Tankless/on Demand

d-rez

I have a HO who is requesting a tankless for their project. I would like some advise on which is/are the best brands made. Two bath, kitchen, laundry. Gas. Thanks, Chris

KillerToiletSpider

I have used Takagi for residential as well as light commercial applications with no problems, in fact I installed one in my sisters house.

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mdshunk

I see mostly the Rinnai brand in my area. http://www.foreverhotwater.com/ Takagi is another popular brand.

As with all high-tech appurtenances, I think it's very important to buy local so that you can source your repair parts locally. I don't think your local real plumbing supply house is going to sell you any junk.

KentWhitten

I picked up a Bosch at (cough) Home Depot and it works great. Only problem I really have with it is not having a constant consistent hot water temperature which I am guessing it has something to do with my water pressure not being regulated.

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KillerToiletSpider

Probably not, I have never seen one of those Bosch tankless heaters work correctly.

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Chris Johnson

I had an Aquastar about 10 years ago, I think they are now Bosch, it was horrible, the house I am in now I put a Rinnai and it works pretty darn good, the only advice I can give is don't use a manifold system, eliminates having to get out of the shower and run the hot water again for a while to start shaving in the sink, keep the runs as direct and as short as possible.

Also make sure you adequately size the gas line these puppies are running 150,000 BTU's per hour plus, this can definitely impact the correct use of the system, I have seen a few where the HW tank was removed and Tankless installed and connected with the old 1/2" line which proved to be the problem.

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Chris

JamesNLA

I have written up several long posts on tankless as I have a lot of experience. I am in the process of doing a write up with pictures of not only one of my more recent installs, but a new recirculation system that has got me excited about the results. Stay tuned for that post, I need to go to Costco today and get more beer!!

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skyhook

I for one will be watching.

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Ron The Plumber

Yea , Beer

Rich Turley

I have only installed Rinnai, but like them. Keep in mind that "tankless" and "on demand" are not the same thing.

Rich

ChrWright

I recently had a Bosch 250sx installed at one of my projects that delivers great hot water.....Unfortunately it suffers from intermitent "no flame ionization detected with waterflow" problem we're still trying to troubleshoot...

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mdshunk

Clean the flame sensor or replace the flame sensor. This crops in damp basements or units installed in laundry areas.

ChrWright

That's my next step.

The unit is in a closet on the 2nd floor, however. It did take some water initially through the intake ducting (poorly installed intake boot on the roof). I'm guessing that's a contributing factor/cause of the problem.

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KillerToiletSpider

Rip it out and replace it with a decent unit, the Bosch is a terrible unit.

__________________
A flush is better than a full house.

ChrWright

How many Bosch units have you worked with? Direct experience or anecdotal?

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Indianapolis Kitchen Remodeling Contractor - You Can Get There From Here

KillerToiletSpider

I used to work for a service company that was the authorized repair company for Bosch, about 50% of all units sold by Home Despair require service in the first four months, almost all of them for component failures.

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A flush is better than a full house.

ChrWright

How nice...

Good to know for future projects, though. Thanks.

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www.WrightWorks.net - Facebook - Twitter - Carmel Remodeling
Indianapolis Kitchen Remodeling Contractor - You Can Get There From Here

KentWhitten

makes me oh so much better having a bosch LOL. It's probably a POS, it delivers for now. I'll try the cleaning the sensor thingy....someday

__________________
If you correct your mind, the rest of your life will fall into place ~Lao Tzu

Custom Cabinetry - Portland, Cape Elizabeth, Scarborough, Kennebunkport, Yarmouth, Falmouth, Cumberland, Ogunquit, Maine

Salmon Falls Cabinetry

KillerToiletSpider

It is a POS, when it dies, and it will, replace it with a good one.

Home Despair has a pretty good niche in this area, not many suppliers carry tankless heaters, there is not a single supply house near me that stocks them, and the only ones I can get through them are Rheem or Takagi. Rheem is a piece of garbage, similar to Bosch, but they are half the price of Takagi, in the long run you get what you pay for.

__________________
A flush is better than a full house.

Grumpyplumber

Rinnai, Takagi, Paloma/Rheem (same unit) are reliable as far as performance, as long as You DON'T use anything less than a "whole home" unit.
The newer models come with flow restrictors that will slow the hot flow if the unit can't keep the set temperature.
I've installed one Bosch and that was that last one I'll ever install, I sat here reading this thread with a smirk...good to know it isn't just me, those units SUCK.