# Tankless water heater



## KennMacMoragh (Sep 16, 2008)

kcplumberpro said:


> Last time I looked into getting an electric tankless water heater, my supplier told me that they couldn't even get me pricing on one.
> 
> I asked why and he said that they are not even close on price but then you see these cheap units at home depot... I'm curious to hear if you have any luck with these cheap unit.


Home Depot says they don't sell these in the stores, and they have no idea how long it would take to get one if I order online.

But I'm wondering if this will work instead:


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## kcplumberpro (May 31, 2012)

It's definitely tankless :thumbup:


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## jlsconstruction (Apr 26, 2011)

Looks safe. Run it


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## Warren (Feb 19, 2005)

I have a friend who recently had a chimney fire. We are going to remove the chimney completely, and are going to install a new water heater. He already has a high eff furnace, so the water heater was the only thing vented through the roof. I have been looking into the tankless units, but am not convinced that's the way to go. We are leaning towards a tanked power vented unit. Gonna probably make the final decision this week.


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## KennMacMoragh (Sep 16, 2008)

Warren said:


> I have been looking into the tankless units, but am not convinced that's the way to go.


I decided against it too, went ahead and put in a tank. The more I thought about it the less it made sense. I've heard in France they use tankless units everywhere, people seem to like them. But if it's electric you have the expense of running a new circuit, and you are putting more overall load on the panel. If it's gas the initial install is expensive. And you get less volume, don't know if I like the idea of not being able to take a shower while the dishwasher or washing machine is going.

Not only that, but the one I installed is a Whirlpool with a computerized display. It figures out your pattern of hot water usage then adjusts to save energy accordingly. And it's got a vacation button, whenever you leave for a week you push the button and it lowers the temperature to 60 degrees. Combine that with the fact that part of the heat loss in the tank is heating up your house. I don't think you're saving very much energy with the tankless. Only advantage I can see with the tankless is it takes up less space. But if you have a utility room, you might not care about that little extra space you save. 

If you can, put in an overflow tray with a drain going to the outside. I don't see why that's not mandatory in the first place. Seems ridiculous since you know the tank will eventually leak at some point, to let it spill all over and create five thousand dollars worth of damage, instead of letting it drain to the outside.


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## flashheatingand (May 3, 2008)

The problem with the electronics on those water heaters, is that should something go amiss, with the sensors, or the board then you are screwed, and have to replace the w/h anyhow.

Not hating on the tanks, just, I am a fan of the k.i.s.s. principle.


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## Rugger (Feb 21, 2007)

flashheatingand said:


> I think one would be permitted to run a second #10 wire. But not certain.


Be careful with your electrical recomendations. Not legal to parallel no. 10's. It would have to be repulled with bigger conductors. No problem tho since he went with the tank.
Chuck


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## KillerToiletSpider (May 27, 2007)

KennMacMoragh said:


> If you can, put in an overflow tray with a drain going to the outside. I don't see why that's not mandatory in the first place. Seems ridiculous since you know the tank will eventually leak at some point, to let it spill all over and create five thousand dollars worth of damage, instead of letting it drain to the outside.


This would be a code violation here, said drain would have to be piped to an available drain.


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## KennMacMoragh (Sep 16, 2008)

KillerToiletSpider said:


> This would be a code violation here, said drain would have to be piped to an available drain.


What's the difference between an available drain and a drain that you have to put in? On another project I was on, the plumber was going to hook up a drain to the outside until I drywalled around the utility room. Then he complained and decided to put in an overflow alarm instead.


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## KillerToiletSpider (May 27, 2007)

KennMacMoragh said:


> What's the difference between an available drain and a drain that you have to put in? On another project I was on, the plumber was going to hook up a drain to the outside until I drywalled around the utility room. Then he complained and decided to put in an overflow alarm instead.


You can't have any drain terminate to the outdoors in Chicago, it has to go to a drain and through the building sewer.


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## KennMacMoragh (Sep 16, 2008)

KillerToiletSpider said:


> You can't have any drain terminate to the outdoors in Chicago, it has to go to a drain and through the building sewer.


Oh, makes sense in Chicago, not an issue here.


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## flashheatingand (May 3, 2008)

Rugger said:


> Be careful with your electrical recomendations. Not legal to parallel no. 10's. It would have to be repulled with bigger conductors. No problem tho since he went with the tank.
> Chuck


I have installed furnaces in which the electricians pulled a #10 wire, and, I believe a number eight wire, as opposed to one real large wire (6?). The wires were not run in parallel, but two separate circuits. Don't remember if they were 10 kw or 15kw.

Either way, my suggestion, and your rebuttal, are what make this site useful to others who want to learn a little extra. It can even get interesting when a couple of folks bicker like a bunch of old hens


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## KennMacMoragh (Sep 16, 2008)

flashheatingand said:


> I have installed furnaces in which the electricians pulled a #10 wire, and, I believe a number eight wire, as opposed to one real large wire (6?). The wires were not run in parallel, but two separate circuits. Don't remember if they were 10 kw or 15kw.
> 
> Either way, my suggestion, and your rebuttal, are what make this site useful to others who want to learn a little extra. It can even get interesting when a couple of folks bicker like a bunch of old hens


I don't know if it's legal either. The manufacturer specs out running two conductors with a separate breaker on each with the larger units, so I know it works. But they tell you to use a single #6 wire on the 14kw unit. But you're right, running a second smaller conductor might be easier. It would be worth finding out if you were going to do that.


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## wyoming 1 (May 7, 2008)

I'll weight in on this. When I first looked into these there were some that required two and three circuits. that might clear some up. 
I have had two ho install these themselves both on wells and the pressure variation from cut out to cut in killed these. It confused the flow switches. One we just replaced with a tanked heater the other I had to install a pressure regulator just before the heater. We don't seem to have that problem on gas fired units on well pumps.


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