Water Heaters....

[cobraman302]

Anyone have experience with tankless water heaters? I woke up to a leaking water heater today...no fun. :rolleyes: So I am considering getting a tankless water heater but afraid of getting one in my price range that wont be able to keep up with water flow. I have a 2 full bath home, water heater is natural gas too. Any thoughts/advice on this? I know they are more expensive, but no idea on what gallon per minute flow rating I would be looking to get. Thanks for any help you can give me on short notice.

[RACEME]

I have read that as they age they tend to get full of corrosion and fail. I will be researching them more here pretty soon as we are getting ready to build a new house.

[facemelter71]

I will never own a tanked water heater.I have a tankless electric one in my house now.Its about at tall and wide as a piece of paper,probly 3 or so inches thick.I hjave a some what small house and it sits near the bathroom and some what near the kitchen.It takes it a few second to reach the kitchen sink,but other than that,it will burn your skin off if I turn it up more than what it is.

[silverstang]

Once you get a tankless you will never think about going back to a regular water heater. I have a friend that is a plumber and does a lot of tankless units on the side for a good price. Let me know and I will see if he is interested.

[cstreu1026]

I hear the gas ones are pretty damn nice but a friend of mine who is an electrician installed a bunch of electric ones in an old warehouse that converted to condos and he said ever single resident complained aboutht them. Andy is actually the first person I have seen say something good about the electric ones. I will definitley consider getting one when its time to replace the current one. If we ever bild another house its going to have a tankless water heater and geothermal heat. Hell I might even put up a small wind turbine because of how much I dislike the local utility companies...especially Vectren.

[Dirtyd0g]

If I ever get sewer so I can put a bathroom in my shop I will be installing one.
Alan

[Goldenpony]

I went on vacation to Germany & Holland back in 1980. Point of use, tankless is all anybody had.

[Blowpastyou]

There is alot to consider when getting a tankless.
-How hard is your water? Tankless heaters have a heat exchanger with small passages that can corrode really easy with hard water. If its installed correctly it will have a set of isolation valves on the bottom so you can descale it at least once a year. But descaling kits are around 140 if you buy one yourself, not including solution. And if you have a plumber do it, its going to cost you at least a $125 dollar trip charge plus 40 for solution. ( Thats what I charge anyway, and im still fairly cheap compared to alot of other people)

-Is it in a basement? Do you have access to run the flu out of the ban board and be 4 foot away from any opening windows, and still be above an 8" snow line?

-You have natural gas, but tankless heaters need 3/4" supply, is your gas supply adequate?

Do you have enough water pressure? 50 at bare minimum. Tankless heaters work on a sort of flowmeter. (most of them anyway) The more water it senses your using the more it supplies. Lets say you have 48psi of water pressure, your taking a shower, this drops the pressure to lets say 45.... Someone turns on a faucet, this drops the pressure even more and makes the water temperature fluxuate.

I say go with as big of a unit as your budget allows, you can always have too much, but not enough is a problem. Ive installed 13 Bosch Pro Tankless model 800's, and a couple Rheems, The bosch is by far the nicest, its also a condensing unit. This means that it has a secondary heat exchanger that actually cools the exhaust before it leaves the unit. Allowing it to be vented with PVC vs. catagory 3 stainless steel or double wall stainless steel, both are very pricey and labor intensive to install. I do the pluming installs for all 6 Dayton area Home Depots, if you have any questions, dont be afraid to ask.

[Black92LX]

There is alot to consider when getting a tankless.
-How hard is your water? Tankless heaters have a heat exchanger with small passages that can corrode really easy with hard water. If its installed correctly it will have a set of isolation valves on the bottom so you can descale it at least once a year. But descaling kits are around 140 if you buy one yourself, not including solution. And if you have a plumber do it, its going to cost you at least a $125 dollar trip charge plus 40 for solution. ( Thats what I charge anyway, and im still fairly cheap compared to alot of other people)

-Is it in a basement? Do you have access to run the flu out of the ban board and be 4 foot away from any opening windows, and still be above an 8" snow line?

-You have natural gas, but tankless heaters need 3/4" supply, is your gas supply adequate?

Do you have enough water pressure? 50 at bare minimum. Tankless heaters work on a sort of flowmeter. (most of them anyway) The more water it senses your using the more it supplies. Lets say you have 48psi of water pressure, your taking a shower, this drops the pressure to lets say 45.... Someone turns on a faucet, this drops the pressure even more and makes the water temperature fluxuate.

I say go with as big of a unit as your budget allows, you can always have too much, but not enough is a problem. Ive installed 13 Bosch Pro Tankless model 800's, and a couple Rheems, The bosch is by far the nicest, its also a condensing unit. This means that it has a secondary heat exchanger that actually cools the exhaust before it leaves the unit. Allowing it to be vented with PVC vs. catagory 3 stainless steel or double wall stainless steel, both are very pricey and labor intensive to install. I do the pluming installs for all 6 Dayton area Home Depots, if you have any questions, dont be afraid to ask.

Pretty much hit the nail on the head. Also look into the hybrid tanks. GE makes a nice one.

Also remember the tax credit that ends this month i believe.

[Blowpastyou]

Rheem makes a nice on its called an EcoSense, its all electric, all heat pump, or hybrid. Its nice, and also the only electric heater on the market with an Energy Star rating.

[Dirtyd0g]

I know this, do not buy a whirlpool unit from lowes!

[Blowpastyou]

I know this, do not buy a whirlpool unit from lowes!

yea, dont get a gas whirlpool..... electric is OK

[Dirtyd0g]

yea, dont get a gas whirlpool..... electric is OK

I didn't think about electric, my propane unit has been nothing but trouble. If I paid someone every time it went out I would have bought 5 of them by now, the replacement they finally gave me has been fair, I restart it once a month or so.
Alan

[Blowpastyou]

Get a GE, Rheem makes them, ZERO problems when installed correctly.

[Dirtyd0g]

Besides the whirlool I have never had a problem from a water heat under 10 years old or more. Gas units that is, electric need heater eleements and switches periodically. The whirlpool has a huge problem with lint and other debris restricting the airflow and destroying the thermocouple. The newer design has a temperature switch/reset on it. If it pops 2 days in a row clean out the screen on the bottom(sucks to get to I just connect enough hose and blow it out from the inside with my compressor).
Alan