Tankless Water Heaters

#2
#2
I think @Freak had a thread a few years ago asking, or talking about this. I may be remembering wrong. If I am right, maybe he can help.
 
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#3
#3
Got one and love it. You always have hot water and it takes up very little space. The only thing about them I don't like is, you have to have them flushed every year. The one I have is gas and it really saves on the electric bill. There's very little to not like about them.
 
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#4
#4
loggervol said:
Got one and love it. You always have hot water and it takes up very little space. The only thing about them I don't like is, you have to have them flushed every year. The one I have is gas and it really saves on the electric bill. There's very little to not like about them.
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Whats up with the flushing? Frank? @Freak
 
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#5
#5
You will not have hot water if the electricity is out. Our neighborhood didn't have electricity for almost 4 days recently and thankfully we were able to have hot showers plus had a small gas powered generator to use twice a day.
 
#6
#6
I have one (two years old).

If you have back up power source (I have several, all you need is a computer UPS battery backup, the power is just for the processor and igniter, <80 watts 0.65 amps) you will have hot water.

Specs
1680050468010.png

Flush is once a year with vinegar for an hour. I hook up a submersible pump in a bucket and connect garden hoses to the flush valves. There is a kind of special set of valves for the inlet and outlet... flushing is pretty easy and I may start doing it twice in spring and fall.

It also generates condensate so it needs a drain.

Also had to upsize the NG line to 3/4" from 1/2" since it consumes a higher gas flow rate when it runs. Fortunately the gas line reducer was near the TWH and easy to change.

I love that thing,
 
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#7
#7
StarRaider said:
I have one (two years old).

If you have back up power source (I have several, all you need is a computer UPS battery backup, the power is just for the processor) you will have hot water.

Flush is once a year with vinegar for an hour. I hook up a submersible pump in a bucket and connect garden hoses to the flush valves. There is a kind of special set of valves for the inlet and outlet... it also generates condensate so it needs a drain.

Also had to upsize the NG line to 3/4" IIRC from 1/2" since it consumes a higher gas flow rate when it runs. Fortunately the gas line reducer was near the TWH and easy to change.

I love that thing,
Click to expand...
I've had a Navien for several years. Used the vinegar to descale for a good while, but was turned on to Rectorseal by a plumber friend. Did a test using vinegar then immediately repeated the descale using the Rectorseal. Rectorseal is great. Got even more than vinegar alone. Since that experiment, I pay the money for the Rectorseal.
 
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#8
#8
CAVPUT said:
I've had a Navien for several years. Used the vinegar to descale for a good while, but was turned on to Rectorseal by a plumber friend. Did a test using vinegar then immediately repeated the descale using the Rectorseal. Rectorseal is great. Got even more than vinegar alone. Since that experiment, I pay the money for the Rectorseal.
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This stuff?
Calci-Free Tankless Water Heater Cleaner

Looks like amazon has it so I may try that next fall.
 
#9
#9
StarRaider said:
I have one (two years old).

If you have back up power source (I have several, all you need is a computer UPS battery backup, the power is just for the processor and igniter, <80 watts 0.65 amps) you will have hot water.

Specs
View attachment 543649

Flush is once a year with vinegar for an hour. I hook up a submersible pump in a bucket and connect garden hoses to the flush valves. There is a kind of special set of valves for the inlet and outlet... flushing is pretty easy and I may start doing it twice in spring and fall.

It also generates condensate so it needs a drain.

Also had to upsize the NG line to 3/4" from 1/2" since it consumes a higher gas flow rate when it runs. Fortunately the gas line reducer was near the TWH and easy to change.

I love that thing,
Click to expand...
Does it keep heating fast enough that multiple showers can be taken without having to let it catch up? (As opposed to "8 minutes, and you'd better have that shampoo rinsed out, because you're about to get very cold")
 
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#10
#10
VolNExile said:
Does it keep heating fast enough that multiple showers can be taken without having to let it catch up? (As opposed to "8 minutes, and you'd better have that shampoo rinsed out, because you're about to get very cold")
Click to expand...

Ours could probably do at least two showers at a time, I think it is 8 gal/min. The house has another conventional gas water heater for the kitchen and laundry so the tankless only has the bedroom showers.

edit - if the question is "does it run out of hot water?" ... the answer is no, it never runs out of hot water. I have filled an 80 gallon tub with it. I used to run out of water at 40 gal and had to wait for it to heat back up with the conventional that the TWH replaced.
 
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#12
#12
after crunching numbers for tankless, decided up upgrade to a 50 gallon fat model. Electrical, hardware, and plumbing wouldve exceeded $3K ( family of 5).

Perhaps if this higher capacity doesnt work better we will.
 
