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Hi- we have an older (1980s probably)LPG tankless water heater that's in a full height closet in the family bathroom.
It has always been a little temperamental- we have well water and not sure if the fluctuating water pressure from the well affects it or if it's not a big enough unit as originally the house only had one bath. Until very recently we didn't have thermostatic shower valves and if someone turned on the cold water while you were in the shower you could get either frozen or scalded. Def couldn't have 2 showers going at once!
Over the years we have replaced thermocouple when pilot wouldn't stay on, but we're limited to who will work on it - actually only 1 guy in the area and I have to order parts from Florida. It's a Thermar.
We recently had a master bath reno and after he turned the water back on we had a lot of ,what looked like black grit come through the faucets and there was intermittent flow out of the hot faucets. Over around 3 or 4 hours the hot water flow improved but now we can only get hot water out of 2 faucets in the house - the family bath and the laundry across the hall. So no hot water in the new master bath or kitchen. The water may get warm from those faucets if the water heater fires, but it only runs at a low burn-if that makes sense. If we the turn the faucet on in the family bath it goes to "full burn and we get hot water in the kitchen- but once we turn off the f bath faucet the heater usually goes down to half burn again- but sometimes it stays on.
It's been like this for 3 weeks and isn't getting any worse.
The kitchen is right next to the family bath, but I've often noticed that even the cold water pressure in there isn't brilliant, and it was remodeled just before we bought the house. Seems strange as the kitchen is also close to where the well water enters the house- mind I've never examined the "course" the water pipes take in the crawl space - it may be convoluted and maybe they pinched water immediately after it came into the house at the back to run along to the new addition.
We do have a water filter under the house which we didn't know about for years after we bought as we had no experience of well water and water filters. Now we can't get it unlocked to change the filter.
We are planning on selling the house and we want to
1. sort the water filter
2. get the well pump/plumbing checked
3. fix or replace the water heater
Any ideas what the problem with the water heater is? If it's full of cr.. somewhere and that's affecting the flow, is it possible to drain/flush it? It doesn't have any shut off water valves.
If we change the heater I'm a little reluctant to go for a tankless mainly because of the cost and also because it's difficult to decide on the best one! I have seen Rheem tankless heaters for around $700 though, but have read differing opinions re them
We only have a 3 bed 1800 sq ft home and there's only 3 of us (It wouldn't be suitable for a family with 2 kids because of the floor plan) so I don't think a tankless is savin $$$ running costs over a tank heater.
However- I'm not sure if changing to a tank is going to be more of a pain than sticking with a tankless.
I am thinking that a tanked gas water heater would have to go in the crawlspace? We don't have a garage.
Until recently there were three brands of decent tankless water heaters. Takagi, Norritz and Rennai (in that order, IMO). The other brands were crap. Recently some of the other brands have improved. Tankless costs less to operate but more to buy and install than a tanked water heater. However since you are already set up for tankless, the installation will not cost much. A good high output tankless will cost between $1800 and $2400. Comparatively, a good 80 gallon tank water heater will cost between $500 and $1200 last time I checked. A cheap one is as low as $300.
A tankless water heater can readily last 20 years or even more, but you need to descale it regularly. A tank water heater is supposed to last 11 years, but many of them last a lot longer and some last less.
Conceptually, you will save money on the cost of propane by using tankless. Conceptually you can recover the extra cost of the tnakless water heater in about 10 years through utility bill savings. I say conceptually because when you have tankless, you or your other residents tend to take longer showers, or even sit in the shower for an hour or more if you/they are sick. If your shower and other water use habits do not change, you should save some money with tankless.
I do not buy the pay for the difference in ten years. However the point to tankless is not cost savings, it is a luxury item - unlimited hot water. Our family ha seven people, right now, with guests, there are ten people living in our house. We can run two or three showers (or two showers and the washing machine) back to back all day long (and we do). No running out of hot water - ever. If you run too many things at once, you lose volume (you woudl call it pressure, but it isn't). However if you run no more than two or three items at a time, you can run them all day long and never run low or out of hot water. That is what makes it so great. And if you are not lucky enough to have a sauna, if you get bronchitis, nothing is more soothing than sitting all day in steam from the shower.
Why not have a tankless - we have piped in propane from a 500 gallon tank and a propane gas furnace for our heat? Not arguing -just asking.
Maybe propane was cheaper when they installed it. We don't have piped natural gas and do like that we get real hot air when it's cold, rather than the luke warm like you get from air source heat pumps.
Our propane costs us around $1000 per year-that's hot water, cooking and heating. I like the house warm- like thermostat set at 69 when I'm sitting doing nothing. 63 overnight.
Can I put a tanked gas in the closet in the bathroom?
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