20 Best Tankless Water Heater For Large Family (2023 Updated)

I’m writing a point form review because I don’t want to spend any more time on this very average water heater. We have two installed in different areas of our house and both behave identically, so it’s not a “lemon” problem.

1. They both make a loud groaning noise when they fire up. I’ve tried everything – including increasing the gas pipe diameter and changing every setting I can – and still they groan. We may have to move one unit because it is disturbing a neighbor.

2. We wanted to use these as solar water backups. Once the inlet water falls below a certain temperature, they should kick in and maintain hot water. Nope; they don’t fire up unless you increase the flow rate to a ridiculous level, eg full hot in the shower.

Then you have to wait until they start and deliver hot water. Yes, flow rates during normal usage – eg, shower – are well within spec. This is the real deal-breaker. A fundamental design fault. Did anyone at Rinnai ever test these things? 3.

They do NOT come with a controller. We knew this but figured we’d buy one, use it to set each unit up and then disconnect it. Nope; if you disconnect the controller, the unit reverts to non-controller settings.

Dumb. 4. Totally agree that the manual is a joke. It’s as if it was written only so that someone could tick a box and say, “Comes with a manual”. (We also have two Rinnai FC810N vent free wall heaters and they also have inept manuals as well as having some crazy-stupid design faults such as a child proof lock that unlocks if the power goes out!) 5: Rinnai service is non-existent.

They just say to contact a registered installer. There is ZERO support in any way for these things. 6. The mechanical build quality is quite high, very solid and good machine tolerances and finish. It’s just a pity that the things don’t work very well.

In short, I would never buy another Rinnai product ever again. And this is after thinking that they were a good, solid Japanese brand I could depend on. Nope!.

Really love the exterior gas tankless hot water heater. Nice to have an upgraded hot water heater and an extra closet (replaced an electric hot water heater that was in a closet in the house). However, on demand is a misnomer.

In my mind on demand makes me think as soon as your turn on the hot water tap there would be hot water. The tankless design does not provide that benefit. I thought I would be saving water but the tankless water heater does not save anymore water than the old water heater.

Living in the desert water is precious. I still do what I have always done when waiting for hot water. Plug the kitchen sink and use the water to wash dishes. Other than that, I love the tankless hot water heater.

It’s also very important to insulate the service lines and brass ball valves from freezing temperatures. The unit is good to 4* F but the service lines are not.

My first one was propane same model ran it hard 13 years never cleaned it once never ever had a problem. The plumber never installed the clean out flush valves due to them not available at that time.

I just fired this new natural gas one up today purred just like the old one. I installed the flush out valve kit for cleaning the unit. I used the old vent pipe but had to change the end with a male connection to the unit.

The hot water pipe is off set a half inch than the old model but gas and cold inlet in same location on bottom of unit. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this Rinnia model. My old one will be cleaned inside just has some build up nothing some soaking in vinegar won’t fix and off to her new home at the cabin for many more years of dependable use.

I hope this helps you on how dependable the Rinnai is even when it’s not been maintained propperly. My advice put your flush kit in!.

Before this Rinnai, I had to return a different company’s unit to the big internet company, it was not for altitude over 2,000′. At 6. 700′ the Rinnai V75IN works great. Supplyhouse did some great packaging, nothing missing, nothing broken, arrived perfect.

Before ordering I called Supplyhouse to precheck their customer service. The young woman answering the phone was personable, knowledgeable of the products and helped with my selection of a tankless water heater.

I be happy, thanks folks.

Quite expensive to install (a plumber and electrician are involved and the plumber spends hours on it). The tank purchase does not include a separate $400 parts kit. It takes a long time for water to heat.

Even though it’s gas, because electricity is involved, when the power goes out, so does the hot water. The upside is that you can run multiple things at once using hot water and it doesn’t run out of hot water.

Works great. Replaced an older unit, this on with th digital temp setting great. I am on a well, so i have to buffer the output thru a 1 gal plug 110 water heater just to cushion the varying water pressure.

I replaced the 60 gal tank yrs ago. Found when the power was off the water heater for a couple of days, the water in the tank was luke warm. SOOO this is just like dumping the water tank every 2 days.

Demand heater eliminates this loss.

It works as it should, I think I would go bigger in the future considering our groundwater is 45 degrees. Just a little slow but worth the price.

We have had the unit for 2. 5 months. Pro’s We love the clean professional look, colour and very small footprint. It mounted nice an neat on the wall in the laundry room, but could go almost anywhere in the house that there is a gas line and cold water.

Unlimited supply of good hot water for our family of three although I don’t think we have tried two showers at the same time. The app is neat and useful for remote control if you have the urge to turn off the unit if you are not home, but lacking in providing helpful information ie.

usage which goes in units of 100hrs??? You can use hot water right out of the tap, if already hot, in the kettle or for cooking because the water is clean and fresh VS a tanked heater. Con’s We are in Canada and it is winter although not very cold this year, so far.

