Plumbing Efficiency

dutchlegacy

hey plumbing pros,

wife and I are building a house for ourselves, and I need to check into a couple of things first.

does anybody have any experience with tankless water heaters? are they really much more efficient than a conventional system? gas or electric?

we are trying to build as effeciently as possible (obviously), and we are taking measures to save on materials.

any thoughts or ideas, guys? places to look for unique fixtures?

thanks!

3Kings Plumbing

I personally don't like the tankless. In some cases you have to install more than 1 to get the amount of volume of hot water. I like to use an A.O. Smith Vertex water heater. It's a power vent, 50 gal tank that has an 75 gal burner on it. It will deliver 127 gal of continue Hot water for an hr. go to www.hotwater.com to learn about it. they are little pricely but cheaper than 2 tankless installs.

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Dan_Watson

I worked on a project that had one..it was replaced after about a week with a conventional heater...something about undersized gas lines.

rbsremodeling

i Installed a few last year in some homes i remodeled. The first one was hard because of knowledge about the product by me and the plumber . After the first we learn proper venting and positioning of the unit is a must. Gas flow to it if its not electric unit has to be correct. But they work really good.

I'd put Rinnai 1 and bosch at 2.

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Putty Truck

Jamesnla is the tankless pro, so make sure he weighs in.

I installed a nat gas Rinau last week and a propane Paloma tomorrow. The Paloma is a replacement for a 21 year old unit. The Paloma model is non-digital, which may explain the longevity.

I worry about getting replacement parts on the digital models. None of my suppliers have a big part inventory. I had a repair a few weeks ago on a electric model (440 v!) that the ho had to send to Japan for parts. Seems the unit was sweating like a crack ho on Sunday morning and rusted out intregal parts. I put the new parts on and the thing died. I sold them a stubby tank.

dutchlegacy

thanks for chiming in fellows. I was reading a bit about installing small on-demand water heaters for each appliance and fixture! holy smokes, that would get pricey! perhaps a conventional system would suit our needs a little better.

This merits further scrutiny.

JamesNLA

I was wondering if that was what you were asking about.....
The layout of the home - amount of ppl living in it - things

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JamesNLA

I was wondering if that was what you were asking about.....
The layout of the home - amount of ppl living in it - things like this are important to consider in choosing the best - most efficient means to heat your homes water. I am not a big fan of Titans but have installed them before. More for like a 1 sink office building...not really like how the Europeans do it...or atleast how they used to do it.

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"....And then we all switch places when I ring the bell"
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JamesNLA

Wait a minute....wrong thread..my bad

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"....And then we all switch places when I ring the bell"
-Adrock

KillerToiletSpider

James, have you been drinking?

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A flush is better than a full house.

JamesNLA

I have and am

I think I'll write up a "what is tankless" thread to make a sticky....My hands hurt right now. With all the glory that comes with doing a bunch of tankless heaters they really are a lot of work. Just tired. I have a house getting 3 of them in a few weeks. 4 days just for gas.....2"IPS on that main trunk!!!

__________________
"....And then we all switch places when I ring the bell"
-Adrock