Both of these heaters are vented individually to the outside of the home. Also, another thing is that they do make noise. If you are near the area the heaters are located, it sounds like there is a car outside of the home when a heater kicks on and is operating. It revs up, sustains a certain speed, then idles down. This may be a way the heaters are mounted but may not be and is something to think about during placement and/or installation.
*Well-made, delivered quickly, and easy to install with **Fastly.Cool** . I may be imagining it, but it seems quieter than the 14 year-old unit that I pulled out. Of course it was noisy at the end due to failed bearings, so hard to compare. :)*
I have been using a Titan N-120 equivalent electric model through my softener at my house for 15 years with no problems or maintenance. It is on a 60 amp breaker that never trips. The only down side is the lights flicker when the heater is one. Also, been using a chinese propane powered unit at my cabin for 10 years with no problems or maintenance. Sill using the same D batteries for spark, unbelievable. Each unit cost about $225
Love your channel, and the way you deliver your content.. I know you been around awhile..im a new viewer..just wanted to say thank you and there's some one out there watching so keep them videos coming
I live in MN and have read in cold climates where the water temp coming in can't be raised high enough with a tankless water heater. My wife likes really hot showers and wondered if even the biggest tankless systems can raise pretty cold incoming water fast enough.
Hi Matt - great videos. I'm up in Canada, and one of our major tank rental companies doesn't recommend tankless for houses with "rain shower heads" because tankless impacts water pressure, and may lead to lower water pressure. Is that true? Or do you just need to ensure you flush it once a year - and the company is just worried about house calls related to that.
If your power goes out I would hope your last concern would be if you could wash dishes do laundry or shower in the dark that is a bad con or you can spend a bunch of money and hook it up to a generator transfer switch
The Tokyo Craftsman Hello TC. I’m trying to source 220V, commercial grade, tankless water heaters capable of 199,000 BTU output. Striking out left and right, Europe and Australia. Any distributor leads much appreciated! David@feathermanequipment.com
some thing else to condenser is your gas btu in my area the therms in our gas is not great and a 199k water heater is not going to cut the 38 degree water in the winter. matt i wish you lived here in montana we could sure use your knowledge here is so hard to get the products that work here without giving up your left leg
Thank-you great advice, now I wish I had seen two months ago before I replaced my water heater, the previous water heater lasted 12 years, due to my water softener.
...and those water bill just keep going up to use water softeners waste a lot of water that equals sewer billing here $12.00 for water $59.00 for sewer usage ...
In 41 years in the country we lived in two farmhouses, both with well water loaded with calcium and iron. We used Thermar, Vaillant, and Bosch tankless heaters, none ever flushed, never any problem with that.
You could just use a battery operated UPS to drive the electronics and firing circuit for a gas fired tankless. A car battery and RV inverter charger would probably last at least a couple of weeks if not much more.
I bought the cheapest tankless propane water heater I could find. I save about 80 gallons of propane a year, so it paid for itself already. But, it sprung a leak in the copper tubing, but. Think I can fix it. Anyway, three controls, you can set the max water flow so the water doesn’t get cold if you’re taking a shower and someone runs a sink. The flow is slower, though. You can set the propane fire rate, which sets the water temperature. This is a touchy control. You have to turn it down in the summer. And, there is a Winter/Summer switch, that kind of does the same thing. What I don’t like is if I find the water too warm, turning the flow down makes it hotter. Much hotter! Question: Is there any model that ‘feels’ the water temperature and adjusts the fire rate to compensate? 2 gpm is fine. The one I gave takes 2 D batteries for the ignition. I haven’t had to change them in the three years I’ve had this one. Marey, I think.
Another thing is you need good water pressure for them to work right. This was found out living off the grid with solar and a large water tank supplying the water.
Another thing to add is that they can be very Loud when operating. My sister had to move hers to the garage because of the noise factor. Also that they add a lot of heat to the room they are in. Their garage can get uncomfortably warm when they are running in the Summer.
If your tankless unit uses natural gas, then just hook it up to a backup power supply unit to run the circuitry and then you can have hot water even during power outages.
I've used a tankless unit that had no power connected to it many times. The power needed to ignite the gas is delivered from a small water pressure powered generator. The heater was German made (Junkers).