Unless you are using hot water constantly, you will either have to get used to wasting a lot of water waiting for the water to get hot at your tap. probably waiting at least 1 minute for warm and 1. 5-2 before close to hot.

Inlet water temp is about 42F according to the app. The app does not help by providing useful information that would be helpful to be a “Green user” which is one of the reason for the purchase and the reason may be obvious.

I would like the app to show daily or hourly usage patterns by month to help be a green user. The app runs both on our Anderoid and iPhones. IMHO this is definitely not a green option. Because we are in Canada and the intake water is cold, you waste a lot of water in order to get hot water to the sink unless you always want to wash your hands or dishes with cold/warm water.

Normal would be at least 1-2min the first time of the day and at least 40 seconds during the day as long as you run the water every 30 min or so. We tried using the Recirculation feature and Our gas usage doubled that month so that is not a green option.

The default max temp is 120F and that doesn’t do much to reheat your bathtub or sink of dishes if the water gets colder. You can change the Max temp to 140F. Cost More than 4. 5 X cost(++$4500 install and tax) of a new 50G Gas tanked heater($1000 and anyone can install) with certified install that you must do in order to get a warranty.

Gas and water usage patterns went up and costs went up. Maintenance We have not had to do any yet but you certainly need to take this into account because if you are to hire a service company to do it, you are looking a $200-$250/yr bill in some areas.

Noise Every time you turn on ANY water on in the house or flush a toilet, a annoying fan starts up on the unit and runs. Why, when running cold water does the fan run? Our unit is in a furnace room with Rockwool in the walls but the vibration from the unit can be heard in the whole basement so install in an area away from a living space or bedroom.

It is just annoying to hear it constantly reving up and down. Overall Fit and finish, Excellent! Seems like an Excellently built high tech unit! Space saving and convenient small install options, also Excellent! Life expectancy, according to the documentation, also Excellent! Maintenance costs alone would pay for a new tank water heater every 5-6 years.

So after 16 years you still would have paid $8800 vs $2500 if there were no other repair costs. Based on the Rinnai recommended yearly maintenance at about $200. If you are wealthy, or space is a serious issue and you are not looking for an environmental option, this is an Excellent choice.

The water heater seems to deliver hot water when demanded. They should have left it at that and not tried to do something modern beyond their abilities. The mobile apps, wifi connection, cloud control, recirculation control, “alexa integration” are all highly unreliable and inconvenient.

You repeatedly have to reconnect the heater to your wifi because it drops and/or reauthorize the alexa connection (of course right when you want to use it because that is how you find out it is not working AGAIN).

At times reconnection is impossible due to Rinnai background issues that days later mysteriously resolve. You cannot simply dump the app because you need it to do things like schedule any recirculation and adjust the water temperature.

Very frustrating for this level of high-end product to be so poorly supported. I have only had the device a couple of months but even in that short time have had constant issues with the “smarthome” features to support convenient and economical recirculation (w.

The unit is fantastic. Makes hot water fast and it never runs out. Looks great seems to have excellent build quality. As a hot water unit I give it a 10/10 But… consider these things. As a retrofit in a 2400 sf two story home with the unit in the basement it takes about 1 1/2 2 min to get he upstairs.

The recirc valve does little to improve this. Since I was doing a full home renovation I installed a dedicated insulated recirc loop. Now I walk around the house and say hey Siri hot water on and it heats up the loop and I have instant hot water at all taps in the house.

The unit pump comes on and vibrates the whole house since it was installed on an interior wall. Very annoying!!!! Rinnai should sell a isolation kit and document an installation method to prevent this.

I uninstalled the proffetiinal install and installed the unit on a 2×10 leg that is isolated from the wall. Problem solved. This was a big deal in the basement and family room above the install The remote wifi unit.

I had the RINRUR199 Tankless water heater installed October 2021. I think it could use some better insulation for the New Hampshire winters. My basement this winter has been extremely cold since this was installed, and I can feel the cold around the unit.

Piping inside of the unit cools way too fast. If I go back to use hot water after about 45 minutes or so, the water is warm until the pipes from the faucet to the unit gets used up. Then the water gets cold until the unit can get caught up.

I use the remote button to start the unit recirculating a minute or so before needing hot water and that helps immensely! I did not want to use the APP method on my cell phone. I love the fact that I have continuous hot water.

I have not tested the multiple showers at once operation, but I did loose the hot water in the shower when the wife turned on the kitchen faucet. Don’t like that at all. Without the recirculating feature I would be totally unsatisfied having to wait so long for for hot wat.

Unlimited Hot water, especially in winter when 4+ members take a shower around the same time. For those moments when hot water needed was off schedule, the ability to ask Alexa “Ask Control-R for hot water” is certainly a welcome feature though a bit awkward.

