Thread: Tankless water heaters?

Please excuse my ignorance on THIS subject

Would it require more than just swapping out the tank and placing the tankless unit inline with the Natural gas and Water line?

I took pics of everything while the house was being built......


This is in my garage. I want to go tankless before I build "walls" around it when the garage gets completed.

Im going to call for estimates but I want to know what the job requires so that I dont have to listen to any (potential) BS.

Thanks for all your help guys!

I actually work in the HVAC field. from what I know of these, they are great, at first. if you loose power, no hot water, replacement parts can get expensive. if it's not properly sized, you will have continous problems with not getting enough hot water. most of units require a 3/4" ga sline to them, so from the get go they use more gas. granted they will run as long as a normal hot water tank, because it only has a couple of gallons of water to heat up, rather than 40 gallons. I have seen these installed incorrectly many times. If you do intend on getting one, get at least 5 estimates from reputable contractors. DO NOT SETTLE FOR THE CHEAPEST!!! they are usually cheap for a reason, they don't know how to install or service them! Also, do your research on the brands you get estimates on.

Good Luck!

if I can be of any assistance, email me frank@exoticsandhighlines.com

also, i see from the photo the walls are all drywalled in, your local jurisdiction may require fire rated walls behind the unit.

Originally Posted by DriftGirl

Please excuse my ignorance on THIS subject

Would it require more than just swapping out the tank and placing the tankless unit inline with the Natural gas and Water line?

I took pics of everything while the house was being built......


This is in my garage. I want to go tankless before I build "walls" around it when the garage gets completed.

Im going to call for estimates but I want to know what the job requires so that I dont have to listen to any (potential) BS.

Thanks for all your help guys!

Your conversion looks fairly straight forward. Should be a pretty simple swap.

Thanks everyone! L4P rocks!

Starting to set appointments for next week.

Make sure you get the tax credit (if you qualify) and check with your gas company to see if they offer a credit for installing a more efficient device.

Tax Credit:
Tankless Tax Credit | Rinnai America Link goes to Rinnai website, but it is not specific to any manufacturer.

I got around $700 back on tax credit and $100 back from my gas company.

dont get a cheap one, I had one at my lakehouse and the low flow issues drove me insane

Originally Posted by exoticshl

most of units require a 3/4" ga sline to them, so from the get go they use more gas. granted they will run as long as a normal hot water tank,

They actually don't use more gas, that is the key benefit to them. It takes the same amount of BTU's to heat water no matter what type of heater you are using. The advantage of these systems is they use about 98% of the BTU's when burning the gas to heat the water, compared to the more conventional systems that use somewhere between 80-85% with the rest being wasted.

What about hooking up a water softener to a tankless water heater? Has anyone done this?

Originally Posted by kstatenupe

What about hooking up a water softener to a tankless water heater? Has anyone done this?

Yes, we've done it.

Water comes in the house, splits to a feed line where we don't want water softener treatment (outside hose bibs, kitchen sinks, fridg. ice maker, etc) and the other side of the split feeds the rest of the house, which, feeds the tankless water heater(s) in their respective locations. (one downstairs, one upstairs)