I tried to google around a bit - but this was an older model Junkers water heater - probably from the early 2000's - and seems to be mainly sold to German speaking countries. I remember I asked the owner specifically about this (he is a plumber) as I was intrigued seeing as there was no powerline going to the unit - and no pilot light (when I visited a year before they had the pilot light model). He took off the cover and showed me how it worked. There was a small cast iron turbine type generator (size of a tennisball) where the water would rapidly run through as you turned on a tap. This generator then powered a piezo igniter which would go - click, click, click - until the flame ignited which in turn heated a small temperature sensitive valve/spring (and the water of course) which broke the connection to the igniter since the flame was now burning. Very clever device. Disadvantage is that you would not get instant warm water - took about two seconds before it was burning. Apparently this type of device was common around those parts (I was visiting family in Vienna).
Speaking of never mentioned. The additional delay of hot water at the tap. It will take longer on non circulating models for you to actually have your desired temp water at the faucet.
As a self-employed HVAC technician, I would not recommend anyone that does not know this stuff and have the needed equipment, try to put in one of these tankless units. There is a whole lot of things that need to be done correctly before they will be safe to operate and work right. And then, after you go through all of that work to put one in correctly and it doe not work right, are you still covered? I bought the top-level, power-vented, Marey online to save money. It was less than 1/2 of what I could get ones that my local distributors handle. The unit would error out periodically, especially at lower temperature settings. The warranty requires the customer remove the entire unit and ship it to Marey to be fixed. ...No F'In Way! So, I figured out what Marey did wrong, fixed it and all is good now. They did nothing to help me with this. The unit has a one-year full warranty and parts only for four years after that. In any case, you have to ship it to them to get it worked on. The issue with mine was the starting manifold pressure was too low and then when it would stage in the back section of the burner, it would sometimes lose flame signal due to a lower flame droop before the board would ramp up the flames (modulate) to get set water temperatures. The way this thing is built, it is not possible to get to that pressure adjust regulator cap without removing part of the gas valve possibly, or the entire burner box/heat exchanger assembly. So, I did what any real professional with 25+ years experience would do; pulled out my drill and bits. One carefully drilled hole, 1.5 turns of a screwdriver, and now the unit works perfectly. No thanks to Marey. Another important note: If you ever have to clean this thing out as far as the burners or heat exchanger goes, you will have fully disconnect everything and gut it down to the cabinet completely to do it. You cannot get the flame sensor or ignition electrode screws out either to service or replace them. Being in this game as long as I have, I was ready for this crap. I installed a 7-gallon electric water heater with isolation valves parallel to this tankless unit. If/when this unit ever fails again, we will be reduced, temporarily, to small-camper type status for hot water, but at least not be SOL. :)
I think one of the most important topics is that a tankless does NOT give you hot water instantly. It takes a little longer than a conventional tank heater because it has to get the incoming cold water to a hot temperature, and while it is doing this you get the short amount of cold water the unit pushes trough. I know this is a minor point to many, but for some people its a big deal, they were wrongly told they could turn the faucet and have hot water in one second, even with a recirculating pump you cant have hot water in one second.
Gregory Odle, I agree that there is a Misconception about the "Instant" hot water, and that is a talk I have with all customers before I install a tankless in their home. But, we only install Navien tankless now & with the Buffer tank, we eliminate that lag in getting hot water. It is already hot in the unit & therefore only have the lag time that you had with the tank type heater. The Buffer tank also eliminates the "cold water Sandwich" effect. My customers all Love their Navien heaters.
I'd like to hear the comparison of gas to electric supply of the tankless. We've had an electric tankless for years (2 full bath, w/d) and no problems, also no maintenance. It comes with additional thermostats so if you don't want the water as hot in the kids bathroom it is doable. The unit is in Hong Kong and tankless is the standard. We love it but can't find anything comparable in the US. Prior to that we'd also had the type that is in each room, still worked great. Do you know if I can bring one from HK to the US for installation? The plug would be different but being able to have one similar would be awesome.
Great info..... thank you! Can I use an outside unit in my attic space? I also live in Deep South.... idea is to install heater as close as possible to point of use.
So....electricity needed to ignite it and keep it and the pipes from freezing (if outdoors). The entire unit could be shot if it freezes. Plus all the extra cost of the unit itself. Is it really so cost effective? If I ever go this route, it will be indoors.
