Tankless water heater. Home Depot vs plumber
msrose
10 years ago
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jackfre
10 years agokudzu9
10 years agoRelated Discussions
We have a tankless gas water heater from the new house--sell it?
Comments (2)My husband is interested in this if you still want to sell it. I know you asked for a suggested price, but could you email me please? My email address is ShalomABoles@aol.com Thank you, Shalom...See Moretankless vs high recovery tank water heater for 4200 sq rancher
Comments (10)Be careful with the first hour ratings. On a 100 gal tank you will get about 70-75 gallons of hot on that first load. You then get the balance of the first hr rating over that first hr. For the kind of lay-out you suggest I think you should split the house up into two systems and try to centralize each tank to its load. That minimized pipe losses with the recirc, and yours will be substantial. The very best recirc system is the Metlund Design system. It complies best with all the new Title 24 regs. You will need 3/4" insulation on your hot piping. Again T24. Be very careful with the pex sizing. I re-piped with Uponor and the brass fitting here in the Foothills of N CA. There is a bushing affect on the fittings. The ID of 1/2" is 3/8, 3/4=9/16 and 1" is 13/16. It does make a difference. I have a couple faucets I was surprised how poor the pressure is on my current well 40-60 psi set-up. I had intended to go to a constant pressure well pump but now will definitely do so. Everything is good about the 50 psi range. Not so at 40# I am a fan of tankless. I represented a major manuf of tankless for 20 yrs. As far as your suggested products I will only suggest that you avoid Bosch. They, imho, do not have the right technology. Your first step regardless of what you do for equipment is a thorough water test. Manuf of tankless have to list annual cleanings for maintenance, but I had one unit for 12 years and never touched it. It was a pre-production model and I had to replace it prior to selling the house. I cut it in half and it was as clean as a whistle. Many of your plumbing questions and answers begin with the compete water test. Tankless (2) could handle your loads until you bring the tubs into play. They represent a massive load, even for your Vertex's. To handle your tub flows you should have two units on each side of the house. The thing about the tankless is they will each make your 7 or so gpm 24 hrs per day, but 135/7=about a 18-20 min fill. Will you wait that long for your bath. I have a bath fill controller on my tub. I set it at 104 and 35 gal (the vol of my tub) and it will deliver 35 gal of 104* water and shut off the hot and beep to tell me my bath is ready. Pretty cool actually. Your shower should be okay with one tankless, but your shower head(s) must fall within the flow capacity of the water heater. I can go on and on with this topic. Get your water tested and report back. That should be step one regardless of what your are doing....See Morewater heater, tankless vs tank, propane vs electric
Comments (0)I searched GW for this topic, read through pages and pages of threads and I'm still confused. I don't understand the technical talk on the debates for each side and need to decide ASAP what's best for our house. Just when I think I have a decision made, I read something that changes it. From what I'm gathering, many people like tanks because they're simple, easy to repair if needed, and less expensive upfront. People dislike them because they take up a lot of space and can run out of hot water when people are using hot water simultaneously. People seem to like tankless water heaters because the hot water is unlimited, they take up less space, and are the "future" of water heaters. They seem to dislike them because they're more expensive, are complicated to fix, and don't always work out the way people expected them to or how they're used to using a WH. We live in E. Tennessee where the climate is moderate but we tend to have ice storms that cause power outages in winter. We are a family of 4-two adults, a teenager, and a baby. We have relatives come visit often and may soon have a family member or 2 staying with us for an extended period. We have 3 bathrooms with plumbing roughed in for 1 more in the basement. Basement is unfinished but has a large designated mechanical room so space is not an issue. We have a propane tank for the cooktop which is large enough to also use for a WH. Our GC suggested a good ole large capacity tanked electric WH. I trust him but I also realize that he's been doing this for 40 years and he goes with what he knows and trusts. He said if we went tankless we should go propane instead of electric because of how much power it would use. He mentioned putting something under the sink of the 2nd floor bathroom to help the hot water heater distribute water faster/more efficiently from the basement upstairs. He didn't use a name for it but I'm thinking maybe he was talking about a circulator? Anyway, any input would be greatly appreciated!! Need to buy soon so we can move in....See More80 gallon tank-type vs tankless water heater in new home
Comments (119)Funny to be accused of evangelism by poster that incited an "Amen", a few posts up :) Always appreciate feedback and constantly working on preachiness of writing style. I think including links or reading opines without sourcing helps others decide on misleading comments. It looks like Stiebel updated their Accelera HPWH to include an electronic control screen since we bought one a couple years ago for parents house. After an updated check on reviews I still feel safer with Accelera but it's hard without knowing volume of units sold. Surely Rheem has sold more HPWH than Stiebel at this point, despite Accelera being around longer. Reliability is a compelling reason to go with Rheem Marathon an electric resistance tank. Best warranty and most well-reviewed water heater available. Tank size plays a role here too. Bigger tank means better hot water performance, with minor hit in efficiency. The bigger the tank, the better for grid storage and demand control. Demand control has been around a long time with the most basic strategy using a timer and time-of-use billing options through utility. Studies will continue forever on more advanced grid-smart water heating technology but at this point, it's a time-tested technique with this smart water heater article quoting up to one million in use already with potential savings for homeowners and grid. Another article from same site points to irony of battle between grid storage potential of simple electric resistance tanks and the efficiency of heat pump water heaters. In that first article the Hidden Battery link seemed misdirected but it was put out by the NRDC pointing to potential of electric tanks to reduce the need of new power plants and grid storage for renewables. Large, reliable electric resistance tanks are becoming more of an asset while gas is becoming more of a liability. I think most of this forum's posts could be described as meaningless or feel-good-only but definitely not water heating. It has large environmental and social consequences. It's one of the only home purchases capable of beating the stock market for returns on investment. I think the ROI currently lies with HPWH but the second best choice could easily be a good ole electric tank. If an electric utility offers good incentives, electric tanks like the Marathon, could beat tankless gas or HPWH in total lifetime costs including repairs and replacement. A home equipped with PV panels and Marathon tank could also be in the running as best long-term water heating investment....See MoreKippy
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