Wall mounted whole house water heater?

[rgramjet]

While traveling in Europe, I noticed a lot of the wall mounted, gas fired H2O heaters. Ive had a few clients inquire about them. I spoke with a couple plumbers that didnt like them at all.

Anyone have experience with these things? Ive got 3.5 baths, kitchen and laundry. Might get one more bath down the road when I finish the basement.

Thanks,
Roger

[Rich]

Europe is where the instant water heaters came from - can get them in gas or electric fired models. Small, unobtrusive, and pretty efficient.

[Cole]

I spoke with a couple plumbers that didnt like them at all.


I wonder why? :roll:

[rgramjet]

No really clear reasons. Mainly "too much stuff going on in one place" or limited amount of flow if more than one shower is being used.

Whens that website coming Cole? I need a good format to steal......JK

[N2Deep]

How did this end up in HVAC?

I have 2 of these w/4 bathrooms and love them
Never run out of hot water and can run 2 things at the same time with no problem. Just set them up correctly and you shouldn't have any issues. Just don't put kitchen, masterbath and laundry on the same one.

If you have any specific questions let me know and I will answer them best I can. I have become the local expert on these in my small town since nobody else knows much about them.

[bkrahmer]

The amount of hot water available is strictly a function of the btu output of the unit. You can't expect to supply hot water to an entire house with a 38k btu unit. I think most of the reason they get a bad name is from people that buy the cheapest (smallest) ones they can get, and end up with a shortage of hot water. I'll be getting mine next week, a 185k btu Takagi. It will supply over 6 gallons of hot water per minute. I'm using it for hot water + radiant heating.

[Vector]

I've got one sitting at my new house waiting to go in, along with the rest of the plumbing.

Basically, the venting requirements are a lot more complex for the tankless units, and the venting itself can be a lot more expensive and complicated too.

The unit we'll be installing is 175,000 BTU.

[rabadger]

I would never sell them. Odd ball parts that no one wants to stock. Thats why. I am a firm believer if you are going to sell a peice of equipment you better have the parts available.

I worked for three wholesalers. They wanted to handle the equipment but none wanted to stock any parts. Had a customer that had to have one. He purchased it from one of the counter guys trying to make a sale.

Two years later the odd ball thermocouple failed. It took three and a half working weeks to get it. Guess who was in the office at the time and had take care of the guys problem?

I like the small copper fintube heaters. you can get them with bronze headers for potable water.