Another key consideration is minimum flow. Many oversize their systems the don't know why they have poor performance at low flow rates or when the temperature differential isn't great enough at lower flow rates.
Matt. nice video! but i want your advice on something: i also live in Texas and currently have an electric 'tank model' in the ATTIC (yeah, crazy. one time allowed by code!). Well it is 20 years old and i want to replace it with a tankless and hang it in the garage. my neighborhood is ALL ELECTRIC. i think maybe the elementary school across the street has natural gas, but there is not a gas manifold to be found in the residential areas, so that means i must go propane, or electric. propane is not really an option (at least, not a very good one) because of where the tank must be located (texas land board i guess says where you can put them), and that would require running a gas lane across the house (tank on the north side) to the water heater (and the garage is on the south side). venting would also be a hassle. this being said, my questions: (1) what is your opinion on electric? what size should i look at for to serve a 5 BR house. 4 of us living here, i can realistically see 2 people taking a shower at the same time, maybe the washing machine running at the same time (perhaps the DW, but neither are drawing water at all times). any particular brand you would recommend over another? I already know i have to upgrade the electric because they did not count on anyone 'adding on' something like this 20 years ago, and the garage panel is FULL, and the amps coming into the house is only 150 judging by the wire size, but i can get that bumped to 200 amps (i am 35 feet at the most from the transformer - underground service), and then run a sub panel branch of 200 amps to the garage and install a new panel. no problems there. (2) like many of the other people commenting, it takes FOREVER (and i am talking about 2 minutes) for hot water to arrive at the furthest fixture. when installing a drinking water line (i have soft water in the whole house, except for a drinking tap at the kitchen sink and the fridge for the ice maker, which are both charcoal filtered and whole house filtered) i also ran a return water line (3/4" PEX tubing, insulation shield on outside), in anticipation of using a circulating pump in conjunction with motion sensors someday. Is there a pump you would recommend using for this purpose (size wise, GPM)? where would you put the pump? on the return side (where the recycled 'cold' water returns from the furthest fixture) and then back into the 'input' side of the tankless (with the appropriate 'T' and back-flow check-valve)? Or on the load side where the water comes out of the tankless, then thru the pump, to the fixtures, and return line hooks straight to the input for the tankless (with the valves arranged as above)? would you use a shut-off sensor on the pipe so when the water reaches a certain temperature in the lines (like the sensor AT the furthest fixture, or in the garage on the return line) it shuts off the pump (so 'hot water' doesn't go back into the tankless, and the tankless shut off because 'it is already hot')? what is the best way to use a circulation pump with a tankless? (3) is an expansion tak needed with a tankless? i have seen various answers to that question, and local code only references TANK models of water heaters. thanks!
Thanks for the video! I have a problem on my rinnai condensing water heater. I flushed it today and after doing it, even when heater is not running, there is a steady flow of water from condensing pipe. What to do to fix it. Thanks!
I'm on a well with a storage tank and bladder for pressure which causes pressure to vary between pump cycles. This in turn causes annoying temperature changes with tankless in the shower due to varying flow/time in the heat exchanger. Switched to a standard (tanked) water heater to solve the problem. Also hot water arrives faster now since my tankless was a combi (hydronic floor heating) and had to fire the boiler to feed hot 'floor' water to the heat exchanger.
I too am on a well..i commented earlier. Mine is a rannai I have had absolutely no problem..was a little pricey..3000 professionally installed..lifetime warrenty.
The well is not the issue. It is the storage tank bladder that delivers a declining pressure between pump restarts where the pressure increases again. Pressure affect flow and time exposure to the heat exchanger and therefore temperature. I asked the plumber for a temp controlled shower valve but insisted a pressure control shower valve to avoid searing toilet flushes (or other ex shower concurrent water use) was the best option. I disagree and and a conventional hot water storage/heater was an economic decision over rebuilding the shower stall and wall to upgrade the shower mixing valve. A quick shower and rinse was never a problem but the long hot soaking sore muscle showers were. Possibly the dedicated DHW tankless heaters offer better control but my comments are based on my experience with a combi unit primarily used for hydronic floor heating and DHW (Viessmann Vitodens 2000 circa 2002).
