What's new
By:
Filters

Spin-off Tankless hot water heaters

Kyle

Kyle

Formerly known as Kyle_T
Joined
May 24, 2020
Member Number
1339
Messages
602
Loc
Fort Worth TEXAS USA
What are good brands? I have natural gas but electric would work too. No return pipes so maybe a large unit at the location of the current hot water heater and a booster in the kitchen under the sink? The rest of the faucets are less than 20ft from the heater now.

my tank heater is like 15 years old now and since it runs out in like 6 minutes taking a shower I’m betting it’s full of scale (previous people did crap for preventative maintenance, they just replaced stuff as it broke)...
 
15 years old you say? Could be the dip tube busted off inside. I seem to remember this being a problem across all mfg back around that time. I was having the same issue with running out of hot. Pulled my dip tube and it was no longer there. $10 later and I was back in business.
 
I have a Rinnai 199 with an attached circulating pump on natural gas mounted outside. It's supposed to be about the best unit on the market. Since mine circulates often, I don't see any financial gains from the increased efficiency. I won't ever go back to tanked heaters. I also like the fact that without the big tank, I got a lot more space in my storage closet.
 
We have a Bosh unit that almost 15 yrs old and have had zero issues, after installing it I've never touched it. Its NG and needs no electrical for the igniter, it uses a piezo igniter that works based on rate of flow
Pretty awesome, no power I can still take a shower as long as I want.
No idea if they even make them anymore.
 
We have two Rinai units at the new house. At the last house we used noritz. Both are reputable. Neither home recirculates and our bill went down $40/ month when we swapped in the noritz.
 
Check on your gas line size, they pull a lot more when burning than a tank heater and you may need to upgrade your supply. I had a 1” supply so I didn’t have to upgrade the line. Also size it correctly based on what you plan to use. Like do you plan on showering while doing laundry or washing dishes at the same time. And like mitsu said, skip the electric tankless.

I’m at the opposite side of this now, I’ve had a Bosch tankless for 20 years now and when it goes out I plan on going back to a tank heater. I never really saw any saving in gas and I hate that I have to have the faucet on high to get hot water out of it. Cost is another factor. I can get a tank NG heater for $400 or a NG tankless for $1200, like I said I never saw any gas/$ savings. You’re also supposed to do an annual maintenance on them which is slightly more $ than the annual drain and flush on a tank heater.
 
Last edited:
Warning: This post contains my opinion.

There's only two situations (that I know of) where tankless might make any kind of sense. First is a tiny house where the benefit is less room taken up. Second is wanting to fill a hot tub with hot water, or take literally endless showers.

Other than that, they're retarded, especially in places that get winter. Since winter places have the tank mounted inside the house, there is absolutely no lost heat from the tank (since lost heat is still within the building envelope). I guess during the 6 days of summer that need A/C you might save a few pennies.

Saving $6 a month on "efficiency" is absolutely not worth the hassle of having heat exchangers that will clog or scale up, and it's not worth having all the electronic flow and pressure switches and control boards and bullshit. It's also not worth having the "cold sandwich" effect or having a minimum flow rate to actually get hot water. Also the extra cost for the super-expensive tankless will never be made up by "efficiency" when burning dirt cheap natural gas, or even propane.

Fuck tankless heaters.

I've got a nice big natural gas heater with a pilot light. We still have hot water when the power's out and I don't have to deal with any finicky troubleshooting bullshit. Worst thing that could happen to a tank unit is it needs a new thermocouple, which is a universally common part that you can even get in northern ontario on a weekend.
 
I've had a Rinnai tankless for 10 years and haven't had a single issue out of it. I bought it so I can give the dogs a bath and then shower myself without running out of water. The lady friends like being able to fill the garden tub all the way with water hot enough to do a lowcountry boil for some damned reason. The maintenance I do once a year or whenever I remember, the parts were about a hundred bucks, plus a couple gallons of vinegar for each maintenance. Setup takes 10 minutes, run for an hour, tear down takes another 10. It's not as big a deal as the haters make it out to be. Doesn't take but maybe 10 seconds longer for the hot water to reach the kitchen faucet at the opposite end of the house, faucets closer there was no difference. Still puts out 135 degree water at the kitchen. I didn't give a shit about efficiency savings. If it saves me money or it doesn't I don't care, just got tired of running out of hot water.
 
I got tired of having to wait almost 5 minutes for the hot water to reach my shower. Now I turn it on and have full heat in 5 seconds.
 
Mr.Ratbastard said:
Why not?
Click to expand...
They pull a tremendous amount of amps.
Big circuit, big wires.

The gas ones pull a tremendous amount of gas as well. They save money because they don’t run all the time, but when they do run, they run big.