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#13
#13
Lowes had the one I bought on some kind of energy saving discount program. I ordered it in Aug 2020 from a California Lowe's and had it "delivered" for a total price of around $350 - list price was around $1500 so I could not pass it up. It took 3 or 4 weeks to arrive. I spent another ~$200 or so for materials and installed it myself on the weekend the BaseVols were playing aTm in the spring of 2021. This is the one I got.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/A-O-Smith-...-Natural-Gas-Tankless-Water-Heater/1003011790
 
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#14
#14
StarRaider said:
Lowes had the one I bought on some kind of energy saving discount program (ordered it from a California Lowe's and had it "delivered" for a total price of around $350 - list price was around $1500) so I could not pass it up. I spent another ~$200 or so for materials and installed it myself.
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That's a pretty massive discount. Would you care to share how you were able to land that?
 
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#15
#15
VolNExile said:
Does it keep heating fast enough that multiple showers can be taken without having to let it catch up? (As opposed to "8 minutes, and you'd better have that shampoo rinsed out, because you're about to get very cold")
Click to expand...

I haven't lost hot water when multiple users are in play, it has reduced the heat level of the water though. Overall it's as good or better than a tank but it does take longer to get the hot water from my basement to 3rd floor. I'm not sure why it takes longer but it's a known issue on tankless. Some of the models will preheat and send hot water to a line out based on a timer to avoid this problem. It's not a huge issue just wastes water.
 
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#16
#16
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#17
#17
VOLtaism said:
I haven't lost hot water when multiple users are in play, it has reduced the heat level of the water though. Overall it's as good or better than a tank but it does take longer to get the hot water from my basement to 3rd floor. I'm not sure why it takes longer but it's a known issue on tankless. Some of the models will preheat and send hot water to a line out based on a timer to avoid this problem. It's not a huge issue just wastes water.
Click to expand...

Agree... I think it is because when you open a faucet the water starts to flow and it takes some time (seconds or maybe a minute) for the igniter to come on and get the unit up to the set point temperature (we keep ours at 120 F). A big tank provides hot water from the get go when the faucet is opened because it is already at the unit's temperature. Hope this makes sense.

On our "big tank" unit for the kitchen and laundry, I put one of these in and have "instant" hot water all the time at the kitchen and laundry faucets.

1680104248379.png
 
#18
#18
VOLtaism said:
I haven't lost hot water when multiple users are in play, it has reduced the heat level of the water though. Overall it's as good or better than a tank but it does take longer to get the hot water from my basement to 3rd floor. I'm not sure why it takes longer but it's a known issue on tankless. Some of the models will preheat and send hot water to a line out based on a timer to avoid this problem. It's not a huge issue just wastes water.
Click to expand...
Our plumber said there are two models that can help.

1- Wifi enabled tankless
2- Elves (much less likely)
 
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#20
#20
StarRaider said:
Agree... I think it is because when you open a faucet the water starts to flow and it takes some time (seconds or maybe a minute) for the igniter to come on and get the unit up to the set point temperature (we keep ours at 120 F). A big tank provides hot water from the get go when the faucet is opened because it is already at the unit's temperature. Hope this makes sense.

On our "big tank" unit for the kitchen and laundry, I put one of these in and have "instant" hot water all the time at the kitchen and laundry faucets.

View attachment 543709
Click to expand...

These are great. I put one in my house because the kitchen and the bathroom I use are as far away from the water heater as they can physically be. I got tired of waiting for a minute for hot water to come out of the faucet to wash my hands, and my dishwasher didn't work very well either since it seemed to always be washing with cold water. Over two years now and never a problem with it.
 
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#21
#21
VolStrom said:
These are great. I put one in my house because the kitchen and the bathroom I use are as far away from the water heater as they can physically be. I got tired of waiting for a minute for hot water to come out of the faucet to wash my hands, and my dishwasher didn't work very well either since it seemed to always be washing with cold water. Over two years now and never a problem with it.
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yep and not too expensive... around $100 or so. The pump power consumption is really low (25watts) so electrical cost is only like 4 cents per day if you run the pump 24/7. I have the pump on from 6 am to 8 pm (cause... like my kids and wife like to say... I am a cheap SOB).
 
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#22
#22
StarRaider said:
yep and not too expensive... around $100 or so. The pump power consumption is really low (25watts) so electrical cost is only like 4 cents per day if you run the pump 24/7. I have the pump on from 6 am to 8 pm (cause... like my kids and wife like to say... I am a cheap SOB).
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You are tighter than me, I have mine on from 6 am until 9 pm. I also put mine on a "smart outlet" that I bought for less than $10 that I can program to turn it off and on from a phone app. It's nice because if the power fails I don't have to reset the manual timer, it's always correct.
 
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#25
#25
VolStrom said:
You are tighter than me, I have mine on from 6 am until 9 pm. I also put mine on a "smart outlet" that I bought for less than $10 that I can program to turn it off and on from a phone app. It's nice because if the power fails I don't have to reset the manual timer, it's always correct.
Click to expand...
yeah I have one of those but left it in the box. i dig the mechanical timer, haven't messed with one of those since the 80's
 
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