• Please be sure to read the rules and adhere to them. Some banned members have complained that they are not spammers. But they spammed us. Some even tried to redirect our members to other forums. Duh. Be smart. Read the rules and adhere to them and we will all get along just fine. Cheers. :beer: Link to the rules: https://www.forumsforums.com/threads/forum-rules-info.2974/

Water heaters, HELP!

ddrane2115

Charter Member
SUPER Site Supporter
checked out the tankless at lowes..........ouch! there are many brands and sizes, and other than the advice given here, which is all appreciated, I can not find one that will work for my house by itself. I could do a point of need, but now you are at over a grand in them and we have to have 2 at least...........

thinking after 10 years of great service, and actually no cost since the electric company paid for it, I paid install of 50.00 then might be ok to replace it and forget it again for another 10. Oh and it is a 50, not a 40.

thanks guys, it does seem tankless is great and all that, but until they come down in price and electric usage, not for me at this time.
 

jwstewar

Active member
We signed contract on a new house Saturday. We are going with a tankless water heater in it. I'm not sure of the brand or anything yet. It is the first time the builder has installed one. His plumber has been "pushing" him to do them for awhile, he was just hesitant. His standard way would've been a 50 gallon propane w/ copper plumbing. For the same price we are getting the tankless water w/ pex tubing. He is probably saving a bit, but we are geting enough other stuff "free" (9' poured walls vs. 8' block, lots of free hardwood, 9x8 garage doors vs. 16x7 single) that I think we are making up for it. Now we are just waiting on the bank......
 

Junkman

Extra Super Moderator
Go for 9' x 9' garage doors...... makes it a lot easier to get into with a larger vehicle..... you say that you don't have a large vehicle..... someday, you or the next owner will, and it will be a selling point. The cost difference is about $20 per door...... Well worth it when you are building.
 

jwstewar

Active member
Thanks for the input Junk, I've had them bump them to are going with 2 9'x8' garage doors. That is the same size I put in the pole barn when I built it. I also had them enlarge the garage to 24x24. Since this will be a parking only garage that should be big enough to handle a crew cab/long bed truck. It is funny how what we had done on the pole barn is kind of "dictating" what we do on the house. While I know the pole barn could be changed, we like it so we are going to try to make everything match.
 

dzalphakilo

Banned
We signed contract on a new house Saturday. We are going with a tankless water heater in it. I'm not sure of the brand or anything yet. It is the first time the builder has installed one. His plumber has been "pushing" him to do them for awhile, he was just hesitant. His standard way would've been a 50 gallon propane w/ copper plumbing. For the same price we are getting the tankless water w/ pex tubing. He is probably saving a bit, but we are geting enough other stuff "free" (9' poured walls vs. 8' block, lots of free hardwood, 9x8 garage doors vs. 16x7 single) that I think we are making up for it. Now we are just waiting on the bank......

I'm guessing the builder isn't installing the water heater, but the plumber "pushing" the builder to put one in is?

Here in N.C, anyone can "install" a water heater, however, by the "letter of the law", if a permit is being pulled (which any "legitimate" builder or contractor would do), a plumber with a P1 license (plumbing license) MUST make the water connections to the water heater.

As mentioned, you will save money with a tankless heater if the heater is sized properly for the usage of the house and you're using LP or natural gas as your fuel source (assuming a circulator pump isn't being installed with the water heater).
 

jwstewar

Active member
I'm guessing the builder isn't installing the water heater, but the plumber "pushing" the builder to put one in is?

Here in N.C, anyone can "install" a water heater, however, by the "letter of the law", if a permit is being pulled (which any "legitimate" builder or contractor would do), a plumber with a P1 license (plumbing license) MUST make the water connections to the water heater.

As mentioned, you will save money with a tankless heater if the heater is sized properly for the usage of the house and you're using LP or natural gas as your fuel source (assuming a circulator pump isn't being installed with the water heater).

Actually we are the ones that pushed the tankless. He didn't even mention it. He has never wanted to do it until a customer asked for it. So we asked and he is doing it. We don't have to have any permits or inspections. But I'm going to see if I can have our forum electrical inspector come down and make sure they are doing it right. Are you listening Jerry?:coolshade
 

OhioTC18

Gone But Not Forgotten
GOLD Site Supporter
But I'm going to see if I can have our forum electrical inspector come down and make sure they are doing it right. Are you listening Jerry?:coolshade

You know I'll be there. I'm surprised you didn't want to do it yourself with some help from um......someone :) . You did a good job in the barn, or at least from pictures anyway. Depends on what time frame we're looking at when they do it, I might go supervise the installation. I have a major project going on at work that will take until late Feb or early March. I only have weekends available until then. New software build from the ground up. Config doc testing going on right now.
 

jwstewar

Active member
You know I'll be there. I'm surprised you didn't want to do it yourself with some help from um......someone :) . You did a good job in the barn, or at least from pictures anyway. Depends on what time frame we're looking at when they do it, I might go supervise the installation. I have a major project going on at work that will take until late Feb or early March. I only have weekends available until then. New software build from the ground up. Config doc testing going on right now.

It would've been nice to do a lot of it myself, but because of the time frame I'm only going to be able to do the low voltage stuff. They also didn't want me doing any AC circuits because of liability issues. I always wanted to build our own house and me be the GC and do what I could by myself. But now that we are under the gun so to speak, it is now a hurry up and get it done. So I guess I'm hoping that they will live up to my expectations. From what I've seen they will - or at least do everything possible to make it right.
 

terbear1963

New member
We installed the tankless just a little over a year ago and it is the best thing for just the two of us. We replaced a 40 or 50 gal nat gas water heater that was 11-12 years old that went out on us. My better half was able to do all the work himself. We purchased this Bosch unit http://www.tanklesswater.com/product.asp?product=2400E-NG from this supplier. Yes, the units come in electric models as well. It has saved us on both water and nat gas usage. It also helped price wise that our gas supplier (Atlanta GAS Light) also was offering a $500.00 rebate for installing the tankless water heater. That cut our actual cost by not quite in half once you include having to purchase the venting for the heater. We absolutely love ours!
 
Top