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I currently reside in El Mirage, Arizona and about a year ago, my tank water heater blew up and flooded the garage and adjacent rooms. To avoid this headache all together, I was considering going tankless especially with all the people I live with we ended up running out of hot water almost daily. I have a neighbor who is retired and used to work in a water heater manufacturing plant. I helped him build a shed back when I first moved in and he ended up getting me a new electric tankless water heater at a discount from where he worked and I paid $100 for it because he said he owed me for helping him and I thought it was quite generous. We followed the manufacturer's instructions and used the correct Romex and breakers for it.
We followed code and made sure all wiring was in a conduit if it was exposed, stapled all of it down in the attic (it came close to the attic entrance so we made sure we protected it with guard strips), and the wiring connecting to the water heater is also in a conduit. I talked to a local plumber I knew from the home improvement store before I installed it a year ago where I used to work at and he told me since it was electric and didn't need vented, I did not need a permit. I heard someone talking the other day about a permit in the plumbing section at Home Depot saying he needed to get a permit for one. I called two plumbing companies that day and they said I also needed one. I am freaking out a little because I did not know that.
Should I even bother getting one? Unless I sold the house (I don't plan to anytime soon), should I worry about it? I was researching the topic and someone mentioned that you should just pull one just in case and that they don't need to know it has already been installed and just act like it hasn't been yet.
Depends... on the local regulations, gas availability at your house, your budget and personal needs.
I do have one and love it.
Lots of people don't want to invest in something long term, though. But the same is with solar panels. Lots of people love it, but it's not for everyone.
My only concern would be that it was properly installed as opposed to filing for a permit, paying a fee and having a town inspector come out and just eyeball the unit!
If you feel you did it correctly, I wouldn't bother at this point.
However, if you have any doubt and/or the house were to burn to the ground, and the summary of the report came back as "faulty wiring at tankless water heater" (meaning- the insurance company ain't paying!)- then yeah, get a permit.
Wait a week after acquiring the permit to call for the inspections- yes, multiple! There's the electrical inspection AND the plumbing inspection.
Yeah I’m not a huge fan of it so it’s probably not going to be a permanent thing. It wasn’t expensive to put in so it’s not like I’m taking a huge loss. I know I did the plumbing part correctly (I worked with my dad and he is a licensed journeyman plumber). As for the electrical, I made sure I followed code and that every connection point was secured and tight.
Gas tankless are fantastic, especially in warmer climates.
Electric are nightmares.
I put a Takagi mobus tankless in our house in California. Put it in myself in one day. Mounted to the outside wall of the back of the house and freed up a lot of important space inside. Our family of 7 (which includes 4 women who are heavy hot water users (loooong showers) never ran our of hot water. We could run two showers and the dishwasher or the laundry at once and be fine. Four itmes and we would start losing volume.
WE have a tankless in Michigan. It is a Rinnai. It had to be installed by a certified professional (who messed up the installation. I was going to put in two of them, but our plumber and the Rennai representative assured me one was more than enough (they were wrong). We can do two showers or one shower and one other item, but we start losing volume even with just two things. The reasons is the Rennai has less output, and the water has a longer way to go to get warm (it is colder water to begin with). Still love tankless, but we should have put in two in this climate, especially given our switch to Rennai (which was a mistake - the plumber talked us into it). Rennai is ok, but way more expensive and lower output, plus it requires certified expensive botched installation. You cannot DIY.
Our water heater is the only appliance in the summer that runs on gas (add central heat in the winter). A Rheem 50 gallon unit from 2011 + pilot light for the 25 y/o furnace runs $25-30/month. You can't really get much lower than that before you bottom out at the gas company's base monthly service charge.
Our water heater is the only appliance in the summer that runs on gas (add central heat in the winter). A Rheem 50 gallon unit from 2011 + pilot light for the 25 y/o furnace runs $25-30/month. You can't really get much lower than that before you bottom out at the gas company's base monthly service charge.
Did you read the OP's original post?
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