Downside: When we had a newborn, the need for hot water could not be set on a schedule. We opted to run the circulating pump 24/7 for about a year which sort of defeated the purpose (in my opinion) of a water heater that is not continuously keeping hot water tank hot.

Rinnai did account for this and you could see the unit only heat up when the temperature of the hot line drops a certain temp while recirculating. I do believe we did not gain much efficiency that year but I don’t have comparable data to prove that.

Dislike #2: During a power outage, where typical gas hot water heaters can still operate due to continuously running pilot light, with Rinnai, no power = no hot water. Overall still very happy, there are moments I do wi.

The possibility of endless hot water has always intrigued me. Since the installation of this unit I have significant difficulty with the differences in water pressure between the hot water side and the cold water side of the water lines.

I was told there is no reason for this, since the hot water heater should not reduce flow. None-the-less, this water pressure differential causes water temperature adjustments to be coarse with limited adjustment between very hot and very cold.

The installation team seemed very knowledgeable, and was quite professional, but they had no answer for this occurrence. This disparity of water pressure occurs with both dual handle sink/bath faucets as well as single handle mixed flow bath/shower faucets.

An additional byproduct of this is that a small adjustment in water temperature will lead to extended cooling of water flow, which will make for rather uncomfortable shower experience, unless over compensated with a hot water adjustment which causes excess heating of water flow.

This is the reason for my lower ratings. Although the water wasted in achieving hot water flow is significant, it was not excessive or unexpected.

Being a DIY person and having installed other natural gas burning products (cook top and gas logs) and having preformed major plumbing prujects, I chose to do the installation. The Rannai dealer and the techs at Rannai were beyond the call of duty helpful.

My total satisfaction with the Rannai system came after I installed a recirculating pump under the kitchen sink, which is the sink the greatest distance from my Rannai. Now, when our extended family is visiting, we can shower when desired, instead of when we have hot water.

I am now a hero to my guests. The truth: Rannai is the hero.

This is our second Rinnai tankless water heater. Except for the failing of the first long before expected, we have been extremely pleased with the quantity and dependability of the unit. In hindsight, we believe the unit had a shorter than expected life span because the temperature was kept at 125 degrees.

With the installation of the second one, we learned that 120 degrees is less stressful for the unit and allows it to stay slow enough to heat a greater volume of water, thereby being more efficient. Probably the extra five degrees caused it to fire more BTUs in a shorter period of time, more intensely, thereby causing the unit to fail prematurely.

As for the breaker tripping in other homes, as a licensed electrician of 26 years, I would advise you to take an amperage reading during operation. Most home owners do not have multi meters with an amp clamp so that could be difficult I understand.

If the heater is not drawing over 55 amp during operation you may have a defective circuit breaker, it happens. Try replacing your breaker. If the heater is drawing over 55 amps ther is a problem with the heater.

I appreciated Mike Vaughn’s comment and experiencing the same problem. The breaker trips half way through my shower and I am unable to fill my tub since the water starts going cold prior to the breaker tripping, consistently! Please provide the solution.

It resides on a 60 AMP breaker. Very disappointed so please provide resolution! At this point, I would not recommend this product to anyone!.

I get the concept of why a tankless system should be better than a traditional tanked heater, however, my Rinnai consistently fails to deliver hot water on demand. I have had several people, installers, sellers, etc.

, tell me that my unit is fine, however, when you turn on a tap to shave, wash dishes, wash the dog, etc. , you may or may not get hot water. I was finally told by my water expert that the problem is insufficient water pressure.

So that when we use the bath or shower enough water goes through the unit to cause the unit to respond, however, the sinks may not call for enough water for the unit to realize that it should produce hot water.

If I have to spend a couple of thousand dollars on a system to increase the water pressure, it defeats the purpose of having the tankless system. We have a well, but I would not have said there was a pressure problem but for this heater.

When you turn on the taps you get a good strong flow. But not enough for this heater. I am extremely angry that no one told me of the possibility of this problem when I was shopping for the heater.

This heater works like a champ for my purpose with a couple exceptions. I’m using it in a combination heating and domestic situation and that is going well. Let me be clear that the heater is working as designed but my situation is extreme in its located at 9700 feet in elevation and the temperature of the water out of the ground is very cold.

Because I am running it in a heating application I have a commercial control and have it set at 170 with a mixing valve on the domestic to bring it back down to 130. This works fine for all fixtures except for a high volume tub that given the ground water temperature and amount of temperature rise to 170 the unit resricts the flow to accomplish this.

This is however what it’s supposed to do as rinnai heaters guarantee the water leaving the unit to be the temperature set and by restricting flow to produce all the water it can or is being asked to by flow of a fixture.