Great video! I have a question about a unique home situation that I have and I’m hoping a tankless heater will still work for me. My husband and I have a summer only cottage that we would like to install a tankless in. In the winters we drain all the water in the pipes (and hot water heater tank) and move out. Would a tankless be able to withstand a winter in a cold house as long as we drain the water out?
We are on a rural water system that has it’s well on our same power grid.. If we lose power, they lose power, we won’t have water either way (learned this the hard way in Texas Snowmageddon 2021).
Failed to mention that on electric tankless heaters, the gauge wire you need to run from the breaker box to the unit will typically be pretty expensive. So if the heater is far from the breaker box, it'll cost a decent amount for the wire. Heater tanks use a smaller amperage and smaller gauge wire.
Friendly Raid Yes before I bought my propane powered unit, I purchased an electric one. My electrician said I would have to upgrade my power panel to accommodate the power it required. I sent it back and now use a propane one now. Works great.
Hi Matt, Thank you for this information. I always want to have the tankless water heater in my house. Now, it looks like this maybe the time. We are in Houston, TX. The gas water heater is in the attic upstair. If I want to replace it with the tankless water heater? What would you recommend?
You can still take showers with cold water if needed in an emergency situation they won't kill you or wash dishes probably can't do laundry cuz washing machines require power but if your power goes out I think you're concerned would be heating or air conditioning not potable water supply that is heated
Thanks for making a informative video! However, would you please share some experience about electrical tankless water heater? For either small unit (small condo) and For regular house? I heard there gas unit usually works better for large house. What about electrical unit for small house that is less than 800 sq. ft? I see that electrical unit does not need large exhaust pipe, right? How reliable is it comparing to Gas, in terms or reliability and heating process? Thanks
I'm not sure why inferior products like tankless water heaters get so much traction, but having a Rinnai like the one pictured here, I can tell you mine has been nothing but trouble, maintenance, and frustration. Give me an old tank based system that sits in the corner and runs for 10 years any day.
Good timing +Matt Risinger. I'll be installing a Rinnai unit within the next couple of weeks. Question: what are indicators that the unit needs a flush? Noticeable decreased volume output (i.e. Decreased gpm)?
The newer Rinnai units give an indicator on the control panel when it's time to flush. Assuming you have hard water like I do here in Austin I'd get on a regular schedule of maintenance. I flush mine every January. If you have a smaller household you could go 18-24 months, but I wouldn't wait for the indicator I'd just do it regularly. The one time my scaled up it was a Royal Pain to get all the deposits out of my system. I don't want that again. Matt
Matt, is it required to install a Pressure Relief valve in a Tankless Heater, doesn't matter which State you live in? Recently, I noticed the hot water pressure is low when I turn on the shower. Could it be that the filter has sediment buildups inside? Thanks in advance for your advice.
Hi, Matt! Matt here. I own and run a construction firm here is South Africa... we don't see many of these here, however, would you recommend one of these for an ablution with 3 showers with about 20 guys showering in the morning?
we never see those temperatures here in Texas... Cue up 2021 snowmagedon! How did yours handle the weather last winter? What would you do to "winterize" it?
We have a Rinnai tankless water heater and a Halo 5 water conditioner with the ION Stick. 1 filter before water goes into the Halo. Then there is a Nuvo h2o water filter, then there's a larger pre-filter before water enters our Rinnai tankless water heater. We can run 3 showers with hot water at the same time with no loss of pressure!! We also installed a Insinkerator instant hot water with motion sensors in each bathroom. It use to take 3 minutes for hot water to reach upstairs??!! Now it takes 25 seconds to the master bathroom! Then we added a Pelican 6 stage reverse osmosis system hooked up to my ice maker and drinking water. Yes it was expensive, but we wanted our stuff to work and last. Without any problems.
Question. I had an early tankless water heater in the mid 80's. Propane fired. There was a rubber diaphragm that worked out great until it had to be replaced. I couldn't get the repairman to tighten the bolts correctly. He insisted he didn't have time to do it right. But he kept coming out nearly weekly to replace it until I ripped the $700 unit off the wall & put in a tank heater. Have they eliminated the diaphragm from modern units.
Hi Matt,...being that most municipalities commonly have water troubles with water breaks and contamination...shouldn't everyone just have a water cleaning system at one's home inlet?