Honestly, they are not the great thing some people make them out to be. Most cases, a good traditional water heater accomplishes the task a whole lot easier. A lot of the gas water heaters require special venting, some of them require what is called “Z” vent. Some require a proprietary double wall vent tubes to take in fresh air from the outer liner and then vent through the center pipe.
Some require bigger gas lines than your typical water heater appliance because of the flow of gas they use. This becomes an issue especially in older homes
 
Last edited:
I will be buying, installing and running some type of water heater in North Central Idaho soon. This thread has raised more questions than answers. IBB for the win. :laughing:
 
The only advantage I see for them, after having had one for the last 20 years, is continuous hot water. If you live in a house full of women or you shower like a woman, then get one. Otherwise you'll never make up the cost difference.
 
Deuce 40s said:
I got tired of having to wait almost 5 minutes for the hot water to reach my shower. Now I turn it on and have full heat in 5 seconds.
Click to expand...

.................and that has absolutely fuck all to do with tankless vs tank. Put a circ on a tank and you accomplish the same thing.
 
I installed a 199.9k BTU Richmond tankless in my girlfriend's house about 6 months ago. Vented it using 2" PVC. I redid the entire mechanical/laundry room in the process to unfuck 40 years of hacked in bullshit including gas pipe, water pipe, furnace, flue, and washer/dryer hookups. The amount of available space in the room nearly tripled (no exaggeration). The tankless is great for saving space. It is great for baths (I have 2 younger kids that take baths and my girlfriend likes taking baths in the master bathtub). I take long showers, so it is great for that as well. The one I bought will heat water at pretty low flow as well, so no full hot flow necessary. The dishwasher and washing machine will turn it on. So far I really like it and have no regrets.

I got this one:

https://www.menards.com/main/plumbi...513694149.htm?tid=3768459957624185712&ipos=10
 
Both definitely have their place. I love that I can take a long shower or do back to back showers with the tankless, but it drives me nuts not having hot water when the power goes out once a month because california. Also not really a fan of all the electronics involved. If room isn't the issue, big tank heater for sure is what I would put in. Simple and reliable
 
Gregj50!!!!! said:
What is it with the need for flow to come on???? Is that the trigger or something???
Click to expand...

Obviously, yeah.

The thing makes a bajillion BTUs, and if you got no flow to cool the BTUs made, then you start melting and burning shit. It's like a giant fucking flamethrower in a little box, and you better have coolant flowing.
 
Muckin_Slusher said:
.................and that has absolutely fuck all to do with tankless vs tank. Put a circ on a tank and you accomplish the same thing.
Click to expand...

So why spend the money keeping 50+ gallons hot all the time if I can just heat only what's in the lines?
 
KDXSR5 said:
I installed a 199.9k BTU Richmond tankless in my girlfriend's house about 6 months ago. Vented it using 2" PVC. I redid the entire mechanical/laundry room in the process to unfuck 40 years of hacked in bullshit including gas pipe, water pipe, furnace, flue, and washer/dryer hookups. The amount of available space in the room nearly tripled (no exaggeration). The tankless is great for saving space. It is great for baths (I have 2 younger kids that take baths and my girlfriend likes taking baths in the master bathtub). I take long showers, so it is great for that as well. The one I bought will heat water at pretty low flow as well, so no full hot flow necessary. The dishwasher and washing machine will turn it on. So far I really like it and have no regrets.

I got this one:

https://www.menards.com/main/plumbi...513694149.htm?tid=3768459957624185712&ipos=10
Click to expand...

One of my previous houses had two 40 gal tank heaters. I tried plumbing them in series and parallel. I also tried one big (70?) gal tank in one of my houses. I am still loving the tankless over the other options I have tried. It's been awesome so far.
 
[486 said:
;n239881]

heat does not work the way you seem to think it does
Click to expand...

Unless something's changed, heat works like it always has. You seem to think there's something mysterious going on.
 
Deuce 40s said:
Unless something's changed, heat works like it always has. You seem to think there's something mysterious going on.
Click to expand...

get water in water heater hot - lots of btus
keep water in water heater hot - less than a 40 watt bulb's worth of btus, which with gas is approximately zero dollars and zero cents
 
Mr.Ratbastard said:
Why not?
Click to expand...

A properly sized one requires a ton of power. You can see the lights dim when they kick on. Some LED lighting will flicker.

People dont realize what is involved in changing from tank to tankless. More circuits and larger wire to the unit and sometimes a larger electric service to the house. I don't know the issues with gas side, but Im sure they have similar problems as the electric with adding the extra load. Everything is electric around here so I dont recommend them. If you have gas appliances, then maybe the electric would suit you better.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Back Refresh