Thinking of a Rheem Tankless water heater
We currently have a 50 Gallon electric water heater and are tired of the huge electric bill. There is a gas access less than a foot away from the water heater location so we figured we'd go with a gas tankless. The Rheem looks to be a good option, heard a couple of good things. My question is about the install, which I understand can get costly. The newest Rheem H95 says it vents with standard PVC, but its 'condensing' (which I don't know what that means). Any thoughts on the 'standard PVC' installation? Just trying to get an idea before we get someone over to look at it, thanks Before you go too far, note that this unit can require up to 199,990 BTU of gas. You may need to run a larger gas line. No problem with PVC exhaust. I have it on my high efficiency furnace and power vent water heater. High efficiency units do generate condensate. you will need to run a small pvc line to a floor drain. Just checked and my Rheem power vent which is a 50 gallon tank, uses 40,000 BTU per hour of run time. Something to think about. Tankless has its place but many people install them and do not get the desired results or savings. How many baths in the home? How many people in the home? You have gas access, but is the enough volume of gas to supply 199,000 BTU? Water quality? Well? City? Most likely you will need to run a dedicated gas line from the gas meter to the unit. Answer these few questions then we can explain about tankless and the limited gallons per minute of hot water they produce. Most are based on a 40 degree temp rise. Which means if you live in florida the ground water is 70F plus 40F rise = 110F degree water from the unit at say 6 gallons per minute. Thats two showers. Run somthing else(like a sink) and the unit will not keep up. But wait.... if you want 120F water, then the gallons per minute go down, and possibly you wont be able to run several fixtures. But wait.... If you live elsewhere the average water temp out of the ground is 55 degrees. 55 + 40 = 95 degree water. Turn it up to get 120F water and the GPM go down. All units advertised with the gallons per minute is based on this. See what I am saying?????? Mike NJ I do see what you mean. Our house is 2 baths, city water. we had a gas line ran for our weber grill not too long ago, and the guy that ran the line seemed to think we had the gas flow to add a tankless. It's just my girlfriend and i living in the house so I'm not too concerned about being able to run multiple showers or anything. We kinda figure it will be similar to now, we can't run both showers and the kitchen sink with our current water heater. So we can still be smart about it and i think it will be fine. My main concern is with the installation, i have heard from a couple people i know that the paid 2-3 times the cost of their tankless for the installation. Thats why the Rheem caught my eye with their 'standard PVC, easy installation'. The unit would go in the garage. In order to vent it to an exterior wall, the vent would have to go up about 4 feet and then horizontal for about 12 ft. Thanks guy that ran the line seemed to think we had the gas flow to add a tankless Its a calculation, and you cant guess... If the unit wants 199,000 btu and your only supplying it with 100,000 btu you will have issues with the unit and most likely damage it. You should be able to run both showers with your water heater.. Whats the issue? Its electric so you may have something not working. If you insist on tankless I would look at the Noritz. I have installed many of them and feel they have the best warranty. Tankless Hot Water Heater | Tankless Water Heaters Gas | On Demand Hot Water Heaters Of course just remember I told you so if your not happy with the results or savings. ( Temp fluctuations, cold water sandwiching...etc.) I would lean more towards a power vent HWH. I have installed many of these and feel you will be happier. This is the higher end power vent. They make a more standard one also but the link is down. http://www.hotwater.com/lit/brochures/AOSRG71000.pdf http://www.hotwater.com/lit/brochures/AOSRG01000.pdf Tankless has its place if you have 1 bath or many children that are of school age and everyone showers in the morning. Mike NJ I may have worded that poorly, I believe he did test the gas line to see if a it had the capacity to work and didn't just assume it would. I haven't heard of the power vent water heaters before you metioned them. I'm guessing anything gas is going to be more efficient than our current electric unit, but is a power vent going to be as efficient as a tankless? Is Vertex the best power vent? After a quick google search i saw rheem and ge and some others also make a power vent. And thanks for all of your help I'm not personally sold on tankless units yet but a few customers of mine are happy with one. Venting is what gets extremely pricey with some units. We install a brand called Navien that vents with solid core pvc. People seem to be pretty happy with it. They are about 200000 btu and require a 3/4 gas line. Tankless units are more prone to hard water problems and scale build up I think. They need to be cleaned regularly and maintained.
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