There are lots of complaints about these power vent style heaters. I was just outside the allowable distance for a direct vent style heater but decided to skip the power vent and just get an electric tank. It not as operationally cost efficient but it's quiet and no issues with fan noise.

dyno - what do you mean by not operationally cost effective?

As a general rule electric heater are much more efficient in terms of heat produced from a given amount of energy input. Now your cost at the end of the day may or may not be higher - really depends on the cost of a given energy source in your area.

Here in the south where there is often access to cheap hydro electric power the electric kicks gas up and down the street. The opposite is true in New England where expensive coal and oil fired elect. plants dominate.

Just look at the energy efficiency ratings of the heters. Gas are typically in the 70-80% range and electric in the 90%. This doesn't mean there aren't gas units out there that produce 94-95% efficiency ratings or electric ones that stink with only a 75% rating.

We have hydro here (Vancouver, BC) but my cost comparison showed about a 50% premium to heat by electricity over natural gas. The OP can do the calculation to see whether it's worth it for her.

cakequeen....perhaps take this to http://hvac-talk.com/vbb/ Lots of pro's there to help with your questions. Your pipe-run does sound suspect.

I've never experienced a direct vent that WASN'T noisy. It's just the nature of the beast. And I do mean LOUD! You really have to speak up when they're running. If other venting methods aren't an option, then I suspect you're stuck with it. You might consider a direct vent tankless, because at least it would only be making noise when you had a demand for hot water. Changing things out at this stage is likely to be costly though.

HI, thanks for the comments. I'll continue to look into it because we likely will get something different. We live in a city (one where gas is signficantly cheaper than elecric) and I haven't heard such obnoxious noise from any of my neighbors. Surely I'm not the only person who has such an awful appliance. Is an electric the only alternative for a quiet waterheater? We just had a major remodel and I wish I would have put in a tankless.

Is standard venting through the roof not possible? IF it is, then a standard tank heater will work in the space just fine. If not, then as I mentioned, a tankless direct vent will at least only be noisy when you are actually using the hot water.

It'll be expensive to "throw away" that direct vent model, but having had experience with them, it would be worth that extra 2K just for the peace and quiet.

Your plumbing professional should have presented you with the pros and cons of all of the available options, and they definately should have mentioned the noise associated with direct vent.

Live,
Venting through the roof would have been feasible when the place was just open studs. They put in solar and furnace through a chase but didn't plan for this. Guess they didn't think I'd care. Stupid of them to assume so, and stupid of me not to have quizzed them further. Actually, I asked for a very efficient copper coil type water heater. I don't know if those have power vents too. it didn't occur to me that any of them would have such a thing attached. This was the first I've ever seen (and heard!) one. I'll ask what size copper gas pipe was installed. With my luck it will be too small for tankless.