Marey.com offers one thru Home Depot that does NOT require electricity and runs on two D cell batteries. So your electricty goes out, with Marey you still have hot water.
For the inside tankless where do they need to vent..i know to the outside..BUT does it matter where..could it be to a porch area..Would you be smelling anything (propane application)thanks
Great video. We're looking to buy a new water heater in the next day or two but we have a community well. Do you have any advice on what I should do or get in this situation?
I've been a plumber since 1978. I will sell and install tankless water heaters. I will even show up and descale them. You can use white vinegar or 2/3 water and 1/3 CLR. I just wouldn't put one in my house
Greenid Guy, sometimes you can put inline filter in front of your water heater, some will remove particulate matter down to 5 microns. Your average bacteria is 10 microns. That might help.
Greenid Guy , If you had a tank you could use an ion rod. They make ion filters as well. Reverse osmosis setups, there's a solution, you just have to throw money at it. Sometimes I even recommend Culligan.
Samoh Kul stick with the standard water heater, get an ion rod zinc, put in an in-line particulate matter filter ahead of the water heater, Change the drain on your water heater to a good quality brass hose bib, so you can flush your tank without screwing around with that crappy piece of plastic drain valve. People read about the failure rates of tank water heaters. But when you think about how many of them are still in service in America, that's a lot of water heaters and they work pretty good for a long time. Computer free analog technology, that's what I love about the toilet. Pretty clever huh.
Would it be possible to hook a water tank up to a tankless heater... Like say I used gravity to get the water flowing? If no, any suggestions on how to get water flowing to the tankless heater system?
For the exterior option in regard to frozen pipes, what about the pipe covers or a recessed box? I am in Austin, planning a new house so can do whatever. Btw, lots of great information.
+Jeff Stuecheli Jeff, Great question. I'm not a fan of the recessed boxes as they are tough to waterproof and air seal. Use a pipe insulation and consider a heat tape. I do that on mine and haven't had a freeze yet
Jeff Stuecheli your in Austin bro..ive been here 24 years and yeah i hate the three days of winter we have also but worrying about freezing pipes? lol...sry...i wouldn't and don't
Well I did have a pipe that froze at my current house. Sure it's only every 10 years that we get several days below freezing, but why not think about these cases? Same storm we were without power for several days as the trees hit all these overhead lines. I don't want a generator for that case, but would really like it if AE let gird tied solar take over when the power is out.
The unit would be on a wall with stone, so I was thinking of surface mounting the box to the exterior sheathing, so it would be all outside the drainage plane. Rock around the box (is that a song?). Might be a clean look?
I got a rinnia natural gas...works great instant hot.. just like waiting for the pipes like a tank water heater..saves me money ..my gas is about 25 a month average . Going on 5 yrs .idk about electric ones
Hello Yall, I have been reading all these opinions and ideas about tankless, I was wondering,if anyone has or knows about changing an orifice on a propane Rinnai R94LS,was used at a restaurant in Salado ,well my tank gas just started leaking,??
I believe you left out some important considerations. 1) The return on investment ... the installed cost of a tankless water heater with a larger gas line (required in many cases) and more plumbing ... you will need to install Unions before and after the tankless to send it back to the manufacture when it fails and it is going to fail vs a traditional natural gas water heater and any dollars saved on fuel. 2) Cost and difficulty of finding repairmen for a tankless water heater. 3) Manufacturer's warranties are so full of holes that they are not worth the paper they're printed on. Generally these are not wise investments.
Anybody installing any kind of water heater would install unions so that it could be removed. I installed a Noritz 9 years ago and none of your three points are true for me. Matt is right about maintenance, I had to flush mine once a year (it is not a big deal) until I installed a Noritz cartridge device that I guess is some type of water softener, now I just flush it every 3 years or so just to be sure. I would not have anything but a tankless now, any brand will do.
BajaPete What part of the world are you in? Every 3rd vehicle on the road around here is either a landscaper, HVAC, or plumber with a message about his tankless certifications. Of course, they could be awful plumbers, but they're everywhere around Atlanta. 83 house subdivision built 7 years ago with Rinnais, and nobody's had a failure yet. The PEX is easy to snip and re-attach if they do.
