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Tankless water heater

spectra3279

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Ok need to use the brain trust.

Come home Monday night. The floor under my water heater is soaked. Need a new water heater and would like to change to a tankless. I'm on natural gas not propane. We had an old bosch at my uncles in komifornia that worked great. So what are the good ones now? I only have a single bathroom so don't need one of the 11 gpm ones.

Thanks
 

Uncle Dave

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Ok need to use the brain trust.

Come home Monday night. The floor under my water heater is soaked. Need a new water heater and would like to change to a tankless. I'm on natural gas not propane. We had an old bosch at my uncles in komifornia that worked great. So what are the good ones now? I only have a single bathroom so don't need one of the 11 gpm ones.

Thanks

I inherited a Navion on nat gas wit the Nor cal home.

I like it with one exception - the guy that put it in should have upgraded to a model with a recirculator.

Parents had a Rinnai - also like that.
 

shaffewm

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Not sure how far your kitchen/ bathroom is from the heater. We ended up putting a remote control circulation pump on the furthest faucet. When I get up in the morning I hit the fob go to the bathroom and by the time I get in the shower the cooler water has cleared from the pipes.
 

spectra3279

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Not sure how far your kitchen/ bathroom is from the heater. We ended up putting a remote control circulation pump on the furthest faucet. When I get up in the morning I hit the fob go to the bathroom and by the time I get in the shower the cooler water has cleared from the pipes.
The heater is in the laundry room between the bathroom and kitchen. So kitchen is on otherside of wall. Bathroom 5 foot away maybe. Not 5ft by pipe but by actual foot
 

Mandelon

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Most units need at least a 3/4 gas supply. If you only have 1/2" make sure you get a heater that can work with that size supply.
 

havasujeeper

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I had a Navien installed, but needed a manometer to confirm there was enough gas pressure to run it. It was flawless for 5 years, then it killed me with plumbing and electrical expert technicians costs to troubleshoot the error codes. Went back to a tanked version and 8 years later, not any issues.
 

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spectra3279

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Mine is probably gonna be put in my laundry room so will be an indoor model
 

spectra3279

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Had a bosch propane model in komifornia. Never had an issue. After I left, my uncle had a lot of problems with it. But I attribute that to his being a cheap fuck that got tweakers to work on shit. Only problem I ever had out of it was it would error out when propane got low. That happened about once a month as we ran it on an 11 gallon rv tank. He was to cheap to fill the big tank and run a line to it. Even if I paid for it.
 

Ragged Edge

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We have a Takagi tankless, been working great for six years. Only problem is the extra time waiting for hot water, might have to look into a remote control circulation pump like Shaff has. Had a Bosch before that, first three years or so were fine, then it was a constant headache, throwing codes, refusing to light up, sensors failing, I'd pass on a Bosch even if it was free.
 

Dan Lorenze

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My last tankless water heater was a Takagi unit that hung in the garage, it lasted about 12 years which was pretty good considering I failed to clean it out every once in a while like I should've. It finally gave out and I purchased another Takagi unit from Supplyhouse.com It's an indoor natural gas unit and it was just over a grand. Love it, super quiet, takes up very little space hanging on the garage wall and I have hot water for days. This time I had my plumber install a flush kit so I can clean it out and make it last for years.
 

spectra3279

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My last tankless water heater was a Takagi unit that hung in the garage, it lasted about 12 years which was pretty good considering I failed to clean it out every once in a while like I should've. It finally gave out and I purchased another Takagi unit from Supplyhouse.com It's an indoor natural gas unit and it was just over a grand. Love it, super quiet, takes up very little space hanging on the garage wall and I have hot water for days. This time I had my plumber install a flush kit so I can clean it out and make it last for years.


I plan on the flush kit
 

havasujeeper

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I guess my biggest issue with tankless is when it shuts down due to an error code, or you have no power, you have no hot shower. Also, when the big earthquake comes,I have 50 gallons of potable water available.
 

outboard_256

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Not sure how far your kitchen/ bathroom is from the heater. We ended up putting a remote control circulation pump on the furthest faucet. When I get up in the morning I hit the fob go to the bathroom and by the time I get in the shower the cooler water has cleared from the pipes.

More info on this. I have one bathroom that is far away from the water heater that this would work well on. Is it hard to install, expensive?
 

spectra3279

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I guess my biggest issue with tankless is when it shuts down due to an error code, or you have no power, you have no hot shower. Also, when the big earthquake comes,I have 50 gallons of potable water available.


I'm in ky. Very few quakes and shitloads of water. I have the tennesee, cumberland,ohio,Mississippi all within 25 miles. Power outage only from major storms, idiots hitting the pole and squirrels blowing the fuses on the transformers. I can do a few hours of no hot water. Plus I have a nice diesel generator if it comes to it
 

Yldboyz

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Rinnia makes a good unit, the last one I purchase was about $650 through our vendor along with the neutralized kit. We have a cir pump on ours since it was free and the thing runs flawlessly.

I have some new valve sets if you need them, and can get you the tankless cleaning solution. The old rep firm I was with is the one who invented and put this thing into the market.
 

Heylam

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I was lucky on the install of ours, as it’s real close to the gas meter, so upsizing the supply was super easy. Ours has been flawless for seven years now, but I also flush and descale it’s every six months with white vinegar. I have never used any of the commercially sold solutions.
 

