Okay. I need to clear the air about a few things when it comes to tankless gas water heaters. First of all, they work. Second of all, some of them work perfectly. Third, you need to know what you are buying and what you are supplying with hot water. I can tell you with some experience that with Bosch, you are paying for the best marketing and branding money can buy – they don’t tend to work out that well. With Rheem and AO Smith, well…these units are mad by Rinnai, that should do plenty of vouching for the Rinnais. Norritz is expensive, and we have not had extensive experience with them yet, but we are hoping to spend some time trying them out so that we can speak on them with more reference. And Rinnai has the best overall value I have found. The Rinnai units have an installed cost of between 2000 and 2500 average depending on the unit size. Yes, your installer needs to know how to size them instead of just buying the cheaper one like you would with a tank unit.
You’re thinking “$2500 in dollars”?!?! Yes. But it has a reason. First, we need to core a 5″ diameter hole through the exterior wall of your home and install a direct vent, then mortar the hole (that drill bit and drill are not free). Then we need to run power to the unit from your electrical panel. Following that we need to connect the water and gas lines to the unit and all that while not disturbing your home. The cost of the install is 60-75% unit and the balance is parts and labor. Now, you don’t have to line a chimney ($700 savings), you can get federal energy tax credits for the install (was $300 in is now 33% of install cost up to $1500) (check the USDOE website on the tax credit at http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=products.pr_tax_credits#c4), and then you start saving on energy bills. The average energy bill savings over a tank unit varies from 20% to 45% in my experience. All water heater manufacturers want you to have all types of water heaters serviced every year, but at the minimum you should have a technician (yes your installer should be certified) come out every 5 to 8 years and service the unit. He/she will flush out debris and replace wear parts. This service call will cost between $175 and $360. Then you are good for another say 8 years. Not bad on performance if I do say so myself.
If your tank-type water heater now costs you $450 a year to operate (pretty average), and you save 40% per year using tankless, that is $180 per year, your gross energy dollar savings is $1260. If you bought the AO Smith 6yr warrantied regular gas tank unit, you are replacing it at the 7th year as it is likely so full of sediment that you are getting only 40% capacity heated by it. Then you have a $175 service call. if your unit install was $2350, and you have $1260 in energy savings, but you paid $175 for a service call, you have paid out $1265 at the seven year mark. Now deduct 33% of the cost (average $750) from the federal energy tax credit. $515 is where we are at seven years. If you installed two tank units (GE 50Gal gas 6yr unit Model GG50T06AVH00 at the Home Depot) at a cost of $428 each plus tax and installation of $265 each, you are at $1500.26 paid out. So you saved an additional $985.26 over the tank units if you installed a tankless. Now if you consider the next seven years at $1260 of energy savings, you have $2245.26 in energy savings over two tank model units (one each for a 7 year period). If you had ONE TANK unit that lasted that 14 years and didn’t have to replace it at seven, you still would have saved $1552.26 if you had gone tankless! This is assuming that the tank units ran at 100% capacity with no sediment affecting their recovery time or efficiency.
Oh yeah and if you went tankless, ya never ran out of hot water either. No matter how many showers your kids took before you got into the bathroom this morning, you would still have had 125 degree or better hot water.
I have heard mixed reports on the electric tankless units but I am currently looking into them and will post about them when I know more.
Yes the Rinnai 75 and 94 series units are eligible. Look for yourself at http://www.gamanet.org/gama/inforesources.nsf/vAttachmentLaunch/B9F3B9CF3BC4C7F585257107005DE622/$FILE/taxcredit_rwh_ef.pdf
Check out the Rinnai units at www.foreverhotwater.com
Scarlett Construction is a trained and certified Rinnai installer.
Our friend Kyle has asked us to review the Norritz tankless and we plan on doing so soon.
As you may have guessed, we try and test every product we sell ourselves before recommending it to our clients or the general public. Our sales incentive program is our unblemished reputation and our good word.