Baja, with a good plumber, your tankless unit should never have to b sent back to the manufacturer, if it's a good brand FROM A PLUMBING SUPPLY HOUSE they should have repair parts somewhat readily available. With normal parts needed most repairs would only need a day or two. As far as the warranty on the units that I've worked on and companies I've worked with( heaters not plumbing companies) when you call their tech support diagnosing the heater within the warranty time they will send the parts at no additional cost( as long as you have an account with the supply house and you're a licensed plumber and are a certified service technician. The best heaters IN MY OPINION are Navien, Rheem, and Noritz. All have a fairly hole free warranty and pretty long too. As far as the "always installing unions" in Ohio I can't tell you how many water heaters I've replaced ( tank and tankless) with hard pipe directly to the unit. A lot of the time when you get a " plumber " they're not, most times you do get what you pay for.
BajaPete Another point he missed. If you exceed the flow rate of the tankless all you get is tepid water. We moved into our new digs a few years ago. House came with a tankless. In the morning, turning on the clothes washer, two persons showering at once ment cool showers in the winter. We live in New England, in winter incoming water is about 38 degrees. I wanted to upgrade to a larger unit, but spending $4,200 was not in our budget. So instead I bought and had installed a 75 gallon tank heater from Sears. It is awesome! With a 75,000 BTU recovery rate, we now never run out of hot water. With an installed price of $1,300 and a 12 year warranty, it was a no brainer.
looking to build out a camper van with a 25 gallon water tank looking to supply hot water to 1 sink.. was wondering what would be better a small tank water heater or a tankless?
Matt, you're wrong about lack of hot water when power is lost. Since tankless are plug in units, simply using a small portable generator of around 1kw or less is enough to power a tankless unit. My Navien NCE 240E condensing combo dhw and boiler uses 200 watts so a small generator is fine for power outages. As long as water pressure is available, I can use a generator when power is lost and all the hot water I need. So you're argument is based on false information.
Hey Matt, When you offer information openly to the public you need to choose your words very carefully. In your video you state that you run the descalling solution through the burner system. The burner system consists of the combustible gas section of the device. In fact what the descaling solution is cleaning is the coiled copper or stainless steel tubing of the heat exchanger. You may consider this nit picking. but we would not want someone to mistakingly introduce solution into the combustible fuel inlet per your words used.
Kevin Luzzi And your garage doesn't have to be "conditioned" to be suitable for a tankless. (Assuming you don't live someplace where your insulated garage freezes -- not a problem in Atlanta) But I didn't want to nitpick, either ...
One thing that kept me from putting in a tankless was that it needed a bigger gas line (or higher pressure). I couldn't just drop it in place of my old heater without upgrading my lines. I think the tankless I looked at was around 199k BTU max. I think the 50 gal I got was around 45k BTU.
Check with a reputable gas supplier before you give up. Rinnai has changed their system in the last few years and gas codes have changed in most places to allow the use of a 2 pound system which will allow you more options.
RickMakes You should look at the Navien NPE 240A tankless water heater. It is designed to work in retrofit applications that have low gas supply. You can google the tech manual that has all the specs and acceptable installation variances. I just installed this in my new custom home and am VERY pleased with its performance.
Great video. One question, if putting in the basement by your HVAC unit, can you exhaust the unit through a ‘T’ into the existing flue on the furnace? Or do I have to exhaust through a separate vent? Thanks.
Your idea won't work since most high-end heaters have concentric piping, which act as an intake and exhaust. Where as you can pick up units on eBay at 1/5 the cost of the Italian Stallions that have been serving me well for many years outdoors in the Pacific Northwest that give you the exhaust option.They use PVC piping on most units. So your exhaust temperature is not a worry. At freezing or below have a dripping faucet.
k you do not use flex line another the vent is not the same as a standard water heater..on this sysyem its a combo it actually is a exhaust and intake...a stamdard heater will last decades ...if you flush out yearly and replace anode...and back to tankless other countries have a battery powered unit ..a household of two battery will last 2 years.one of 5 will need to replace yearly...these are being used in mexico run around 500 US dollars little pricy but is coming down as users go up
My regular tap temp doesn’t go below 82F. I live on a tropical island. I want hot water for doing dishes and for my shower. My son (27) hates hot water to shower. What electrical tankless water heater do you recommend with easy install?
