House hot water heater question

[MaddBaggins]

Your welcome Paul, call if you have any more questions.

 

[FJ40_owner]

Are there any HVAC guys on this forum? I'm considering buying a tankless hot water heater to replace an old rusting out unit. Does anybody know anything about them? Good or bad?

They are great! Just remember with teenagers you have unlimited hot water. They can shower all weekend long and never run out of hot water.

The burner is somewhat loud.

They must be sized for the building load.

I will install one when my last kid leaves home.

JB

 

[sisukid1975]

We put in a gas tankless when we remodeled. I freaking love it. No problems, and unlimited hot water. I will never have anything else.

What brand? We are looking at a Bosch natural gas model. DId it save you any money in energy bills?

We are thinking that with gas in our area going up 130% this year, that the price of the unit might recoup itself over the next year or two. Like someone said, only heat what you use, no sense heating water 24 hours a day when you only use it 1 hour a day at the most....


Fred

 

[89s rule]

again good luck, I know that those large commercial tank models are really expensive!! We only special ordered them and I know they were out of sight. Definately make sure that the GPM will work for you. Especially if you are wanting it to run that many things! Sounds like there are alot of good guys here with alot of info on these units. Especially specific models. My suggestion would be that if possible find someone you know who would not mind letting you see how it works and getting their feedback. You can always hear facts from some salesman (another reason why people on here can be good) that wants to sell a unit and make his commision. But hands on is always great!!

 

[hoser]

We're doing a major home remodel and I need to decide on a water heater(s). There are 4.5 bathrooms, one has a small hot tub and another has a multi-jet shower, 2 kitchens (two dishwashers) and a laundry room. The water inlet temperature is typically 50-70 degrees.

My contractor suggested two 50 gal fast recovery traditional gas water heaters in a series because of the height restriction. I am considering going tankless with a Noritz brand. I am just starting to research the Takagi and Rinnai brands mentioned earlier in this thread. Noritz makes a 13.2 gal/min model that retails for $4k for "heavy residential or commercial. I priced two smaller 6.9 GPM ones at $1300/ea. Looks like a cost savings on the water heaters itself but more money to install.

Should I stick with the traditional tank water heaters or go tankless? If tankless, will there be enough hot water flow? What size do you recommend?

 

[hodag]

I have nothing useful to add, except there is no such thing as a "hot water heater".....

Why would you heat hot water?

Damn -- Carolina beat me to it. I used to be in the propane business and it would drive me crazy when people would talk about their "hot water heater". If its already hot, your just wasting your LP to heat it again.

Hodag

 

[MaddBaggins]

We're doing a major home remodel and I need to decide on a water heater(s). There are 4.5 bathrooms, one has a small hot tub and another has a multi-jet shower, 2 kitchens (two dishwashers) and a laundry room. The water inlet temperature is typically 50-70 degrees.

My contractor suggested two 50 gal fast recovery traditional gas water heaters in a series because of the height restriction. I am considering going tankless with a Noritz brand. I am just starting to research the Takagi and Rinnai brands mentioned earlier in this thread. Noritz makes a 13.2 gal/min model that retails for $4k for "heavy residential or commercial. I priced two smaller 6.9 GPM ones at $1300/ea. Looks like a cost savings on the water heaters itself but more money to install.

Should I stick with the traditional tank water heaters or go tankless? If tankless, will there be enough hot water flow? What size do you recommend?

Damn hoser! You've got the potential there for a lot of GPM. Just taking a quick guess, I would say you need about 3 tankless units. If you get that multi-jet shower going and some laundry and dishes you're gonna draw a lot of hot water. I'm working for another 2 hours today and will be here tomorrow from 7:30-12:30 MTN time. The # is listed earlier in this thread.

 

[jrfj40]

I put one in my parents house last weekend, It replaced 2 tradional tanks that were in series (1 nat. gas & 1 solar) cleared alot of room.we picked up from Home Depot 7/gpm model can't remember brand off hand. took a few hours about a 3-4 beer job, had my plummer buddy check out my work gave a thumbs up.

So far the seem happy they 5 people in the house and have no complaints.
I'll put a bigger model in my house when my current heater goes out. only 3 yrs old.