The unit adjusts the fuel usage to burn just enough to heat the amount of water to the temperature set. Like I said it works wonderfully on lower volume fixtures and really OK on the higher volume tub it’s just not what I was used to when I had 40 gallons of water stored hot, but a little patience pays off as I don’t run out of hot at some point.

In conclusion I highly recommend this unit but there is a learning curve from what we’ve become used to.

I previously had a Rinnai c85i-1 (REU-V2532FFUC-US) and was highly satisfied with it but it sprang a massive leak and needed to be replaced. The new unit is an RL94i (REU-VC2837FFUD-US) and is MUCH louder than the previous unit, to the point where I’m hesitant to use hot water because I don’t want to disturb the neighbors.

I called the installer back out, and he said the volume is normal for that unit. I contacted Rinnai support and they said it shouldn’t be obnoxiously loud, and suggested that maybe the fan blade was damage.

However, they didn’t offer to connect me with another authorized installer. I frankly don’t trust the original installer’s assessment (normal volume), and feel that Rinnai could have taken more initiative to dispatch a second authorized installer to verify the original installer’s assessment.

If the new unit really is significantly louder than the previous unit, I’m dissatisfied with the product and would shop around in the future for a unit that is better designed acoustically.

I purchased this to replace the cheap tankless unit I purchased off EBay. The second I opened the box I could tell this was a quality unit. Took me about 30 mins to install and it was up and running perfectly.

Side note, you have to turn off the child lock to reach temps higher then 120. Just hold your finger on the lock icon for 10 seconds and your golden. The controls are super easy. Even tells you your water flow.

I set the water flow to 1/2 and the water pressure is perfect for my use. I have a small house with only a kitchen sink, bathroom sink, and shower. This is the perfect size unit for my application. It came with a short vent pipe, mounting hardware, and the adapters needed to convert your 3/4 water piper to the needed 1/2 for this unit.

I have already suggested this unit for a friend of mine and plan on getting one for my mom. I would buy this again without a second thought.

This is the second Eccotemp tankless that I’ve bought. I purchased the first one 2 years ago and wish I would have known then what I know now. The first one was a manual, meaning you have to adjust the unit to different temps for different uses i.

e. shower, dishes, laundry etc. , and descaling the appliance every 6 months. The most recent purchase is an automatic, which means I can regulate my shower to a comfortable temp without changing the setting on the unit, and the water will still be hot enough to do dishes.

Am very pleased with the new one.

I know the unit was a previously used or returned item that works but I was told that the i12 was capable of providing the required flow while operating two fixtures. That is not the truth because when I turn on the bathroom tub and the kitchen sink faucet, the flow is really reduced to about two gallons and it does not allow the chamber to ignite because it doesn’t sense the required output to turn on the unit.

As I said the unit function but it is insufficient for me when the need to operate two fixtures simultaneously.

We install a ton of tankless heaters (various manufactures) and have installed approximately 25-30 of this model with built-in recirc. They started our great but then we quickly realized there IS a known doucmented issue with these that has caused Rheem to have Repair kits especially for error code 67 (air gas mixer).

We have spent approx $10k swapping out parts & complete heater swaps. yet, rheem and local suppliers keep selling them! All other Rheem products are great. Not this one!.

The only issue I’ve encountered is that with todays low flow fixtures the heater will not always activate. It trys and then eventually gives up. I have to open another fixture on the first floor to get hot water on the second.

I have plenty of pressure just not enough flow.

I imagine your product works well with a natural gas connection and if I had access to natural gas I would give this tankless water heater 5 stars. But we have been having problems where the heated water cuts out and we’re getting caught mid shower with cold water for about 30 seconds.

Then the hot water comes back on. We have propane as our fuel. Our plumber checked out the heater and couldn’t find anything wrong. I called you to find out if your customer service had any answers. After waiting for 20 minutes, I finally got to speak to someone.

She told me that we needed a bigger tank than our 20 gal tank. I called my plumber and told him this and he said that they have the same model and the same sized tank and have never had this problem.

As we never had a problem with the 2 previous tanks I suspect it may be the regulator. Btw, my plumber sent the error codes to you and I have never heard back from you. I hope a newly filled tank will resolve the problem but I don’t know if it wi.

This is our second Rinnai. I like using these water heater because they are very well designed and well made. They are easy to install and to service. Both are mounted outdoors & have a sleek look.

Excellent quality – easy install. I replaced a failed Rinnai 2424 continuum unit that had reached the ripe old age of 17 years situated on an exterior wall subject to the harsh elements. You can’t complain about the longevity.

I was concerned as the new replacement model wasn’t the same (obviously after 17 years of development) BUT the fittings remained identical and in the same position – so a clean drop in. Worked first time and provides plenty of continuous hot water for the whole house.

