My husband and I own a plumbing company in California! The Navien is our chosen heater we install! We usually install one a week. We love the built in recirculating system and they are more efficient than most on the market! It actually addresses a lot of the problems or concerns most customers have about switching to tankless! Glad to see that we are not the only ones that like it too.
You are correct it is legal in California but the cities here can also make their own code requirements. So there are still a lot of cities in California who do not allow Pex piping. It is a frustrating situation for us plumbers but it is the truth. We also have used the pex piping when installing the Navien and a recirculating pump on a timer so it is ok to use it but it will depend on the city they live in. No different than the new water heaters in California with the Ultra Low Nox that are rated to be installed without a stand on the garage floor but none of our cities in Northern California are allowing it we still have to install them with a stand. Hopefully the cities will get in line with the newer technologies and update their code requirements soon!
I'm glad you also recommend Navien TWH's. It's been six months since my installation and could not be happier!
Regarding the PEX situation, my city would not hear of using it, and those people are not the ones you really want to go to battle with, because they can make your life miserable!
For those who are still on the fence regarding tankless water heaters:
I just received my annual natural gas statement analysis. I discovered in about 7 months since I added the tankless water heater, I have saved $136 on my gas bill. Also, because of the recirculating system, our water bill has only increased about 10%, even though they raised the water prices 40%. The tank is still running flawless, and I believe I made a wise choice!
Regarding your situation, I can't understand why a TWH would not work for you, provided you have a good, solid flow from your pump. I would recommend purchasing a higher end tankless, which would include a stainless steel burner, and easily removed filters, such as the Navien. As you can read, I'm not prejudiced towards this particular TWH!
You really need to do your homework before going tankless. Not all units are the equal or the same quality..... If you have hard water or high minerals, forget tankless. The tubing in them is small and will clog easily.
this is why I asked
im not even sure tankless is the best solution to my problem.
currently I am on well/septic and my HW tank is far from most of the house (my house is long) and i end up wasting water and putting endless gallons of cold water into my field when i want me some hot water
I am also thinking of the recirc pump...
most of my house is on a crawl so access to pipes is good except there is a slab between the area where the HWtank is and the crawl. Previous owners had chiseled out an area for the pipes to be run...not much room in the house to relo the tank...unless i choose the crawl but im not sure if having a pilot down there is a good idea. running a pipe back to the HW tank could be difficult
thoughts?
Last edited by michaelooch; 10-13-2010 at 07:57 PM.
Update: It's been a year since I installed our Rheem Ecosense tankless unit. My wife and I couldn't be more pleased with the performance and efficiency of the unit. It has worked perfectly, and we have not experienced any of the negative drawbacks that are sometimes associated with a twh. I worried a little about freeze-up here in Maine, as our vent is a short run outside, but we haven't had any issues to date, even with -15 F weather.
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