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Tankless Water heaters

BigAl

BigAl

Gone But Not Forgotten
Do you have one ?
I own several . They are the only thing I install in my homes . Very efficient and easy to install .
When they first were introduce for home use about 10 years ago , they were VERY Expensive and not very reliable . Now the price is way down and there are a ton of sizes available . Always buy at least one size bigger than you think you will need .
I am preparing to order a new LPG 20 liter (5+gallon) size for my new barn with the apartment upstairs . Price is $385 and that includes shipping . These things are so simple and I always get the ones that require no electrical hook up in case we have power failures ,which happens often in the back country .
So when your old water heater kicks the bucket , look into one of these . Your going to love the operational cost saving too !

And Sushi ... I'm pretty sure the girl is not included in the price . She is just the model posing with the product ...
 

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Good Lord Al, I didn't realize that prices had dropped so much. Many years ago in the UK, when my parents were alive, I had one installed in their small home. It cost an arm and a leg but it was worth it and it worked very well. They were very pleased with it.

The one I had installed was electric.

I have two BIG, natural gas water heaters at the house and they are getting a little old. We've been here for 11 years and they were here before us so there is no telling how old they really are. This might be a good alternative for when they do crater. What do you do about venting or are they ventless?
 
We installed a Rinnai system two years ago. If I remember correctly the greatest cost was in the exhaust pipe; something like $12-15 per foot!

It lowered our natural gas bill but I miss the instant hot water at each faucet; out plumber installed a recirculating return pipe system. With the tankless system there is no tank to return the cool water to...... Oh, well. We like our system.

Kevin
 
EastTexFrank said:
Good Lord Al, I didn't realize that prices had dropped so much. Many years ago in the UK, when my parents were alive, I had one installed in their small home. It cost an arm and a leg but it was worth it and it worked very well. They were very pleased with it.

The one I had installed was electric.

I have two BIG, natural gas water heaters at the house and they are getting a little old. We've been here for 11 years and they were here before us so there is no telling how old they really are. This might be a good alternative for when they do crater. What do you do about venting or are they ventless?
Click to expand...

Well , If you already have a gas water heater than you are all set . Just connect the flue outlet to your existing flue system , add a couple of flex pipes to extend the existing water pipes to connect up and also one for the gas hook up . Thats it ! Your now enjoying endless hot water !!!!I found mine on EBAY . THat $385 price is a "Buy it Now" that I quoted
 
Al........What about the vent pipe ? Most of these heaters call for a 3" stainless vent, or for a 5" type "B" double wall gas vent. I currently have a gas tank type that uses a 3" type "B" vent that goes from the basement to the roof. I have exterior porches on my house on nearly all exterior walls, so thru the wall venting isn't an easy option, without serious plumbing & gas piping mods.

Did you just hook up to your original venting ?

Maybe Murph will chime in here..........
 
TOMLESCOEQUIP said:
Al........What about the vent pipe ? Most of these heaters call for a 3" stainless vent, or for a 5" type "B" double wall gas vent. I currently have a gas tank type that uses a 3" type "B" vent that goes from the basement to the roof. I have exterior porches on my house on nearly all exterior walls, so thru the wall venting isn't an easy option, without serious plumbing & gas piping mods.

Did you just hook up to your original venting ?

Maybe Murph will chime in here..........
Click to expand...

A 3" should work fine , just use a size adapter from 4" to 3" . I have a 4" and the snow , on the roof , crushed the damn pipe one winter and I never knew it for a month . I bet I was not even getting a 1" exhuast flow out of that bent pipe . We have Carbon Mono detectors in the house and they never went off so I think it still worked fine at reduced restristed exhuast gas flow .

A lot of thimbles are produced now that terminate as soon as they exit the interior of the house . They can be installed under porches or overhangs . The one in the Panama house is done this way .

Just make sure you have a Carbon Mono Detector installed in the house . This is good common sense with any gas type appliances installed in your home and they are cheap insurance too !!!
 
BigAl said:
A 3" should work fine , just use a size adapter from 4" to 3" . I have a 4" and the snow , on the roof , crushed the damn pipe one winter and I never knew it for a month . I bet I was not even getting a 1" exhuast flow out of that bent pipe . We have Carbon Mono detectors in the house and they never went off so I think it still worked fine at reduced restristed exhuast gas flow .

