Noritz Tankless Water Heaters

[MF1455v]

I woak up Friday night about midnight to the sound of running water. My 50 gal propane water heater had sprung a leak. Luckly all contained in drip pan. I had already been plaining on replacing it with a tankless but was hoping do so when I was ready and done some more research. Had to go shopping on Saturday. I found a local Austin Plumbing supply house stocks Noritz and gave me a lot of information. The model I'm looking at is a 0751 with a rating of 7.5 gal/min.

Does anyone have a Noritz Tankless Water Heater? How do you like it?

 

[Brokermike]

I don't have Noritz but I think you're doing the right thing going tankless. I have a Takagi and LOVE IT. It heats my whole house, and provides domestic hot water. It will heat 500 gallons per hour and is about 88% efficient. I love it

 

[jfh28]

I have had a Takagi for 3 years now. It does work great and for a typical house you will not run out of hot water. The one suggestion I would have is if you have well water you need to put in a whole house filter (HD about $50) right after the water line enters the house. The tankless unit has a little filter on it that clogs up way too easily thus restricting the water flow. If the flow is too little then the unit will not turn on. Once I had installed the whole filter I have not had any problems.

When looking at units you want to use the flow rate for the degree difference of the incoming water to the perferred temp at the faucet. Most water enters the house at around 50 deg so 115 deg outgoing will be 65 degrees difference. Get the manufacturers flow rate based on this number....it will likely be less than what is stated in the promotional material.

Jack

 

[kenmac]

I found a local Austin Plumbing supply house stocks Noritz and gave me a lot of information. The model I'm looking at is a 0751 with a rating of 7.5 gal/min.




did they tell you that ( depending on your quality) that you may have to flush the units every 6 mo. due to line ,scale ,etc build up in the water coil.If don't mind the maintance all are good units. I have seen/ installed all of the brands & in my opinion, I don't think any brand name is any better than the other. Make sure that your fuel supply line is large enough to handle the high imput rating

 

[LMTC]

I too have looked at point of use tankless heaters, and will probably go that route next replacement. Check here to see the endorsement of Rianna tankless heaters for an electronic conditioner they say prevents scale and actually removed scale from their units.

 

[IllMarty1]

I put a Takagi in my home when we added a 90 gallon hot tub. We liked it so much that when we built our vacation home, we installed one there also, but we also installed a 2 stage water treatment system before the the heater. Without the filter system our well water was orange from iron with pH around 5.3. Now it's crystal clear and pH is 6.8-7. Water tastes great too. I gulp 2 big glasses every morning when there.

Marty

 

[chh]

I have had a Noritz for going on 3 years. It has been trouble free and very economical. When we built our new house we went tankless and with a high efficeny furnace. Our propane useage is half of what we used in our doublewide and it was a fairly new one with better than average insulation and appliances. We would never go back to a tank style water heater.

 

[MF1455v]

Thanks for all the replies. I don't have the well water issue as we have a MUD water supply. The water does have a high iron amount but the house had a water softener and I'm using an Iron reducing salt. Still will look into the whole house filter as I have good place to install next to the softener.

We bought the house back in mid Oct. It has 2 50 gal heaters so thankfully I still have hot water on one end of the house. I'm going to replace both while I'm at it. Both are the same age as the house (almost 10 years) and the other is most likly going to fail shortly. Good thing is the Texas Railroad Commision is offering an $800 rebate for the upgrade. This will take a little sticker shock out of the install.

Did anyone have to up the propane supply pressure to the house to keep from having starvation when the water heater and the furnance is operating at the same time?

James

 

[IllMarty1]

Also check into Income Tax rebates for tankless. I know the there was one but don't know if it has expired or not.

 

[anthonyk]

What kind of money were you looking at for that?
I've been considering one myself, but I heard that they wouldn't sell you one unless you had a licensed installer putting it in for you. Is that true?

thanks

anthony

 

[kenmac]

Did anyone have to up the propane supply pressure to the house to keep from having starvation when the water heater and the furnance is operating at the same time?

You shouldn't have to up the pressure. these things need volume. Run the correct size line & you shouldn't have a problem

 

[MF1455v]

Also check into Income Tax rebates for tankless. I know the there was one but don't know if it has expired or not.

Marty1, there was a $300 tax credit for 2007. There is some talk about extending to 2008 but nothing yet.

James

 

[MF1455v]

What kind of money were you looking at for that?
I've been considering one myself, but I heard that they wouldn't sell you one unless you had a licensed installer putting it in for you. Is that true?

Anthony, It between $600 and $800. I'm still inventigating but according to AustinPlumbingSupply you can install you self. The form I found on TRRC web site does not require an installers name. Plan on calling TRRC today to confirm that is the case. I will keep you posted.

James

 

[MF1455v]

You shouldn't have to up the pressure. these things need volume. Run the correct size line & you shouldn't have a problem

Thanks
James

 

[anthonyk]

thanks, please keep me posted, with the cost of propane, I've been kicking this around myself. Not sure if I could install it though.

anthony

 

[chh]

A licensed plumber installed mine, but he was already here doing the rest of the plumbing in the house. It is a pretty straightforward installation. They do require a different vent pipe than a standard water heater. The instructions in the manual are good and include diagrams. I think mine has already paid for itself on the propane savings. It is nice never running out of hot water too.

 

[rich_ncal]

I too have looked at point of use tankless heaters, and will probably go that route next replacement. Check here to see the endorsement of Rianna tankless heaters for an electronic conditioner they say prevents scale and actually removed scale from their units.

I looked at the link to the endorsement of the Easywater product and at first found it interesting, but then realized it is very expensive and nowhere on the web site does it say how it really works. So I thought I would search the web to see if I could find out more. Seems it puts and electric magnetic field around the pipe. It is not clear to me this is worth the price or really does what it says.

Here is one of the links I found on this subject.

Magnetic Water Treatment and Magnetic Fuel Treatment (Skeptical Inquirer January 1998)

Also another link with a discussion following the article that is interesting.

Go Green with Easy Water | atGeist.com

 

[Sigarms]

I think mine has already paid for itself on the propane savings. It is nice never running out of hot water too.

Just something to think about. With an endless supply of hot water, you and your family could end up taking longer showers, which means a longer run time, and higher water usage (not a bad problem to have, however, it can affect your overall savings).

 

[greenthumb]

I have thought about one of these when our water heater goes. it is 16 years old and we are on hard well water. I may want to think a little faster. We have natural gas do they make them for NG is my first question and my second is we have 6 in our family my wife and I and four kids. Do they make units that would service a family of six or would a regular tank water heater do just as well. We do try to limit shower time with the kids our older ones seem lose track of time when in the water. what are average prices for these units. I have seen a few at the big box stores but never did much more than say that looks like a neat idea and walk by.

 

[heehaw]

if you have the space, look into a Marathon electric water heater: they have a lifetime warranty against ever leaking: have 0 standby loss and from what i have read, they really work well: they are a little bigger around than a standard water heater, i don't have the space or thats the way i would go.
heehaw