My first worn out Rinnai unit...

heatpro02920

I have been installing Rinnai tanklesses since they were available to me, one of the first installs I did was a friend of my mothers, she owns a salon and lives in the apartment above her shop... She has 2 daughters {1 no longer lives there but did when I installed the unit}, so this unit got a work out, it had the normal 3 person household load plus a 4 chair salon running all day...



The unit is the old r53 I installed in 2003, the 10 year warranty is up {and this was commercial so 5 years is long since passed}, and although all the unit needs is a HX, she just wants a new one, before the Rinnai unit she used to change 50 ga gas tanks every 3-5 years, once she had a tank last 18 months!!! So for this to last 10 years she is happy..



I ordered her a v75i and my tech is going to install it Monday... She is going to probably have to pay 1 hour of labor {if it takes him longer to unflange hers, bolt the new one on the wall, and check the pressures and combustion there is something wrong} and the cost of a new unit, which I havent ever bought a V series so not sure what they cost...



I am going to knock of $50 for her old unit since it has a ton of good working parts in it, may bail out another one of my customers some day...

TimeBandit

great to hear

We recently added the Rinnai TWHs to our product line. I like hearing what you have to say about them... not to say that I am surprised, though. We have sold the Rinnai direct-vent heaters for a long time, and their reliability is just unreal.

Snowmelt

Rinnai

I was just certified Ike 4 month ago to repair them. I had to repair 4 of them, they all where the heat exchanger.

3 out of 4 didn't have the condensation tee on top.

A.o. Smith had them before they switched to takagi. When I take them apart I see there done almost like the takagi.



I am going to ask, do you do any flushing of that unit, or changed the igniters at all?

heatpro02920

Service

I have not touched that unit since I installed it, it is vented through the roof {old chimney as chase}, installed correctly and exactly as Rinnai directs...

One of my rental properties {was living there 10 years ago} has the first Rinnai unit that RE Mikes' of RI received installed in it, I have never flushed it, serviced it {except for a control that was mounted by the kitchen sink {the tenants soaked it}, or had an issue with it...



I have installed many and serviced many and over the years here is what I have noticed...



Water quality- the better the water the better shape the HX stays in, install a basic filter before the unit and direct the customer to flush it or call for an annual service if there is a h2o quality issue..



Propane and close delta's, if you have long run times with low fire rates and propane, the units will soot up and need to be cleaned. I found this on units used for space heating... I have tried a few things and found an aquastat with a 3 way zone valve can be used to direct water too warm back to the heat emitters until it is cool enough to make the boiler fire higher, I have also played with delta tee circs which is a lot more simple and works well too...



GAS- you need it, with out it, code 12.................................................



Venting and condensate, follow the instructions, not a hard premise but any units I seen fail, have been vented wrong...



last is the customer- Explain the unit, make the flaws sound worse than they are, if they want the unit they will be happy with it, if they are on the fence, give them a tank... There have been many conversations about savings, and I use one in my own home and most of my properties, I have a bunch of posts talking about what I like and dont like about them, but they have been good to me over all.



I have used them for everything from the basic residential dhw system to a hybrid hydro air heater, which works very well, hydro air suck the energy out of water very fast, so for very short money you can have a modulating condensing 96% water furnace, very simple... I did a job 2 years ago with an ru80i feeding a 5 ton hb-xb with an additional hot water coil ontop of it, the areas heat loss is around 140K BTU, they switched from a gas furnaces {couldn't keep the furnace because the space has a garage door}. The owner of the building is a stickler for keeping records and comparing costs, and he said he is saving rite under 15% from what the furnace cost to run, I told him I thought it would use more energy than the furnace, and I really thought it would, but he did the math many times and said a solid 15% across the board...



I don't push them for space heating simply because they are not ideal for it, a boiler is a much better choice, but a boiler with 110K BTU output can cost 5 times what a rinnai costs, I can not count how many radiant systems I have used them on, including our building...



So anyway, I can talk about this stuff all night, the Rinnai Tanklesses are a good choice your company will do well with them, I am not a huge fan of the new hybrid they introduced, even though I have no experience with it yet, I feel like I can design something better for less money, its a small rinnai unit with a storage tank.... I have been thinking about an american 50 ga hybrid with a Rinnai RU98 and small ss pump best of both worlds, design a control to run the hybrid when the outdoor temp is high run the tankless when its low, use the tank as storage during certain hours when use is heavy and during the off hours the unit acts like a normal tankless and does nothing... The tank can give the tankless a good amount of prestage storage and or post tankless storage for recircs and faster hot water..

Snowmelt

Nice

When you say hybrid are you talking about the same one a.o. Smith has, I think that's also Rinnai unit.

I installed one of those with a nuvo h2o water filter at the main.

I had to go back and install a filter at the water heater, because the scale was comming off the walls, I also had to change a defect in the servicing valves.

But then a lot of things that I get I have to swap something out. I once had a bad compresser on a new condenser.

Tell me are all rial heaters have there own one pipe venting for fresh air and intake.

heatpro02920

venting

with the non condensing units the dual purpose single vent pipe is the best method to vent the Rinnai units.. With the ultras you can use the concentric adapter and use pvchttp://ecomfort.com/ubbink-concentric-to-pvc-twin-pipe-adaptor-4--94107.html , but I like the single pipe system. I have heard some contractors complain about the venting cost, but say worse case you are going from the basement to the roof of a 3 story building you will spend less than a ss chimney liner costs..



Often I use the chimney as a chase, I vented a solo boiler and a rinnai unit through a chimney together last summer, custom made a chimney cap that separated and stabilised all the tubing, it worked out very well... I never get too worried about venting, I know with old construction and windows everywhere it takes some thinking, but its never impossible...

Mad Dog_2

Installed over 150 of them..............................................

when I was in business. Never had a problem with them .24/7 tech support was great but never had to use it. I did the yearly flush out of HX as per warranty, but rarely found any buildup. They are a workhorse. Mad Dog