NOT A PAID REVIEW. For sure. This review is after 3 years of use on the Eco27 So, my small house 1100 sq ft in Tampa, Carrollwood. The hot water start coming out after 15 sec of opening in the closest bathroom and on the further bathroom, my master bath 45 sec later.

Also, I have mild hard water, no softener at this moment, so you have to do a cleaning/ flush, every year. BUT, the worst part happened in this 3rd year, when the PLASTIC part of the flow sensor melted inside and the plastic came down to the metal membrane filter of it and blocked my water, and the pipes literally exploded and leaked everywhere.

WHO IN THE WOLRD, MAKES A PLASTIC PART for something inside of HOTWATER, that boils at 120 degrees? Only an idiot. I guess aluminum was not an option? Now, is it cheap to replace this sensor made of plastic? Yes, $20.

But the leaking and re-piping cost a lot. Thank you A. h. les. By the way, remember to register it online with proof of a licensed Plumber & Electrician, If you dont, then no warranty. I hope you make the right decision after reading this.

I am very disappointed. I have been recommending Ecosmart for all my clients for 10 years but I will not any longer. In the past they were very good at replacing units on their lifetime warranty but unfortunately no longer.

They have become just like everyone else. The try to find any excuse to not cover the unit. After 3 days of calling and getting nowhere I asked to speak with a manager and was told one would return the call within 2 hours.

I am still waiting. I am in South Fl. And we have the Titan units that are local. They only have a 1 year warranty but after that you walk in to the local Factory with a damaged unit and they will exchange for $100.

A lot better than having to buy a new Ecosmart for $250+ because they will not honor their “lifetime” warranty.

I did extensive research about tankless water heaters and EcoSmart had the best reviews and a lifetime warranty so I had the EcoSmart 27 installed last month. A few places had it for a couple dollars less yet they all charge shipping fees that make Walmart’s price unbeatable! We feel more relaxed to know the big tank of hot water is no longer in the house yet it is only a month that we have the EcoSmart installed so it’s too soon to know all the benefits and any downfalls.

So far it’s everything we expected and we’re very pleased with the choice. It took a professional a few hours to install the unit with mo problem what so ever. There’s a large dial that makes it very easy to adjust the water temperature, hot water reaches the faucets in about half the time it used to take and we have yet to run out.

The unit looks just as it does in this picture and is the size described so it’s small enough to fit in a closet yet the design is attractive so it looks fine on a wall that is visible. The EcoSmart was only in use two weeks when the electric meter was read so it is too soon to calculate any savings it might have on the electric bill.

The bill was lower than it was the same time last year and this year we had the central air conditioner running constantly so there is no major increase. The lifetime warranty requires the unit be installed by a professional and it uses three 30 amp double breakers to run.

( It is NOT recommended yet many reviews were written by people who chose to void the warranty and install the EcoSmart themselves because it’s easy to install and parts are inexpensive and also easy to install.

) If your electric service has enough available breakers then the installation costs would be about the same as a tanked water heater. If your electric service needs to be upgraded then it will be a more costly investment yet you will not have replacement expenses that most water heater tanks have every few years.

Water heater tanks never lasted us long enough to be out of warranty and though the cost of the heater was prorated, the cost of installation steadily increased. The main reason we opted to switch to the EcoSmart tankless water heater was the extensive and expensive water damage caused by leaky water heaters tanks.

The EcoSmart tankless water heater is on the wall in clear view so if there is ever a leak it should be easily seen and heard before it can cause any real damage. The water shut off is right under the unit.

We are looking forward to many years of hot water when we need it, lower electric bills because we no longer heat water we don’t need and no more costly repairs of water damage caused by a leaky or burst water heater tank.

I am not a plumber, but I am handy. I installed this in about 6 hours in an area that already had appropriate propane lines installed. Most of the time was spent installing the venting. Once installed I decided to go right for “the big test”.

With input water temp of 51 degrees I hopped in my big shower with a Kohler digital mixing valve and 4 shower heads. I usually run this shower at 99 degrees. I took a long hot shower then upped the temp slowly to 107.

The heater never flinched. I could have stood there all day – well past the amount of time my old 50 gallon heater would have run out of hot water, so I’m pretty darned happy. The heater is very quiet.

It really is actually kind of hard to tell if it is running sometimes. I knocked off a star because matching a recirculating pump to this is difficult and neither Supply House or Takagi were the least bit helpful in trying to solve that problem.

The recirculating pump I had in place with my tanked heater only moves about 0. 5 GPM and that is not enough to kick on the heater, so it would just flush my line with cold water. The pump it appears that I need (Laing/Gould E10-BCANCT1W-23) is in the $550 range, so you might want to keep that in mind.

Lastly – and a note to any manufacturers out there – adding some ability to get data off this unit via wifi, z-wave, zigbee, or any of the myriad of home automation protocols would be super useful, and yeah, I’d have no problem paying more for such functionality if it existed.

