Tankless water heater?

[Gary@TireRack]

Looking to have one installed but don't know what to look for for my needs.

Family consists of me, wifey, and two kids that will be teenagers at some point. Not sure what I need in terms of GPM or BTU's, brands, pitfalls, etc....

Any advice appreciated.

TIA,

Gill

[baseballbreath]

Gill, I have one at my house and I like it because you never run out of hot water, but it does take a long time for the water to heat up especially in the kitchen. For example in the morning when I take a shower I have to turn the shower on and then shave and by that time it is usually at a good temp. I have a Rinnai natural gas tankless water heater BTW.

[nordique14]

I looked into having one installed. Here is what I found:
- if you use gas then you will need a bigger 1" gas line put in to the tankless (the gas line to standard water heater is only 3/4"). I think you can use the standard 3/4" pipe but then the water takes much longer to heat up. It doesn't sound like a bigger difference, but area of a 3/4" circle is only 56.25% of a 1" circle.
- the tankless water heater needs a larger venting system. If your tank is against an outside wall then the venting is easy. In my case I have a two story and the water tank was on the corner of two interior walls so I would have had to move the location of the tank. With a one story you can just vent straight up through the roof if you want.
- putting the tankless outside will allow you to forget about the venting issue. But it has to be a ceratin distance from a window. You may not like the potential location spots. I know my wife didn't.

In my case, I could not put it in the garage and I could not find a spot on an outside wall. I stuck with the standard water heater. If you do decide to stay with the standard water heater, get a 12 year model. They are much better made than the 6 yr heaters and worth the extra money.

[Gary@TireRack]

Originally Posted by squeak

there nice!!!

I do have some experience with them, which is why we're looking to install one. I agree they are very nice.

I was looking for some requirements such as BTU or GPM, etc...that we might need based on our situation.

Thanks again for any advice.

[baseballbreath]

I can't tell you specifically what my water heater puts out as far as GPM but I know that there are 3 showers in the house and we have all taken showers at the same time before and none of us had any problems...Hopefully that helps.