That's what she said
Keep screen over the intake/vent pipe. The mud daubers will make a mess of it. Speaking from experience...
On a WA gun forum they are having a similar discussion.
"This is exactly what I tell my customers looking to convert to tankless. Don't buy it because it's more efficient. It is more efficient, but you won't get a ROI. Ever. I don't even think it affects the resale value of a house all that much compared to a nice, new tank unit.
The "cheap" tankless NG unit that's worth a ****, like a Rinnai RL94 or a Norritz NR98, is still 60-70% more than a standard NG tank heater (which have gone up >20% this year, btw), the installation may involve costly modifications to the install location, like pulling power or upsizing the gas line, and unlike tank heaters, tankless units are not necessarily maintenance-free. You know that scale that builds up in your shower? There's a delicate, expensive radiator-like piece of hardware in that tankless unit called a heat exchanger, and it builds up in there, too. And if you don't flush it out every so often, depending on water quality, it can make the heater malfunction, and it can break off and work their way through your water line into your faucets, shower valves, and toilets and make them malfunction, too.
Don't buy a tankless unit to save money. Buy a tankless unit if you want something that takes up less space, OR because you have a need for a large capacity. Like three daughters that take 30-minute showers each, and a 72"x40" soaker tub and a wife that demands to use it. It's a luxury item, not a way to save money.
If you want to save money heating water, you're best bang-for-buck is going to be converting form a standard electric to a heat pump unit. Assuming the thing stays functioning for the full 10-year warranty, it'll pay for itself if it's in the right location in the house."
"This is exactly what I tell my customers looking to convert to tankless. Don't buy it because it's more efficient. It is more efficient, but you won't get a ROI. Ever. I don't even think it affects the resale value of a house all that much compared to a nice, new tank unit.
The "cheap" tankless NG unit that's worth a ****, like a Rinnai RL94 or a Norritz NR98, is still 60-70% more than a standard NG tank heater (which have gone up >20% this year, btw), the installation may involve costly modifications to the install location, like pulling power or upsizing the gas line, and unlike tank heaters, tankless units are not necessarily maintenance-free. You know that scale that builds up in your shower? There's a delicate, expensive radiator-like piece of hardware in that tankless unit called a heat exchanger, and it builds up in there, too. And if you don't flush it out every so often, depending on water quality, it can make the heater malfunction, and it can break off and work their way through your water line into your faucets, shower valves, and toilets and make them malfunction, too.
Don't buy a tankless unit to save money. Buy a tankless unit if you want something that takes up less space, OR because you have a need for a large capacity. Like three daughters that take 30-minute showers each, and a 72"x40" soaker tub and a wife that demands to use it. It's a luxury item, not a way to save money.
If you want to save money heating water, you're best bang-for-buck is going to be converting form a standard electric to a heat pump unit. Assuming the thing stays functioning for the full 10-year warranty, it'll pay for itself if it's in the right location in the house."
just my experience. ROI is something to consider before buying a tankless i agree but in the time i have owned one ,fuel keeps getting higher and it does save considerable fuel,do your own math. i agree "don't buy a budget unit. I agree, check out any peculiar install requirements like gas supply or even faucet conversions. as far as scale??? i have had my heat exchanger out and was very surprised to find no scale what so ever. i have a spare heat exchanger just cause that is how i am but a new exchanger for the bosch 125X is aprox 300 dollars and i haven't needed it. i also keep a rebuild kit for the valve and a spare ingniter. now in my opinion if you want to take a chance and save money!!!! install an electric tank and put a blanket on it and a switch or timer so you can turn it off during the day and only heat water when you need it. probably save a bundle.
When it rains it pours.
During the last extreme cold spell, the local natural gas supplier, ONG, was going house to house and asking people not to use their gas for anything other than heating and asked to reduce the thermostat temperature to the low ‘60s. Several of my neighbors that have the natural gas tankless water heaters were seeing low gas pressure warnings on their water heaters and they were shutting down and not heating water.
Yeah, if I have to replace mine again, I'm going tankless too. That last one like to did me AND my big boy in. I couldn't do that nowadays.
During that frigging 20 below mess last February, ONG came by but my whole house was frozen up anyway. Heat was all I had (cook stove and 2 catalytic wall heaters. Gas pressure got so low once that my big wall heater had a yellow flame and my CO detector kept going off. So I turned the range burners on and got a low blue flame on them. I know that's a no no but either that or freeze. Bundled up when up, and lying down, electric blanket and sweats for when the power went too. $750 plumbing bill and $200 water bill a month later and back to normal.
We had a conventional gas water heater at the other house. The new house is tankless. The one thing I certainly don’t like is, if you are out of power, you have no hot water
why?
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