But that “wish” is not reflected in my rating.

We choose this tankless for our home based on a few must haves: NSF certification, no candy features (wifi, pumps, etc) because with “me” those things are cool for the first week and it’s just more to go wrong.

The high quality commercial copper and stainless was also a factor in my decision to buy this product. The installation was 7 hours and that included moving some pipes around because we wanted to access the corner in our small garage.

The anti scale filter was a must have even though our water is 1. 7 grains, I saw how much built up in our old tank after flushing every year for 17 years. We did choose to take fresh air in from the garage to help reduce maintenance – Raleigh, NC pollen is thick for about 6 weeks and over time it just didn’t seem like a good idea for the unit to take so much in.

One thing I have missed is clean water, yes, I do notice how clean the hot water is compared to the water heater. Even though stuff is suppose to settle in the tank, stuff still makes it out to the showers.

Purchased this propane 540 unit after doing a ton of research on all tankless models out there. I am a contractor by trade so I do my due diligence. I have a large family, wife and 4 girls at home. I was out of hot water every day (50g tank).

I often run 2 showers at once and dishwasher. Ok so now to the tankless unit. Over all it rates at about 11 stars for me. This unit is near silent. Just a small humming sound. I have it set to the max temp of 150 (max 160) I am just amazed at the amount of hot water it provides, it doesnt even make sense to me.

I have direct pex piping from the water Manifold to each hot water outlet. Just put of curiosity I ran 2 showers 3 faucets at hot with dishwasher on. All had hot water and pressure. I should also mention that I am in Philadelphia so our ground water temp is between 50 and 55.

Thats 100 degrees rise. The girls at home are happy so I am happy. Great unit.

We replaced a tanked water heater that was 20 years old (but fortunately vented out the wall) with the Rheem Tankless unit. It took a day for the plumber to take out the old one and install the new one.

I did purchase the Horizontal Concentric Vent Termination Kit which fit perfectly through the 3″ hole in the wall. We did change the gas piping coming into the house to 3/4″ so that we ensured there was enough gas to the unit.

Mounted the new unit above a stationary tub on a frame anchored to a concrete wall. The condensate line drains directly down into the sink which is nice. We also installed a sediment water filter on the water line feeding the tankless hot water heater.

Just to be safe. Also, installed so that it is easy to annually flush the unit. Success in that there are no new holes through the walls. Be aware that it takes slightly longer (on the order of 5 – 10 seconds) to get hot water to fixtures that are a ways away from the water heater.

I’m not sure of the physics and flow, but I’m guessing the first water that flows when hot water is demanded is not as hot as water that would be sitting in a tank. Thus, the short delay. We have 4 bathrooms and we have not run out of hot water, so it does what it says.

Turn on full hot. Comes out at 120 degrees. Perfect temperature for a steaming hot bath. I love showering with STEAMING HOT water non-stop for an hour. Unit is very heavy duty, well built, medium difficulty to install, I did it by myself.

I recommend at least 2 people to install as unit is nearly 100 pounds. I absolutely love this water heater and will certainly replace it in about 10-20 years with the same model if and when it needs it.

Price comparison to replace existing 40 gallon tank water heater is 1100(Unit) + 300(Necessary parts and hardware to self install) dollars to self install Rheem tankless RTGH-95DVLP-2 versus 1400(Unit) + 200(Necessary parts and hardware to self install) dollars for 40 gallon tank water heater “Bradford-White Hydrojet.

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I have had this model installed for about 6 months now and I have to say that I hate it and wish I had never installed it. My main complaint about it is how LOUD it is. Every time you use it there is a loud metallic clanking sound when it comes on and when it goes off.

It drives me crazy. The unit is installed in the laundry room and I can hear the clanking from my game room 20 feet away down a hallway. It’s terribly annoying. Also, while the unit is heating water there is a whirring sound.

This whirring/vibration can also be heard in other rooms – especially the room with which it shares a common wall (it’s VERY loud in that room). The whirring/vibration also travels up the studs that the unit is mounted on and into the room above – which just happens to be our bedroom.

So, between all of these sounds, you can ALWAYS tell when someone is using the hot water. This noise is bad enough, in my opinion, that I was willing to tear the whole thing out, eat the cost and put in a tank model.

My wife was not a fan of that idea – so we are keeping it. Additionally, there is a noticeable delay in the water heating up at the tap vs our old tank heater. This was expected – based on reviews that I had read prior to purchasing – but is much more noticeable than expected (i.

e. it takes longer than I thought – especially for long runs). I would suggest you try one of these tankless systems out a someone’s house before buying so that you know exactly what you are getting yourself into.

Going from a traditional large tank water heater to an upgraded tankless/wall-mounted water heater was a nice transition. We have more space in the garage now. The tankless heater is very quiet. It’s also very easy to maintain and keep running well.

