Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
We just bought a home in Northern New Mexico and have the option to convert from propane to Natural gas.
We are learning that our old boiler/water heater system (Teledyne Laars) may not have the capability to convert to natural gas. if we are thinking of changing out the whole system what do people recommend for radiant heat and hot water system? Should we consider Tankless combo system? We do have hard water here and there is scaling issues to think about.
I have a tankless and I wouldn’t do it again. It broke and I could not find a plumber that was able to trouble shoot and find the EXACT part that was broke. They all only wanted to replace the unit. I downloaded the service manual, taught myself, trouble shooted, ordered parts online and fixed it myself. No hot water for 3 weeks. The manufacture would not work with me since I wasn’t a licensed plumber and no plumber was willing to work with the manufacture to warranty it.
Manufacture had a list of suppose plumbers and dealers to call, but it was horribly out of date.
The brand I have is Navien.
Give me a simple tank water heater.
Tankless is expensive to buy, expensive to install, expensive to maintain, and expensive to fix. But I will say, they are very nice to use.
I’ll replace simple cheap tanks every 10+ years and not worry about it.
Have had it for six or seven years. Once a year we have it flushed out.
Other than that it just an endless supply of hot water. When our kids are all home and everyone is showering, no one ever runs out.
Other times, we are not keeping hot water that no one is using.
Quote:
Originally Posted by High Altitude
I have a tankless and I wouldn’t do it again. It broke and I could not find a plumber that was able to trouble shoot and find the EXACT part that was broke. They all only wanted to replace the unit. I downloaded the service manual, taught myself, trouble shooted, ordered parts online and fixed it myself. No hot water for 3 weeks. The manufacture would not work with me since I wasn’t a licensed plumber and no plumber was willing to work with the manufacture to warranty it.
Manufacture had a list of suppose plumbers and dealers to call, but it was horribly out of date.
The brand I have is Navien.
Give me a simple tank water heater.
Tankless is expensive to buy, expensive to install, expensive to maintain, and expensive to fix. But I will say, they are very nice to use.
I’ll replace simple cheap tanks every 10+ years and not worry about it.
I don't know enough about tankless to give any expert opinion, have never had one. But, did research a little bit a couple of years ago and came to a couple of conclusions - (1) better for warm climates as they tend to struggle to produce "hot" water. Just warm to extra warm in wintery settings. (2) looked like a whole lot of work to get one retrofitted into an existing house. When combined, I just replaced the existing tank with a larger unit instead and called it a day.
He also asked about a tankless system, i.e. combi system.
I wouldn't go tankless.
Get a regular boiler for the heat system and a regular tank water heater for the hot water. As soon as you start to add tankless or having your boiler work double duty, it complicates the system and the costs go up quick.
I was about to change over to a tankless WH here in the northeast, but last winter we lost power, and it was damn nice still having hot water with a tank system that has a pilot light.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