A lot of thimbles are produced now that terminate as soon as they exit the interior of the house . They can be installed under porches or overhangs . The one in the Panama house is done this way .

Just make sure you have a Carbon Mono Detector installed in the house . This is good common sense with any gas type appliances installed in your home and they are cheap insurance too !!!
Click to expand...


I just installed a new digital CO/combustible gas combo detector in my basement on this past Sunday as a matter of fact ! My kids like to have their friends sleep over & camp out in the finished 1/2 of the basement & I didn't want any problems with the utility room just on the other side of the wall.

Which brand tankless unit did you purchase ? GPM ?? Are you satisfied with the output ?

Thanks

Tom
 
Our local municipality does not allow for us to install tankless water heaters. Yeah I know but we call our municipality the State of (out municipality) a lot.

The ones we have put in out of our city limits have been the Noritz. We have had very good luck with them and no service troubles what so ever. Most people have called us back and told us they could see the savings. Brother in law has cut his gas bill during the summer months when no gas is being used for heat by 50%.


murph
 
TOMLESCOEQUIP said:
I just installed a new digital CO/combustible gas combo detector in my basement on this past Sunday as a matter of fact ! My kids like to have their friends sleep over & camp out in the finished 1/2 of the basement & I didn't want any problems with the utility room just on the other side of the wall.

Which brand tankless unit did you purchase ? GPM ?? Are you satisfied with the output ?

Thanks

Tom
Click to expand...
The one I have in Idaho needs to be a bit bigger but it works great . I purchased it in Panama and shipped it up .The one in Panama is about the same size but the incoming cold water is much warmer so I have a lot more flow .

The ones avalible from the above web site are twice as big and I do not expect to have any problems with them . Just make sure you get the larger one . Most water fixtures now have a maximun 3GPM flow so you can use that as an example .

I think these units are all made by the same outfit in China . I looked at importing a whole sea Container ( 6000 units) at one time when I was thinking of selling them here in the states as a little side business . At that time the biggest unit avalible was only going to end up costing me $27 a piece and the smallest cost $5 plus shipping cost !!! They would print any name you wanted on the cover and you could have instruction in any language printed in the operating manual .
A guy could still do this if he wanted to start a business and I know damn well it would take off .... big Time . The best part is these units need no Electric to operated . They are battery powered to light the prizo system ... No stand by pilot !!!!
 
Our water heater is a power vent (tank style) that uses PVC piping for a vent.

I guess that vent won't work when replacement time comes, huh?
 
thcri said:
Our local municipality does not allow for us to install tankless water heaters. Yeah I know but we call our municipality the State of (out municipality) a lot.

The ones we have put in out of our city limits have been the Noritz. We have had very good luck with them and no service troubles what so ever. Most people have called us back and told us they could see the savings. Brother in law has cut his gas bill during the summer months when no gas is being used for heat by 50%.


murph
Click to expand...

Murph,

Why are they not allowed?? I have seen the same savings as your BIL year-round.

K
 
Some of the reasons they are not allowed have alreaady been brushed over right here in this thread.


NEVER reduce the size of a gas vent unless you install a power vent to assist the draft!

Most or all of the tankless heaters use their own stainless steel vent pipe. They are approved specifically for this pipe only. This is because they sometimes condense and Type B vent is not made to handle condensate.

Any water heater that now uses PVC is already way more efficient than a tankless water heater. Condensing heaters that use PVC operate at about 92-95% efficiency and tankless ones with metal vent run at about 85%.

Another reason municipalities frown on them, at least without a permit and proper gas line calcs, is because they typically use about 190,000-250,000 BTUs of gas and a residential water heater uses about 40,000 BTUs. So the gas piping in homes is way too small for tankless heaters.

The main reasons they "appear" to be more efficient are that the recirc system gets turned off and reduces the standby loss, in homes where little hot water is used the tank type water heater fires up occasionally to stay warm, so overall, the tank system becomes less efficient where there is a lot of standby time (like a mountain cabin used only on weekends). Many old and poorly insulated water heaters are running at, probably 60-70% efficiency. But extra long showers mean more gas use with the tankless heaters and can lead to increased use. Overall, it's hard to generalize on the savings by the time you factor in a new flue, new gas pipe and the heater with it's electrical connection.

A hot water solar system is an excellent way to save on water heating energy costs. Mine allows me to turn the water heater off for about six months a year.
 
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