We have had it for several months and the only complaint is that it does take a little bit of time for warm/hot water to register out of the faucet or bath/shower. The pros outweigh the cons, however.

It is still a great investment and it was a good choice for our family.

We bought a house with the Rinnai whole house heater already installed by the builder. The concept to save water and natural gas seems noble. The negatives. this seems to Waste water getting to where it Is hot.

Any fixtures close to it do get hot water in a minute, but our kitchen is farthest from the heater and we have to run water 5 minutes to make it acceptably hot to wash dishes. Water is Never so hot you have to remove your hand from the flow.

I had the Rennai installer out to evaluate. he said working to spec, needs no adjustments, and ‘you know how these tankless heaters Are’. This also needs yearly maintenance that costs $150-200 per the instructions and can only be done by a professional.

So. I only recommend if your house is small say 1500 sq ft or less.

We are very pleased with the tankless water heater. Since it hangs on the wall, it takes up no floor space. There are 3 family members living in our home and we’ve NEVER run out of hot water! The only negative about the water heater is that the builder of our new home would not allow us to upgrade the unit with the one that provides instant hot water.

Regardless, we are very happy with the water heater!.

I replaced a two year old Rheem, with a Rinnai five years ago. The unit ran without any issues for about five years until it didn’t. I called the installer, who “fixed” it and got one shower before it stopped again.

He recommended replacement. I called another company who, for their diagnostic fee, didn’t even open the unit before they were ready to ell me a new one, with a while house water purification system.

I went on YouTube and found the RinnaiGuy, who was too far away to fix it, but he put me in touch with the local Rinnai rep, who also struggled with the installer, then found a different company. They diagnosed a bad initial install and the sloppy work that was causing the issue.

They fixed it and it’s working again. Qualified maintenance-no matter the quality of the product is a problem in this area. Rinnai has a good product and good support but they lose a star for their quality control on the ground-with Rinnai certified installers and repair is their only weak link.

It took 3 months to get it working again but it was well worth the effort to find the right people. Hat tip to Rinnai reps who know their product, and the best in their area to solve the problems created by lazy installers and hacks trying to upsell their customers rather than stand by Rinnai.

Partnering with Rinnai seems like a great opportunity for the right people-as many homeowners look for ways to become more energy efficient but perhaps Rinnai could do more to ensure the integrity of their certified repair and installers.

The guys who take shortcuts and lack attention to detail shouldn’t STAY certified if Rinnai wants to grow it’s US market.

I have three Rinna tankless hot water heaters on two of my homes. The system works fairly well however, pray you don’t have to have any service performed. It is next to impossible to find a qualified company to work on the unit.

The “Find a Pro” service was terrible. Rinnai provided two companies as Pro. Both companies refused to come out and service or repair my units. I found a third company thru Home Depot. They did come out but only wanted to replace my unit that was leaking.

They made no attempt to repair my leaking unit. The installers licensed thru Lowe’s only installs new equipment. I would not recommend Rinnai for this reason. I will purchase a unit that has ample service technicians to support the product in the future.

I am now faced with replacing the Rinnai unit just to get hot water back in the house.

Much to my chagrin, the Rinnai RL75i Tankless Hot Water Heater does not work well with modern single-handle showers equipped with a code-required pressure balancing valve, a safety feature to prevent scalding.

It is not possible to vary the water temperature over a continuous range from very hot to warm to cold. There is no fine control over temperature as it is either maximum hot or cold since the pressure balancing valve competes with the pressure drop through the Rinnai.

The installers were unable to provide remediation for this problem nor does Rinnai provide solutions to this issue although the problem is well-documented on the Web. Our present solution involves setting the maximum temperature to a compromise maximum of 120 degrees Fahrenheit and accepting what little adjustment to the temperature that we can achieve by fine tuning.

Not an acceptable solution for my wife. The Navient system gets around this problem by including a small buffering tank that it keeps hot all the time, defeating the purpose of a truly tankless system.

After paying $3700 for the Rinnai i would expect a hot water system with a capability to vary the temperature over a useful range at the shower spigot. When recommending the desirable features of the Rinnai to acquaintances, I am quick to point out issue it has with pressure balancing shower valves.

While i do appreciate the selling point that one may have endless hot water, the amount of cold water one has to run before the water becomes hot is nothing short of wasteful, given the draught in California and the water shortage around the world.

By the time we had installed the first tankless water heater and removed the venting for a traditional tank water heater, the cost or reinstalling a traditional tank water heater would have been costly.

We also learnt that in order to save water with a tankless water heater, a special system would have to be installed to keep the warm water, warm; thus, it would not take as long for the water to reach a desired, heated temperature.

