Please advise Tankless water heater Installer (Houston: credit, house, to buy)

[behtypa]

Did anyone installed tankless water heater? Could you refer me to your installer if the experience is positive? What model are you using? Please PM.

[Houston_2010]

I actually have two tanks in my house. One of them is Noritz (top of the line) - good quality. It was installed in 2008 by Cardinal Plumbing. They did a decent job but they were hard to get a hold of to get the 2nd one put in. I had the Hot Water Guys install the second unit, a bit later also in 2008, which is a Rheem brand. The Rheem unit (the one that serves master bathroom) had an issue with an electrical panel, but the warranty covered it. I called and the came over a day later to fix and now it's back to working perfectly. I highly recommend tankless, but get the Gas one, not electric. Electric can work, but you need to be careful how the electricity is run (so that it doesn't overload) - also I have heard they are not as good as gas units.

Whatever company you choose make sure it's a licensed plumber. and you may need to get a city permit to install if it's an outdoor unit. My Noritz is an indoor unit and my Rheem is outdoor unit.

[travelguy_73]

We used Hot Water Guys to install our gas Rinnai tankless last December (exterior wall next to our electric meter). It works very well, and the two guys doing the installation were very professional. They took care of all the permitting, and had to excavate a little under the house (crawlspace) to relocate the water and gas line, which is nasty work.

And as Houston_2010 mentioned, only get a tankless if you can get a gas one...the electrics can't get enough power to keep a strong flow of hot water.

[houston-nomad]

what's the advantage of tankless?

[aecx2]

Two advantages - endless supply of hot water and not paying to keep an entire tank of water hot all the time.

Oh, and during Ike we were able to hook up the ignition for our gas tankless heater to the small generator we had. So, even though we had 2 weeks with no electricity, we had hot water!

[travelguy_73]

Two disadvantages: high cost (probably won't give you a positive payback), and water pressure might suffer if you don't size it adequately to your house.

We love our tankless, but they aren't for everyone. I think that unless you have a space constraint, that a top quality/efficiency gas-fired tank will serve you fine. We needed to free up a closet for our kitchen remodel to work, and we are glad we did, but it was around $3500 to buy and install (before the $1200 tax credit). So even at $2300 net, it was still double what a very good gas heater would cost.

[houston-nomad]

Good to know, thanks guys. If ours goes (and signs suggest it will quite soon), I probably can't come up with $3500 for the tankless.

[EasilyAmused]

Go Gas. Two Tankless if you like being able to do laundry or run dishwasher while someone is in the shower.

Two people in the shower and trying to do laundry/dishwasher...ain't gonna happen. While they're more energy efficent, the good old gas water heaters still work better if you have a lot going on in the house.

[houston-nomad]

Originally Posted by EasilyAmused

Go Gas. Two Tankless if you like being able to do laundry or run dishwasher while someone is in the shower.

Two people in the shower and trying to do laundry/dishwasher...ain't gonna happen. While they're more energy efficent, the good old gas water heaters still work better if you have a lot going on in the house.

Exciting! But not sure how that would affect hot water usage...

[EasilyAmused]

Originally Posted by houston-nomad

Exciting! But not sure how that would affect hot water usage...

Haha.. you know I meant two DIFFERENT showers.