Tankless Water Heater Article

icesailor

From Yahoo:

https://homes.yahoo.com/news/tankless-water-heaters-improved-140000649.html

SWEI

Not much depth, but thankfully lacking in flat out bad information.

Almost every tankless problem we see reported by owners can be attributed to one of two things: Improper application or improper installation. Promises of performance made by salesmen/installers are the #1 issue by far.

RobG

SWEI said:

Not much depth, but thankfully lacking in flat out bad information.

Almost every tankless problem we see reported by owners can be attributed to one of two things: Improper application or improper installation. Promises of performance made by salesmen/installers are the #1 issue by far.

And reps (I guess they qualify as salespeople though). I had a rep try to tell me that if I turned the temp up on the unit and used a mixing valve I would get more volume from the unit.

BobC

I looked into the tankless WH when my 40gal gas tank was at 10 years, the cost vs benefit was just too high. I figured if your hot water usage is modest the tank heaters would do the job at a reasonable price; if you used a lot of hot water an indirect would be the way to go.

My tank sprang a leak a couple of years later, I installed another 40 gallon gas hot water tank. My luck being what it is that was after the state mandated explosion proof water heaters and that pushed the cost of the tank up several hundred dollars. Thanks to that law a lot of folks have an explosion proof tank a few feet away from a gas atmospheric furnace or boiler.

Fat lot of good that law did.

Bob

icesailor

They had to do that. Too many homeowners storing flammable fluids around water heaters. Or installing them in garages and not keeping the bottom of the water heaters above 18" from the ground.

The stupidity and greed of some, cost the rest of us a lot of money.

BobC

I understand the intent of the law but as long as atmospheric heating equipment can be in the same environment will the combustible vapors really care?

Will the be requiring explosion proof heating equipment soon?

Bob

Larry_52

I have a takagi tk3 for 8 years now and only ran descaler three times didn,t even need to. Never gave problem once and my old 40 gallon tank heater real estate has been replaced by the the takagi and my 80 gallon air compressor. Love the thing, " knock on wood"

Initially it dropped my actual gas consumption by a third, then my family got bigger. The biggest complaint should be its requirement for electric supply, losing power and hot water is a real short coming.

Snowmelt

Lol Larry Yeaaaaaaaaa that's one of the downfalls, you must have decent water, as far as I'm concerned that's the only thing that really messes them up after the initial install is passable

The other story I have with them is that if the gas regulater or meter or just say there is a break in the street. The tankless will feel the after affects by losing temperature. I seen this roughly a 1/2 dozen times. The gas company comes over and has to dig and replaces the gas line from street to house.

Jack

Tankless are great...when properly sold & installed. I ran one in my MA home for 12 years and never touched...except when the town flushed the hydrants. When I put the house on the market I installed a new one, took the 12 yr old out and cut it in half with a sawz-all. Clean as a whistle.

The other thing I always recommend is that yes, do bid the job where the existing water heater is, but do go for a walk and look to see if there is another spot for the tankless that is better. Quite that location and tell the customer why it is better. In home sales is about building a relationship. In part that means having the customer understand that you have their best interests at heart. In other words, don't perpetuate and exaccerbated the mistakes of the original low cost bidder.

njtommy

RobG said:

SWEI said:

Not much depth, but thankfully lacking in flat out bad information.

Almost every tankless problem we see reported by owners can be attributed to one of two things: Improper application or improper installation. Promises of performance made by salesmen/installers are the #1 issue by far.

And reps (I guess they qualify as salespeople though). I had a rep try to tell me that if I turned the temp up on the unit and used a mixing valve I would get more volume from the unit.

That Rep would be correct if and only if your storing hot water. If you store you hot water at a higher temp IE 150-160 degrees and mix it down to 115-120 it gives you a larger tank capacity. It would take your 40 gallon tank and turn it in to a 60 gallon. I do this on all indirect tank installs.

njtommy

I installed a Navien Tankless hot water heater for a buddy of mine who uses propane. After a Year of running we figured out he was saving roughly 15 gallons of propane a month at a cost of $3.00 per gallon it adds up quick for the savings. When Propane spikes to $4.00 per gallon again he will be saving more money.