2023: recommend me a tankless water heater

[Lil'John]

You're going to have a really hard time finding a tankless that doesn't use electricity. There's a series of flow sensors and temperature sensors to trigger the heater to start. Most are high efficiency and run a powered exhaust vent of some kind as well.

You'd also run out of water quick with no well pump.

Most propane/natural gas tankless run off 120V and probably at a relatively low amperage, could easily run off a generator along with your well.

For the first part, somehow my current system ran without any electric hookup for six years or more(not sure how old it was when I got house)

In my mind, the less I have running on electric, the less load I will put on a generator and thus I can squeeze a bit more time out of it. Plus, the less complex, the less shit to fail.

But, to bring this out of the dirt, is this worth a shit:

Rinnai High Efficiency 7.5 GPM Residential 180,000 BTU/h Propane Interior Tankless Water Heater V75iP - The Home Depot

Welcome to ultimate efficiency. With technology that operates only when hot water is needed, super-efficient heating coils, no pilot light and no storage tank to heat and reheat water, you save on energy

www.homedepot.com

Looks like I need to pull the trigger asap due to my current heater setting up for imminent failure.

 

[Lil'John]

As an alternate, how about a bigger one like this:

Rinnai High Efficiency 9.8 GPM Residential 199,000 BTU/h 58.3 kWh Propane Interior Tankless Water Heater V94iP - The Home Depot

Welcome to ultimate efficiency. With technology that operates only when hot water is needed, super-efficient heating coils, no pilot light and no storage tank to heat and reheat water, you save on energy

www.homedepot.com

Is ~20k BTU worth about $150 more?

My use case is two people in a two shower household that really only uses one hot water item at a time... not by design, it just happens that way. The furthest item is ~20 feet from the water heater location.

 

[Ummduh]

As an alternate, how about a bigger one like this:

Rinnai High Efficiency 9.8 GPM Residential 199,000 BTU/h 58.3 kWh Propane Interior Tankless Water Heater V94iP - The Home Depot

Welcome to ultimate efficiency. With technology that operates only when hot water is needed, super-efficient heating coils, no pilot light and no storage tank to heat and reheat water, you save on energy

www.homedepot.com

Is ~20k BTU worth about $150 more?

My use case is two people in a two shower household that really only uses one hot water item at a time... not by design, it just happens that way. The furthest item is ~20 feet from the water heater location.

You can always use less than it is capable of, but you cant get more. I'd always err on the side of bigger is better.

 

[Krazykiller]

I have put Navien tankless water heater in my past house and the one I'm currently in. It can handle 3 showers running at the same time so I'm happy with that.

 

[Bacchus]

It's less about the BTUs and more about the 33% higher GPM. Like the ching chong power washers at harbor freight. Decent psi, but no volume. Spend the extra.

 

[bgaidan]

As an alternate, how about a bigger one like this:

Rinnai High Efficiency 9.8 GPM Residential 199,000 BTU/h 58.3 kWh Propane Interior Tankless Water Heater V94iP - The Home Depot

Welcome to ultimate efficiency. With technology that operates only when hot water is needed, super-efficient heating coils, no pilot light and no storage tank to heat and reheat water, you save on energy

www.homedepot.com

Is ~20k BTU worth about $150 more?

My use case is two people in a two shower household that really only uses one hot water item at a time... not by design, it just happens that way. The furthest item is ~20 feet from the water heater location.

Can your well/pump produce ~10gpm? I knw mine can't, but it's also DEEP and about 500' away from the house.


Is there any benefit to having a WH that can produce substantially more than your well system can?

 

[Lil'John]

Can your well/pump produce ~10gpm? I knw mine can't, but it's also DEEP and about 500' away from the house.


Is there any benefit to having a WH that can produce substantially more than your well system can?

Is there a downside to well not keeping up to capacity of heater?

As I noted, there is only two of us and I can't think of the last time we've had two hot water appliances/actions going at the same time.

 

[bgaidan]

Is there a downside to well not keeping up to capacity of heater?

As I noted, there is only two of us and I can't think of the last time we've had two hot water appliances/actions going at the same time.

The only downside I was thinking of is having more capacity that you could ever use....just wasting money on a more expensive heater than you need.


Although I've read complaints about not using enough flow to trigger the heater to turn on....not sure if that would come in to play in your situation.