I'm going to an inside tankless water heater

[Baz]

My conventional 40 gallon GE water heater is still working but showing some age. I think it's about 11 years old now.

Decided to go tankless - inside.

Pricing will actually be a little lower than a 40 gallon replacement.

I plan to install myself.

I will be upgrading the breaker from double 40 to double 60 amp. The existing wiring is 6AWG, so should be adequate.

Mostly it will be some plumbing stuff involved, but pretty straight forward.

Here is the unit I bought:

Rheem 240V Heating Chamber RTEX-13 Residential Tankless Water Heater, GRAY

Only $250.75 and should be more than adequate for my needs.

Will post again after installation.

[rfuerst911sc]

Subscribed . I am interested in it's performance and what your electric bill looks like over the next 6 months . Hope you have a clean install .

[GH85Carrera]

It is a tankless project.

[flatbutt]

Mine needs a powered vent. Does yours?

[JackDidley]

Originally Posted by flatbutt

Mine needs a powered vent. Does yours?

It is electric. I do not think a powered vent is needed.

[GH85Carrera]

I looked into tankless when our old water heater was 20 years old. At the time it lead me down the path of "the good ones are Japanese" and expensive, and to produce the heat, I would neet a bigger gas line run to it, so a all new gas line from the meter, somehow into the house, and to the water heater. Then the overall cost of the heater.

We stayed with the conventional gas powered water heater, and in the 22 years we have lived here we have never had a hot water shortage. It was a problem that did not need fixing.

The payback was going to be over 25 years for the reduced gas bill of tankless.

[Baz]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

It is a tankless project.

Tanks!

Originally Posted by flatbutt

Mine needs a powered vent. Does yours?

Nope.

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

It is a tankless project.

Tanks ... but no tanks !

[Rtrorkt]

can you post the performance once operational? have been told not to buy an electric unit but not sure I have heard a good reason

[Evans, Marv]

We have two Rinnai water heaters - one for the back of the house & one for the front. They deliver 6.? gpm, and you set the temperature you want. I've posted about them before. We chose ones that run on propane because electric ones that deliver that much draw up to 160 amps at full tilt. At the time, I think we paid somewhere around $1,100 for each of them. That was over eleven years ago. They supposedly last for 20+ years. I fill my 250 gal. propane tank once in close to every two years and use something like .23 gal./day on average. The only drawback is it seems to take a bit longer to get hot water flowing through the faucet. I don't think the bump in your electric bill will be too much since you only use it on demand.

[DonDavis]

Excellent! I was searching for similar threads about 2 weeks ago.

My current water heater/tank is in the forward corner of my garage and I'd like to put a service door in that same location so I can easily get from my garage to my back yard.

I do not have gas service and it would need to be an electric unit.

[908/930]

Baz, 3.1GPM that is not a lot, I think most low flow taps can flow 2GPM, so you can operate 1 1/2 taps at a time. I do think they are great for point of use set up, where each tap has one nearby.

[Tidybuoy]

Don't be like me.....I bought my tankless 5 years ago.....it's still not installed

[911boost]

I have a Navien and love it, natural gas here.

[NY65912]

Yup, that's a point of use heater. We install them for 1-2 bathroom sinks, usually in a tenant space.

Not a whole house heater.

I have a Navien in my home, I got the largest capacity Nat gas heater and we love it.

[creaturecat]

our Rinnai lasted 1.5 years.
still under warranty ....... cost us 700 bucks to replace the defective part.

[look 171]

Hey Baz, like someone said earier, that flow rate maybe a bit low for the entire house. Depending on the bath(s), if there's a dishwasher and washer in the house. All has to be factored in. Then there's Maxium water flow and realistic water flow. Here's a guide from Takagi. We install lots of those and have on on my own house. https://www.takagi.com/help-me-choose/

Another from I found off the net https://learnmetrics.com/what-size-tankless-water-heater-do-i-need/

If you need further help, send me the info and I will tell you the flow rate needed.

[Evans, Marv]

Baz. For the water heater in the back of the house that only services faucets & showers (3), I have the temperature set at 120 degres. For the one that services the front part of the house, I have it set at 135 degrees for the clothes & dish washers. So you need to take that into consideration too.

[dad911]

Depends on the input water temp also.

I used an eco-smart in southern florida, with 2 60 amp feeds, and it can supply 2 showers continuously. Nice part is I can get off the plane, flip a breaker, and take a shower no wait.

In NJ, we have a gas Rinnai I installed about a year ago, same venting as a gas powervent.

[dad911]

Originally Posted by look 171

Hey Baz, like someone said earier, that flow rate maybe a bit low for the entire house. Depending on the bath(s), if there's a dishwasher and washer in the house. All has to be factored in. Then there's Maxium water flow and realistic water flow. Here's a guide from Takagi. We install lots of those and have on on my own house. https://www.takagi.com/help-me-choose/

Another from I found off the net https://learnmetrics.com/what-size-tankless-water-heater-do-i-need/

If you need further help, send me the info and I will tell you the flow rate needed.

Here's the Rheem charts. https://www.rheem.com/tankless-electric-water-heater-sizing-tool/

Looks like Baz is good for about 3 gpm in Florida.