Echo Lodge

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My Takagi TK1s is 17 years old and going strong. I do flush it every 6 months religiously.

I use a 5 gal bucket and 2 gals of white vinegar. I use HF pump.

https://www.harborfreight.com/16-hp-submersible-utility-pump-1600-gph-63319.html

It started to throw error codes and I bought a new Takagi low nox. While it was being shipped, I realized my water pressure regulator was bad. Tankless needs as certain gals per minute to fire up. Low water pressure from bad reg was causing the errors.

I decided to just put the new one in after I replaced the bad water reg. It never wanted to ignite. They sent out a private party tech who confirmed I had enough gas and water pressure. Two service calls and they couldn't get it fixed. Tech told me the new low nox Takagis are very finicky due to the low nox. He told me to go with a Noritz next time.

Takagi gave me a new unit but I just put my old trusty Takagi back up. Love the endless water. Also nice to simply change the water temp in the unit for different applications. We set it to 99 when we wash the dog. Set it to 141 to flush drains.

My old tank water heater had half inch gas pipe going to it. I had to upgrade to 3/4 pipe.

I do have a generator in the event of power outage. I have been able to just plug the tankless into an inverter plugged into the car for quick fix in the event of a power outage too.
 
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MK1MOD0

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I would highly recommend a water filtration system if using a tankless heater. The hard water really does a number on them.
 

spectra3279

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I would highly recommend a water filtration system if using a tankless heater. The hard water really does a number on them.


Our water here is not very hard. But I do plan on installing one. Just maybe not yet. Depends on how much it all costs me.
 

DaytonaBabe

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We have a tankless and it's fine. Just keep in mind that if you have a big house it takes awhile to get hot water to the furthest point. I inquired about a solution on here awhile ago and never really came away with anything that seemed like a good solution.
 

kurtis500

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I have the largest gas Rinnai and installed it in 09. Runs perfect and heats water for everything including 3 shower nozzles and a dishwasher at once. I would never own another tank water heater if possible.

It does take a while to get hot water to the other side of the house, the only drawback.
 

spectra3279

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We have a tankless and it's fine. Just keep in mind that if you have a big house it takes awhile to get hot water to the furthest point. I inquired about a solution on here awhile ago and never really came away with anything that seemed like a good solution.





I'm only dealing with about 15ft for my longest run so that I'm not really worried about
 

spectra3279

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I have the largest gas Rinnai and installed it in 09. Runs perfect and heats water for everything including 3 shower nozzles and a dishwasher at once. I would never own another tank water heater if possible.

It does take a while to get hot water to the other side of the house, the only drawback.
 

Echo Lodge

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I would highly recommend a water filtration system if using a tankless heater. The hard water really does a number on them.

First 15 years no filtration. I bought one these few years ago...


Not sure how much it helps as our water is not that hard in Huntington Beach. But if you do have hard water the tankless will cause scaling in no time and choke the flash heater.
 

Mandelon

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When you have teenagers who enjoy long hot showers, a tankless is great. If it just a couple adults, a regular tank unit is typically more than adequate. And much less trouble. And cheaper. I flush mine annually. And have had zero issues with it. A Rinnai 2532
 

Yldboyz

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We have a tankless and it's fine. Just keep in mind that if you have a big house it takes awhile to get hot water to the furthest point. I inquired about a solution on here awhile ago and never really came away with anything that seemed like a good solution.

There are serval solutions out there to solve this issue. We use a recir pump on ours that has a sensor and remote that turn it on.
 

Community

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I had a Noritz last time. We did not have filtered water and Glendale, CA water killed it within 10 years. 5 people.
 

Looking Glass

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Our water here is not very hard. But I do plan on installing one. Just maybe not yet. Depends on how much it all costs me.
Spend the money for a Softener/Conditioner, as it saves on everything!! Plus once you take A Shower in "Soft Water" you will ask yourself WTF took me so long? and will Never go without one. Rent one at least and it is well worth the $30.00 a month.!!
 

shaffewm

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More info on this. I have one bathroom that is far away from the water heater that this would work well on. Is it hard to install, expensive?
It wasn’t to pricey. A few hundred I think with the remote kit. I didn’t install it but it looks pretty simple. Basically a check valve between the hot and cold lines under the kitchen sink. Opens up and pumps when you hit the button and then shuts back down after the water comes up 10 degrees give or take.
 

Flying_Lavey

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Spend the money for a Softener/Conditioner, as it saves on everything!! Plus once you take A Shower in "Soft Water" you will ask yourself WTF took me so long? and will Never go without one. Rent one at least and it is well worth the $30.00 a month.!!
I hate taking showers in "soft water". Just always have.
 

spectra3279

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Spend the money for a Softener/Conditioner, as it saves on everything!! Plus once you take A Shower in "Soft Water" you will ask yourself WTF took me so long? and will Never go without one. Rent one at least and it is well worth the $30.00 a month.!!


Took softwater showers in the navy. Felt like I could never get the soap off. Some of that may have been the fuel oil or the jp5
 
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Orange Juice

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I’m sticking with the water heater. I like the idea of having water storage in my house.

I also put a small water heater under the kitchen sink.
 
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