Tankless Hot Water Heater

[ReiKo]

Here you go, right from Rheem's website, this is the baddest one they offer......

http://www.rheem.com/group/tankless-gas-water-heaters-condensing-tankless-gas-water-heaters

This should be the only thing you need to know to make your decision on, price is irrelevant. What is the point of putting in a water heater if it can not supply enough hot water? Keep in mind Michigan ground water temps are 42-44* and most people set their water heater to around 120* to be comfortable.......that is a 75+* Delta T, which means that unit will only flow about 4gpm. A typical faucet is 2gpm so that means if you run the shower and any other faucet you have maxed out the system. That is not very practical for most families.

--Joe

This man speaks the truth 100%... I have to add another one to my system and when I found out about this... I was pretty pisssssed....

 

[mdhmi]

You can have the best of both worlds if you like. There are people that have both a traditional WH that services most everything and a tankless just for a main bath (for endless showers).
We went with a tankless during a remodel as there would no longer be a place to physically accommodate a traditional WH.
If you have a basement or space to spare I would go traditional given the cost.

 

[Killjoy]

What about an electric tank less? I was thinking of installing one in my up northcabin for ease of winterizing etc. I currently have an electric 40 gallon but the tank is about shot because we have well water.

Even worse. Electric may be ok for a small hand sink, but an electrical tankless performs worse than an equivalent gas (temp delta vs. flow) and uses a TON of power. I've seen a couple whole house electric that were like 20-25KW, which is like 2 240V 40-60A breakers working in parallel, or 4 spaces in the load center! It's not uncommon to see these be on their own service.

 

[Falcon64]

Ok but this is for a cabin. When i go there i have to heat up 40 gallons of water which takes a lot of power since its electric. I dont think ill need a heater that big for a one bath cabin. All it has is a stand up shower and two sinks that need hot water.

 

[Killjoy]

Ok but this is for a cabin. When i go there i have to heat up 40 gallons of water which takes a lot of power since its electric. I dont think ill need a heater that big for a one bath cabin. All it has is a stand up shower and two sinks that need hot water.

You can look here for a general idea: http://www.rheem.com/products/tankless_water_heaters/tankless_electric

The RTE 13/18 says "Great for single shower applications" and "just right for bathroom renovations or additions". The RTE 13 needs a 60A 240V dedicated circuit (which is about the size of the entire electrical service to many older cabins up north). The RTE 18 needs 2 240V 40A breakers. To put that in non-electrical terms, that's the equivalent of about 2-3 full size kitchen electric stoves in terms of circuit sizing / power consumption.

 

[Falcon64]

Yes all i have now is 60 amp service so that wont work. I have to use electric cause i have lp up there and no way to vent a h2o heater unless i buy the $900 high eff one which isnt gonna happen.

 

[soap]

I have to use electric cause i have lp up there and no way to vent a h2o heater unless i buy the $900 high eff one which isnt gonna happen.

If $900 is out of the question then forget about tankless. Even the low end tankless units are over a grand.

--Joe

 

[NVR2FST]

Thanks for all the help and info guys. I ended up picking-up up a regular replacement tank and will be putting it in tomorrow. The tankless just doesn't sound like a good option for as much hot water as we go through in this house...

 

[OldbutNew]

I am really late to this party, but...
I have a tankless in my house: 3 full baths, 2 adults and a teenager. Installed it myself in about 2003 or 2004.
Never had an issue. Dropped my gas bill appreciably at the time. Yes, it was expensive, but the payoff was about 4 years ago. I am currently using a smaller unit to drive the radiant floor heat in my barn. Working great, and didn't kill my gas bill. I will never install a conventional HWH again. Takagi brand comes highly rated. That's what I have in the barn. The one in the house is Bosch.

And thats all I have to say about that.