Tankless water heaters (i.e. Rinnai) - any good?

[NuclearNed]

I keep hearing Paul Harvey advertising for Rinnai (link), and the way he describes them they sound too good to be true. Has anyone ever had any experience with them?

Good points:
1. very small
2. 50-70% savings over your current water heater
3. neverending hot water

Bad points:
1. It sounds too good to be true, so it probably is
2. I've never heard of the company

 

[Pepsei]

they ARE very very good, they even sell warm toilet seat.

It is very popular in asia where gas is used for hot water.

instead of regular heater where it is constantly kept at a high temp; wasting energy (especially if it is electric heater) 24 hours a day. it is basically a gas burner with coils of metal with water piping thru them. it is off until you use it, when you turn on the hot water, it gets heat up very fast and thus, you have endless supply of hot water.

Rinnai is a very big company in asia with the main headquarter in Japan.
they have an office in atlanta georgia i believe. reason you never heard of the company is probably because they don't make electric model, only gas.

 

[NikPreviousAcct]

It's been posted on AT before. If I had the cash, I'd include that in my current remodelling project. Maybe later, though. Prepping the house to sell.

 

[shutterFly]

I was looking into a tankless heater as my current one (at the time) sprung a leak. I couldn't find a Rinnai but I found some other tankless heaters that range from $400 to $600. To me, the biggest downside is that the electric ones need 2 110V lines. And I'm not entirely sure but they probably need to be on 2 separate circuits. I didn't want to have an electrician come in and install another line so I went with another tank. This of course may not be an issue if you have a gas line to the house.

 

[NuclearNed]

Originally posted by: Pepsei
they ARE very very good, they even sell warm toilet seat.

It is very popular in asia where gas is used for hot water.

instead of regular heater where it is constantly kept at a high temp; wasting energy (especially if it is electric heater) 24 hours a day. it is basically a gas burner with coils of metal with water piping thru them. it is off until you use it, when you turn on the hot water, it gets heat up very fast and thus, you have endless supply of hot water.

Rinnai is a very big company in asia with the main headquarter in Japan.
they have an office in atlanta georgia i believe. reason you never heard of the company is probably because they don't make electric model, only gas.

My current water heater is gas - I assume that these also have to have a 110v line?

Also, does anyone know how much these cost?

 

[Pepsei]

here's the link to Rinnai.

My uncle is one of the executives in the company, so everytime my family travel to the country, he treats us very well.

He's the guy who gave me that LV watch for last Christmas. So I guess I'll do my part and advertise for Rinnai.

The ancient model that we used to use doesn't need electricity at all, it detects the water pressure somehow and lights up when water is running and automatically shuts off when you're done. It does use a pilot light, and our model will relight the pilot light if it goes out.

 

[robphelan]

Originally posted by: NuclearNed
I keep hearing Paul Harvey advertising for Rinnai (link), and the way he describes them they sound too good to be true. Has anyone ever had any experience with them?

Good points:
1. very small
2. 50-70% savings over your current water heater
3. neverending hot water

Bad points:
1. It sounds too good to be true, so it probably is
2. I've never heard of the company

first of all Paul Harvey will advertise anything.

hwoever, i really really want a tankless water heater - saves space and is a good selling point when you're ready to sell your house - has that 'cool' factor

 

[raptor13]

Bosch makes some really nice tankless heaters as well. Tankless heaters are pretty much all they use in Europe (at least, that was my experience) and they worked as advertised. Water was always hot, it never ran out, and things were great.

That said, make sure you get one with enough capacity. Most tankless heaters don't have the capacity to run all of your appliances at once. Your washing machine, dishwasher, and shower all running at the same time suck up a lot of hot water!

 

[Pepsei]

hmmm, looks like you can get a Rinnai in Taiwan for roughly $500 us dollars retail. might cost more here... Maybe I'll try to get my uncle to send me some from the Atlanta showroom.

 

[Pepsei]

Just talked to my uncle, it seems like Japan have all the exclusive rights to the American market because they're making a killing on it. I guess it is quite popular here recently. Something that costs about $100 to make is selling for $1000+ installation.

but I should be able to score a few of them free of charge. he's going to show me the factory next time I'm in the country. There are some new models. it takes about 2 seconds to get piping hot water when you turn on the faucet.

 

[intogamer]

I have a tank water heater and I have to share it with my neighbor...
yeah it basically warms up the coils...
and the water get blasts through the coils and you get warm water

 

[OffTopic1]

I'm not sure how much they cost how or much energy saving compare to a regular tank heater, but my family use to have it when I lived in Asia, and I also seen it use at camp/logging sites.

It is great at heating water quickly...sometime too quick and you get scalding hot water if not careful at turning on cold before hot. One of the caveat is that it deliver constant water rate and you would get lukewarm water when multiple taps and shower heads are open at once. The technology might be better today than 15+ years ago at temperature and flow controls.