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Best Tankless Water Heater

16 years ago

I'm considering installing a tankless water heater - in Hampton VA - House is 2BR 2BA - gas avail. potentially installed in a crawl space. What is the best brand and model for my application (or personal favorite)? What are Pros and Cons of the tankless system?

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Comments (4)

jca1
16 years ago
pros: endless hot water as long as you have power and gas, maybe some savings on fuel costs, maybe. Less space needed to install, tax incentive programs.

cons: lots of $ up front for purchase and installation, maybe no savings on fuel costs at all.

I like Rinnai and Rheem
jakethewonderdog
16 years ago
The operating saving on a gas tankless is 35% over a standard gas water heater. This is supported by DOE Energy Factors, it isn't manufacturer's claims.

The other pluses are continuous hot water, small size and sidewall venting.

There is a federal tax credit as well as many local utility incentives.

The negatives are a higher installed cost than many standard gas water heaters (not all) and a slight additional delay in getting hot water.
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The disadvantage of tankless is that you may not have enough hot water to supply multiple simultaneous uses (running 3 showers at a time, for example). So what I'm thinking is a tankless and a tank heater feeding into a mixing valve such as a Watts LFMMV. Set the tankless to deliver 110F and the tank to deliver 120F and set the mixing valve to supply 110F. Then under normal conditions the the mixing valve calls for "cold water" of 110F from the tankless but if the tankless can't keep up and falls below 110F then the mixing valve mixes in hot water from the tank to maintain the 110F. Would this work?
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Out of those 3 brands, I would suggest Noritz. You may also want to consider a hybrid water heater. Here is a link that might be useful: Our Site
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We don't have much info to go on. We don't know what your needs are, what your wants are or what your budget is. All we really know is that you want gas in the event that the electricity is out. A tankless requires a small amount of electricity to operate - it would not operate if the power was out. A generator would solve that problem and provide power for other things as well. I don't completely agree with Dan, you can size a tankless to run more than one thing at a time. I sized mine so that in the coldest part of the year I could run the shower and the bathroom faucet - in the summer I can run about twice that amount. It works fine in my house, but if I had a larger family I'd go with a larger unit. There are also 50 gal Hybrid units - They store the water but have high BTU input and very high efficiency. They can produce a certain amount of continuous hot water as well. These meet the 30% tax credit requirements and vent with PVC pipe - making them cheap to install where long vent runs are needed. I have included an example - I'm not endorsing a particular brand. Note that these would not run without a small amount of electrical power. Here is a link that might be useful: State Hybrid
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"Looking for a tankless water heater with instant hot water for a 3 bathroom house" A tankless heater will not provide instant hot water. In fact, it will require about 5-10 more seconds than a standard tank heater. Retrofitting an existing tank installation can be cost prohibitive - check for general costs before you get too invested in the idea. As for brands, I've used Rheem 200k condensing units and have been very happy with them. Again though, I'd make sure that you have the right heater for the right application and within your ballpark budget before you worry about brands.
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tommmy2007
16 years ago
Using the search words /term Bosch Tankless on Amazon you find these reviews I added a link to try to get you there in one step . They pretty well get you started on a natural gas info . I feel that the one I review is to small I bought it due to the price looking back I would have gone with the higher flow rate/more costly unit .

Here is a link that might be useful: Tankless reviews
jakethewonderdog
16 years ago
A couple more things:

You need to be aware of proper sizing. You also need to be aware of the Energy Factor on the unit ( I noticed that some of the Bosch units (1600P)have an energy factor similar to a standard tank heater...yikes!) While the Bosch 1600PS had a lot of complaints from users because of the unique ignition system. Because of this, I am not a fan of Bosch units.

You also need to be aware of the special venting requirements.

My recommendations are the Rheem/Rudd/Paloma (all the same) units. They are a good product at a reasonable price.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rheem tankless

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