Tankless Water heater

I'm researching 2.5GPM 220V tankless water heaters. Does anyone have reviews or comments on any of the major brands? Bosch, Rheem etc.

Definitely do not get a Rheem, I have never owned one, but from what I have heard, they do not work and are not worth the money. There is issues with heating the water to the proper temperature.

Take a look at Navien, I have one and love it.

And if we don't like Navien, any other recommendations?

There are several good ones on the market. I would contact some plumbing houses in your area. They will most likely advise which brand has fewer returns, and can tell you the efficiency ratings, as well as the company warranty information. Both are very important when selecting a TWH.

dont forget that you need to install a water softener also because most companys will not warranty their product if it isnt installed with a softener. tankless water heater Imo = Fail.

A Navien Rep. came out and oversaw the installation of mine and he said a water softener was not necessary, nor did it void the warranty. Just sayin'

depends on the water where you are, Im not familliar witht he navien ones but Recentlly ( where i live at least ) all the manufacturers ive seen require a softener.

I cant think of many pros to them but cons.

-limited hot water if more than one fixture are used ( do you have kids:? )
-annual maitenance flushing the heat exchanger ( this SHOULD also be done on a hwt, but rarely is )
-Waiting waiting waiting for hot water to arrive at the fixture if its a long run. ( worse on some than others )

.....Personally I dont care for them, but thats me.

I myself was also very skeptical when researching TWH's. I had a family of four adults, and showers, sinks, washers and dishwashers may all be used simultaneously. The Navien contains a built in recirculating system, and since I was re-piping at the same time, I was able to add a return line and I can program the water to be hot at the tap any time I set it for. I've never come close to running out of water, and I closely watched my natural gas bill and I saved 35% for the first year, which in itself nearly paid for 1/4 the cost of this unit.

I am not a salesman for this product and just a residential customer, but I will be happy to promote it every chance I can because I stand behind this product 100%.

As well you should, If a product is good and works well then by all means you should be talking it up. what model do you have installed ? I dont get many requests for these type of units but I would be curious to know in the event that somebody is looking into one, currentlly We try to talk people out of these type of units, but the water here is very mineral rich and we would never install one without a softener in this area, that being said I am open to the posability that I've only seen crappy units ... COUGH COUGH Rinnai Cough ...

Mine is the Navien CR 240A, with the remote control away from the TWH. It makes it nice to adjust the time, water temp, vacation mode, and troubleshoot from a well lit location

I've owned 2 EMAX tankless heaters and was dissapointed with both of them. The larger one, a whole house unit proffessionally installed, was so lame I got rid of it after a few months. The smaller one is in my workshop and works so-so. When it goes I'll just replace it with a traditional unit.

So they are more expensive, harder to install, don't perform as well, and are more maintenance intensive. Whatever energy saving benefits they may offer are overated. My two cents.

A house addition necessitates my relocating my water heater. It is a 25-year old AO Smith (State) and I'm advised that it will almost certainly start leaking if I move it (likely the tank is cracked and sediment etc is keeping it sealed). Seems plausible to me, and I've certainly gotten my money's worth out of the current one - so I'm looking for a new one.

Long story short, I mentioned I was considering tankless to the guy who helps me with this stuff. He *strongly* discouraged me from going tankless. Said they malfunction more than tank-style (not that that's necessarily a lot, my tank-style has failed zero times in those 25 years). When they do malfunction, parts are slower/harder to get. And the kicker is that (according to him) some companies will simply not sell him parts - they will only supply parts to a plumber who is a factory-accredited technician on their brand.

I can't comment on the others, but I did have a sensor fail on my TWH and after a quick call to their tech folks, the part was shipped to my house the very next day and offered to have someone install it if I wanted, but the directions were very simple to follow and it was easy to install. My TWH is going on 3 years, and so far, I have saved enough gas already to pay for itself already and could not be happier.

havasu said:

My TWH is going on 3 years, and so far, I have saved enough gas already to pay for itself already and could not be happier.

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What brand (I assume TWH is a generic term) ?

I may be missing something here. But I thought the OP was talking about a electric tank less.

John

Oops, John, as usual, is correct. I apologize. I didn't read the fact that the OP was referring to an electric tankless water heater (TWH).

I was looking at electric TWHs and was amazed at how many amps they draw. One the clerk showed me was a whole house unit and drew 120 amps!

Make sure your panel can handle the power...

Also take a look at the flow rate. There flow rate is restricted to allow the water enough time to heat when passing through the heater. In most cases taking a shower and running the clothes washer at the same time is out of the question.

John

TWH should be flush yearly for proper operation and to prevent failure. You will need a flushing kit & chemical. If the unit is not flushed as recommend , that can void any warranty.