Although you wouldn't think there would be strong mineral deposits with a water softener in line but the most frequent cause for lowered water pressure on a shower head is mineral and salt deposits. here's and easy fix if that is the problem: Pour white vinegar into a plastic bag until itÂs half full. Pull the bag over the showerhead until its spray channels are submerged. Tape the bag to the showerhead pipe with electrical tape and leave on overnight. Scrub away any remaining buildup with an old toothbrush. Hope this helps.

One thing to consider in your case is the location of the unit. I put my Noritz N-084M up in the garage attic because it was out of the way and I had easier access to gas and existing hot and cold water lines. However, the unit is probably 10 feet or more further from the kitchen now and the wait to get hot water there is longer... probably a good 45-60 secs total. Sounds like your outside install could be even further away... and it does make a difference. We've had the unit up and running since June 10th and so far I like it allot. Don't think I'll ever save any money since the gas piping, new gas meter and line out to the main were expensive... but the endless hot water is nice when you need it, and I love having the old tank unit out of the garage. Being able to dial the temperature you want is convenient too, especially if you have small children that take frequent baths and want to protect them against scalding. For the most part I just leave it at 120 F, but when it was colder early in June (summer doesn't start in Seattle until August!) I tried setting it to 125 F and this seemed to get the hot water to the kitchen a bit faster. I've since dialed it back to 120 F and that seems fine now and plenty hot for showering. Have not had ANY problems with the so-called "cold water sandwich" or times that the unit turns cold during a shower. Once activated I can set the flow down really low in the kitchen and still maintain hot water. I think the Noritz has a cold water bypass so that it can mix in some cold water with the hot if needed to maintain the set temperature during low flowrate conditions. Newer units that can regulate to a lower Btu/hr flame are probably even better. As to your question... it really depends on whether you want to spend your money or the utility's up front. If you can buy the unit for less and get it installed that might be the way to go, BUT I think a lot of contractors will not install a unit you did not buy from them. That's what I ran into so I did it myself. Better check before buying. I did not run a dedicated electrical line... just tied into the garage door opener circuit in the attic since the until only consumes 135 W max, 85 W nominal without the freeze protection heater on. Have fun.

Although I am sure the Original Poster has long since run screaming from the forum, I think we should revisit the actual information that she gave us. -They are building a 5500 sq ft house -It has at least 4 bathrooms and possibly more. -They are a couple, they intend to entertain and have overnight guests. -There wasnt any mention of childrenÂbut they shouldnÂt be discounted now or in the future or by a future owner. -The husband would like to save some money on operational costs -The wife would like to keep things simple and not have to wait for hot water. -There was no mention of trying to be "green"  a smaller footprint doesnÂt seem like a motivating issue. -There was no specific information on fixtures (such as spa tubs or showers). -There was no information on utilities. They live in NC, but we donÂt really know winter water temps. Given this information, we canÂt make specific design recommendations. If, for example, they have a multi-head shower, that would change things. They will need to have someone who is knowledgeable weigh both types of systems. However, we can make some assumptions and make general recommendations. To begin with, I think itÂs reasonable for a house this size to support four people getting ready for work and/or school at the same time. Normal showers are 2-2.5 gpm. A standard bathroom faucet is 1 gpm. ItÂs not unreasonable to expect the water system in this house to support 2 showers and two faucets at the same time or roughly 7 gpm of hot water. That could be any other combination such as filling the tub @ 4gpm and running the dishwasher or whatever. The point is that if they are building a house this large and expensive, this couple is not going to be happy with a system that makes them shower one at a time. They arenÂt going to want to coordinate the dishwasher and their guests bathing. Now, making an assumption about water inlet temps, I would guess that a system that could deliver 7gpm at 50 degree temp rise would be in the ballpark. There are gas fired units that can do that with one unit or it could be two units. These would save about 25% - 30% over a traditional gas water heater in operational costs. The largest residential Rheem unit outputs 6.6 GPM at 50 degrees and is roughly $1000 with a basic vent kit. The Rinnai 98i will do 8 gpm at 50 degrees and is about $1500 + vent. If I didnÂt have gas available to the home, I wouldnÂt go tankless. In this application, thereÂs no point to electric tankless because there are no operational savings and because continuous hot water wasnÂt something they said they wanted. Now, if this were my house, I would go with two of the largest Rheem units  just to handle the largest demands (and we are still talking $2k) and I would install hot water recirculating pumps on the areas furthest from the heaters. I would control the pumps with both a thermostat and a motion detector. When someone came in the master bath, for example, the recirculating pump would turn on until the water in the lines was hot. This would provide instant hot water and not waste lots of water down the drain. The additional stand-by losses would only happen when there was likely to be someone needing hot water. Hot water recirculating systems are common. Controlling them with a motion detector is less common. The bottom line is this design would answer both the husbandÂs and the wifeÂs stated wants and would be appropriate to the size and expense of the house.

Usually the issue with a tankless cycling hot/cold is that the flow rate is not sufficient to keep it on. What temperature do you have it set to? Some folks here set theirs to around 105F so that they can use just the hot when showering. This gives sufficient flow rate.