Tankless Water Heater

2 Responses to “Has Anyone Installed A Tankless Water Heater In A Condo?”

1. Devin
   January 24th, 2010 @ 7:47 pm

   A tankless water heater may be a good choice since it’s a vacation home. It uses gas only when you use hot water, so you’ll definitely save some money when you’re away and another benefit is that you’ll never run out of hot water. But here are some things to consider. Condos are a little tricky because the water heater location varies a lot. If your current water heater location and the main gas line is far apart (for example, on the second floor and 10 ft plus), this will create a little bit of a challenge, which will increase the installation cost. Tankless water heaters need a 3/4″ gas line rather than your current 1/2″ gas line, this is due to the higher Btus (energy) which is required to heat up your water on demand. Some people take this the wrong way and think a tankless uses more gas because of the higher Btus, but it actually does not. A simple example of explaining this would be if you were to boil 2 pots of hot water on the stove. One pot on a low flame (tank water heater) and the other on a high flame (tankless water heater). The amount of Btus to get the 2 pots to boil is exactly the same. The only difference is the time it takes to boil the water. Anyhow, another thing that might create a challenge is the venting, which is all dependent upon your condo’s floor plan. Proper venting is crucial and can be quite costly since it has to be stainless steel venting. As for sizing, you basically pick the tankless model by its GPM (gallons per minute). So if you have one standard shower head (approx 2.5 GPM) and you know you will be using your dishwasher at the same time (approx 2.5 GPM), you’ll need a tankless water heater that produces atleast 5 GPM. If this is in a colder region, pay attention to the tankless manufacturer’s water temperature rise chart, because colder the tap water the lower the GPM.
   Here’s the best case scenario: Your condo is located in a non-freezing weather environment and your current water heater is installed outside, next to the main gas meter. If this is the case you can purchase an outdoor tankless model, which typically has the venting built-in (so no need to purchase any stainless steel venting) and the gas meter is right there so the gas line upgrade is very short in distance.
   If this isn’t the case, the first step would be to get an installer who’s familiar with tankless water heaters and get an estimate on labor cost to see if it’s worth the price.
   I personally prefer the Noritz brand since their quality and technology are higher than Rinnai (which I would consider them second best). Takagi and Paloma (Rheem) are ok. Bosch, just stay away from them, very cheaply built. As for proof, Noritz has the highest GPM model in the industry @ 13.2 GPM (vs 9.8 GPM) and can link the most units side by side, 24 units (vs 20 units). Of course I can name a lot more reasons, but I think I’ve said enough.
   Oh, and 1 more thing, most tankless water heaters qualify up to $500 federal tax credit ($300 on the unit and $200 on labor) if purchased by Dec. 31, 2007.
   I hope this helps!

2. mytwodog
   January 24th, 2010 @ 11:08 pm

   I wouldn’t spend the money on those yet. The old type is still better than tankless.

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