I want to put one in coupled with my electric water heater. So when the power goes out and I go to generator power will I be ok. So incoming cold water goes through the tankless first which will be propane and feeds my water heater tank. What do you think. Plus I'm on a power package where I pay .05 cents per kWh off peak vs .26 kWh on peak. Install a couple of timers and control both.
Good Day Matt. Have a Tankless water with Dual port expansion tank. So how to convert from Dual port to single port. Since I dual port expansion port is no longer in the market. Thank you
Contractor has subbed a job to a plumber who intends on installing a gas Navien 210A outside my home. I have a bathroom being remodeled with a tub that will hold over 150 gallons, so he says electric will not do, especially if I get solar (planning to in the near future.) I have never heard of this brand until now, and I'm finding some people online claiming they are nothing but problems, like not getting hot water until running 3-5 gallons, and having it stop heating. Can you give advice on this brand. Thank you.
ja60123 You can always install a holding tank if you have the room. That holding tank will eventually bring the water in it up to room temperature. I have a on demand water heater which never seems to have a problem with suppling me with the hot water I need. And I don't have an auxillary tank.
I use my old electric hot water tank as a holding tank for my gas tankless heater. Not only will it pre warm the water, if the gas tankless unit ever goes down, I can use the old electric tank as a back up. You will need to add bypass valves but it is pretty easy.
You didn't mantion that even though they use less energy overall, they require a lot of power while they operate. This is something that can cause problems with exchanging regular units for tankless in existing buildings. If your electrical service is near capacity now with a regular electric water heater, you will need to uprade it to handle a tankless unit. And a natural gas pipe that is big enough for a regular water heater will not be near large enough for a tankless. If the water heater is the last gas appliance on the gas piping in your home, you will need to change all of the trunk piping from the tankless unit back to the gas meter.
I installed a Noritz tankless 9 years ago, it was the largest residential unit they offered and I did not need to increase the size of the gas line . It plugs into an ordinary outlet on an existing bedroom circuit.
Who said you didn't need to increase the size of the gas pipe? How do you know? Who looked at the pipes in your gas piping system and ran all the BTU requirements for all the appliances in your home and checked them against the sizing chart in the gas code? If nobody did that, it is impossible to say that you didn't need to increase the size of the pipe. I do plumbing design as part of my routine job duties. I take the BTU requirements for every gas appliance in a building and size all the pipes to meet the gas code requirements. Tankless units use more gas by far than regular gas water heaters, so the pipes need to be bigger. Think about it, a regular unit slowly raise the water temp and keeps it warm so you can use a bit once in a while. A tankless has cool water coming in that needs to be blasted with a big flame to get it up to temp RIGHT NOW.
When running flat out, my Rinnai draws 79W. That's 0.66A. It's just turning an exhaust fan, holding a couple of solenoid valves open, and powering a small circuit board. The documentation shows that anti-frost (which I don't have) would send it up to 100W, but that's still just the draw of an incandescent light bulb. The 15A circuit my Rinnai is on also services the miscellaneous other stuff in my garage, including my power tools, and has never tripped the breaker. Perhaps if you have a system that's providing hot water for a whole apartment building (etc), it's different. With a modest UPS, I can even survive a significant power outage.
We have one and really hard water. I have to flush ours about three times, or more per year. Also, the worst part, those minerals that make the water hard get turned into solids and plug up the water lines.
antv38 we had one. It didn't make a difference. We tried a different water softener company. They said they couldn't do any better than what we had. Softener hasn't worked for about 3 years. We have culligan water softener and rinnai on demand water heater. The rinnai has lasted 12 years with a 10 year warranty so it's about done. Also quite expensive and not worth plugged water lines. I have to listen to my wife complain and I have to waste a day off taking stuff apart and dig out hard water deposits. I think we'll go back to electric. We have solar now. Regardless gas/electric, with a tank, the solids settle there and don't clog any lines or valves. You have full pressure. No dribbles. No turning on two faucets just to have enough draw just to get the water heater to start.
I have run my hot water through a water filter just before it would get to the hot water faucets. But it must be mentioned that I set the water temperature around 108/ 110 degrees Fahrenheit only. Way to hot an their might be a problem. I no longer have particles plugging up my faucets an have no need to turn on the cold water faucet when showering. This has worked great for the past 10 years.
