Gas Tankless Water Heater - Good As Their Hype?

HepaCore

I have a HO that is requesting a gas tankless water heater be installed in their home. Has anyone had previous experience with these? Recommend a model? Gas vs. Electric?

Sure, I have done research via google but like to get a first hand response.

Cheers,
Wayne

mdshunk

I've had one for a very long time. They are a long-established technology. My only recommendation is to get one from a local supply house, as you may need a part some day. Check into Paloms, Takagi and Rinnai/Noritz (same thing). They are the most popular brands.

K2

Does anyone know off hand if these tankless units will work in a 3' crawl space. I have 4 lowboy gas water heaters that will need to be replaced in 2 or 3 years. Apparantly they don't make lowboys (gas) anymore and I'm trying to research options. I've been thinking about switching to electric lowboys. Any ideas??

The original 4 lowboys lasted exactly 12 years and the current ones are 10 years old.

Thanks for any help.

dshcontracting

My friend who is a builder decided to try one out in his own new home. He hates it. He says its not consistent and takes very long to get the water hot. It's a Bosch unit. Had a customer put 2 Takagi units in his house. 1 for heat, 1 for water. The water worked ok, nothing impressive. The heat one was terrible. Never got the house warm and it was sized by Takagi for his home. Just what I have heard. I'm not a fan just because of the venting issues. Can't combine flues on most models.

just my .02 cents

Dan

QWIKWHIP

The Bosch unit is a no-no. Those things are junk. I have used Takagi now for a few years and they are great. There are a few factors you have to concider with a tankless heater though. They do not work like a tank type. The three main things you have to look at is incoming water temp, flow rate and water hardness. If the proper unit is put in the proper application, they will work flawlessly.

As far as the one used for heating the house, it's probley not installed and piped properly. Either that or it's undersized, I deal with Takagi and I know for a fact that they don't do a heat lose on your home. They will size it based on your info given, so if the wrong info was given.... well you get the idea.

In regards to the crawlspace, yes you can install them there, you just have to make sure your venting and clearances are properly met.

As far as electric vs gas. The electric units are not a good option. The small ones are nice for just a hand washing sink. The main reason is that in order to get one large enough to supply a whole house it will require 120amps or more! That's a lot of juice.

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KBROWN

I've Installed 2 For Home Owers & 1 In A Commericial Application In The Past 4 Months. The 2 Ho Are Very Pleased . One Of The Ho Had A 75 Gallon Power Vent Bradford White & Was Contionously Running Out Of Hw. 5 Kids, Him & Wife. Called Last Week Thanking Me. Commerical App Resturant With Dw/ 3- Bay Sink/ Mop Basin/ Mixing Valves On All Hand Sinks & Lavs. Not Running Out . Very Pleased. Rinnia Heaters Used.

JamesNLA

Ditto what qwikwhip stated. There are a lot of plumbers not installing them correctly. Gassing the unit properly is VERY important. Knowing what unit to use is important, having an installer that knows what they are doing is the most important. I am biased to Noritz and I personally think they are the best. They DO license out some of their technolodgy to Rannai and Takagi, which are the other 2 main units. I don't care for the paloma, mainly because it's available at Bum Depot. The only small draw backs there are with tankless, is it takes about a full 3 seconds to get HW from the unit. And the other, is if you have just a small amount (less than 4/10's GPM) the heater will not turn on. It wants a draw to fire up. The poster who said his friend hated it, had no idea about them. A good plumber will go over all the pros and even the cons. I am always up front about the gass, the venting, etc..ect.....Bosch....Lord.

I have a question for those who put them in, do you go back to your clients houses and service the heaters (for a fee of course?)

And a tankless in a 3 foot crawl....LOL, I would charge you double to put one there......but yes you can do it, as long as you make your clearances.

Tankless gas heaters is BY FAR the very best way a HO or business can go. If hot water is used, a tankless should heat it.

QWIKWHIP

I always tell my customers that there water heater should be serviced every year. Tank type (drained) or tankless (flushed and strainer cleaned). But nobody ever calls for service unless it's broke. Most homeowners aren't big on preventative maintenance.

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Heating - Cooling - Plumbing

brownerd

There are a few things to keep in mind... For most of the units you will need to have a 3/4" gas supply... There is a minimum water flow before the unit will fire up - if you have the hot water at a trickle it won't be hot. Some units need a 3/4" water supply, 1/2" may not be enough.
Tankless WH use ALOT of gas while they are heating the water. If you have a family of 6 (like mentioned in an earlier message) you will be paying quite a bit for gas, but you will always have hot water. If it's a household of 2 or 3 then you will see a savings and always have hot water. For what it's worth, I have heard nothing but bad thingas about the Bosch units.
Good Luck

Double-A

If they are requesting it, find a way to give them what they want. I have client's that have them in their homes and love and others that hate them.

Gas usage seems to go up with them in a commercial environment, I'm not sure in a residential setting.

The Bosch Aqua Star line is a simple, easy to use and install machine, but has the quirks mentioned above. The 'distributor' for parts in our area is a guy that specializes in funky RV parts for one specific brand of RV refrigerator that works out of his home. He's retired but still has the 'distributorship'.

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Davedelaware

I am debating using tankless on a 10 unit project, what are the drawbacks?

lenny

Sorry to butt in but i think what your describing is what we Brits refer to as a "combi" boiler, am I right if your not sure google it (brand names baxi,or it maybe baxxi?)
If its what your reffering to they've been the norm over here for about the past 10-15yrs and generally thought of as very efeicient