Water heater dilemma

[cantdrv55]

I have a difficlut installation due to height of the box under the furnace and water heater and shortness of the garage ceiling. The exhaust from my traditional water heater has had to bend below horizontal so the building inspector says it presents a carbon monoxide danger and has dinged me. So, the way to go is with a super expensive, shorter, 50 gal water heater or go tankless. The tankless is another $1000. Is it worth it?

[cairns]

Go tankless. We did and never looked back. Rinnai makes the best and be sure you use a licensed Rinnai installer- not just any old plumber.

Higher initial cost but lower per month. Saves lots of space. And endless hot water.

[vash]

you know my answer.

pipearts.com.

rinnai guy. he is an artisian.

[crustychief]

Tankless, it will pay for itself in lower utility bills.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Rinnai tankless are awesome, but expensive.

Another thing to consider is the benefit of electric versus gas. If you have both available, I'd recommend gas so you don't lose HW if you lose power. Just my $0.02.

[island911]

Do the tankless really last long enough to pay for themselves thru lower operating costs? --I thought that space considerations were the big driver for tankless.

[VincentVega]

How long do you plan to stay in the house?

[1990C4S]

Where do you live? Tankless is better in the south where the incoming water is always warm. In the north our water gets very cold in the winter.

[imcarthur]

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

If you have both available, I'd recommend gas so you don't lose HW if you lose power.

Rinnai uses electronic ignition so no power = no hot water.

My short & very inadequate electric heater died. I went Rinnai. I had no place to locate a fullsize heater. $3K installed though . . . and now my laundry room has jumped up the reno list.



Ian

[drcoastline]

Tank-less and you get a tax credit. Up to $1,500.00 I believe? So it essentially ends up being free. Check with whom ever prepares your taxes.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

The tax credit expires on Dec. 31 and it's based on the "in operation" date of the equipment, not the date you purchase it, so it's likely you're probably already too late to get it unless you can buy it, have it delivered, installed and functioning in the next two weeks (good luck with that).

WRT electronic ignition - true, but AFAIK you can run that off a generator. A full-blown electric HW heater, not so much (or buy a MUCH bigger generator).

[greglepore]

The tax credit is 30% of the installed cost up to 1500.

[tabs]

Who needs a Hot Water Heater??? Put on a big pot of water on the stove and heat it....for your hot water needs....fking pussies...be real Marines...

[imcarthur]

I had 3 quotes on mine & I had it installed & in less than 30 hours.

In Canada, our rebate requires a home assessment that costs $400. The rebate for a HWH is $400 . . .

Ian

[Evans, Marv]

We have two Rinnais that look very similar to Ian's. I think they're 8 or 9 gallon/min. units. We really like them. I especially like the idea they don't have to keep 30 to 50 gallons of water hot all the time. Don't get the electric. I went with propane after doing a little research and discovering the electric models drew 160 amps during operation. We've had the power off a couple of times, and the lack of hot water wasn't a huge inconvenience.

[Evans, Marv]

P.S. I don't know how long they last, but I've talked to people who have had them for a long time - just don't remember how long. Since they heat the water by circulating it through a heat exchanger, you can't have hard water that will build up mineral deposits. Of course that shortens the life of a tank water heater too.

[A930Rocket]

It's definately a code violation when the flue pipe doesn't go up hill all the way.

Our last house was 5000 SF and had a single propane fueled Rinnai HW heater located on an exterior wall. We never ran out of HW at any time, although our plumber suggest installing two of them during the build. It wasn't a 90%+ efficiency type like Ian's, but it worked great like I said. It came with a wired remote that allowed us to change water temps from the owners bath.

Tankless also takes up less room if that's an issue.

[GH85Carrera]

I looked into a tankless system. The first problem is replacing the gas line for a BIG line. The water heater & installation was going to have a payback of about 40 years. No tanks!

We never have run out of hot water with the conventional water heater.

[Deschodt]

Love the tankless... Got all that space back, electric bill went down a bit, gas bill barely changed, the risk of burst tank flooding upstairs is now zero, it never runs out of hot water, even after my wife showers for an hour. My gas line was 100% standard and it was fine. Now if yours is too far away (wrong side of the house), it could make it a non-starter. Other than that, worth every penny !

PS: The crap at the bottom of an old water tank is a sight to behold ! I much prefer the instant-on clean water that has not sat in there for days! One "issue" with the tankless for me is that it does not "trickle", say a little hot water just to clean your razor while you shave. Too low a flow and it'll shut down to prevent overheating the water I imagine. Still, I'm never going back to a tank !

[imcarthur]

Agreed on the lack of 'trickle'. But now we have unlimited hot water which we never had before.

Ian