If one were to choose the route of installing this circulating system that keeps the water warm, one will have to pay more for gas bills. As a home owner, if you choose to install a tankless water heater, decide if you would like to waste gallons of water throughout the life of the unit or pay more in gas bills.

Unless the technology improves, tankless water heaters are not efficient. Also, be advised, that the cold water must be heated before one is able to run the dishwasher. Remember, the water must become hot before the lid, at where the soap is stored and dispensed, is opened.

Therefore, a homeowner must let the water run in the sink until the water becomes hot before he or she may start the dishwasher. If one were to start the dishwasher before the water becomes hot, the lid to the soap dispenser will not open.

If I had install a water heater, I would surely install a traditional tank-filled water heater. I challenge Rinnai to post this review and use this review to make changes to its products. Leslie Benjamin.

We very much like our Rinnai water heater. It definitely saves us in energy costs and we like that it runs on natural gas. Moreover, the endless hot water is great; we run two showers at once very often and we are very comfortable.

The downside is that it takes a little longer for hot water to get places, the pipes are more exposed to outside temps (we had our unit freeze over the winter, which required I put heating tape on the pipes in the unit (not fun)), and we were told that if we want to adjust the temperature higher than 120 degrees then we would have to have someone come and open up the outside unit.

In essence, although there is a temperature control unit in our master bath, we cannot adjust the temperature beyond 120 without someone going outside, taking some stuff apart, and making adjustments from there.

I understand this might be for safety sake, but this doesn’t really allow for the flexibility you think. So, if you know this stuff before hand, you can have the installer put heating tape in there for you and have them adjust your max temp a little higher in case you want that flexibility.

I just want to be clear, I don’t think I will ever go back to the old tank system, but knowing some of the tank-less systems quirks before hand leads to fewer surprises down the road.

The Rinnai delivers limitless hot water to your home at a very affordable price. This is my second unit. We moved and the first thing I installed in my new home was the tank less hot water heater. I would recommend putting the hot water heater indoors (garage), although many installers want to install it outside.

The reason I put mine in the garage was to prevent insects, like wasps, from nesting in the interior of the unit. I also HIGHLY recommend using a water softener in your home to avoid mineral buildup in your tank less hot water heater and home pipes.

Once you get the hot water running through your pipes you have excellent performance. One drawback is the length of pipe that you have to “heat up” before you are getting hot water at your tap. You can waste gallons of water waiting for the hot water to reach the tap.

That length depends on the size of your home. I put in a recirculating pump with a timer so that in early morning and evenings I recirculate hot water during.

We chose this particular model for two reasons: First: our gas line is 1/2″ in diameter, and most tankless heaters are 3/4″ in size. the second reason is we wanted to free up more space in our garage so we elected to have the outdoor model.

We have a 2-bath home and haven’t had any issues at all when using both bathrooms at the same time. This was a self-install and was a breeze. The instructions were easy to understand, but if you are not handy, please hire a plumber to install it.

Having said that, there are a number of You Tube videos on how to install a Noritz product for reference.

The electronic control board of our prior unit failed and caused us to look for a replacement. The local water heater specialty strongly suggested the Noritz. As we were without hot water and wanted an installation quickly we agreed.

Replacement was quick. As this is an outdoor unit we had an issue of condensation building up behind the outer panel dripping on pipe insulation below. To mitigate this the installer added a piece of pcp tubing to extend from the hole in the unit bottom to near the concrete, bypassing the insulated piping.

The remote temperature control is very difficult to master. The instructions do not match the steps required to change water temperature. A bit of trial and error was required.

I had my first Noritz model N-069M for 18 years until the gas valve went out. Noritz customer service was great and we determined the gas valve was bad. A new gas valve was more than a new unit so I purchased the NR98-OD-NG on the NORTIZ recommendation.

Mounting is the same as my older unit. The hot water line fits perfectly. I was able to get the cold line to fit after a little bending. The gas line however needed to be replumbed. I loved my first Noritz and I’m sure I will love my new one as much or more.

I HAVE BOUGHT this product again and again. It is only used by me and My Wife. I have always thought that Bosch was Top Quality, and that is why I bought the first one. I bought it at H. D. They Never said that model was Out of Production for Years and had sat on their shelf.

When I had a problem with it, I found out that there were NO Parts available for that unit. I bought the second unit from your company. I liked it a lot. Now on unit #3 in less than 5 years. Your people have been Very Helpful.

THANK YOU.

We renovated our basement and converted from electric baseboard heat to hot water baseboard heat. There are 2 temperature settings on our unit (a Rinnai RU98i) : 160deg. and 185deg. We normally run at the 160 setting but during real cold snaps we boost the temperature of the H2O to 185.

Unfortunately at the higher setting the unit keeps misfiring and cutting out so I have to revert to the 160 setting. Have had service in several times about this but not very successfully. Frustrating on those days when you need the extra heat.

Rinnai has a great reputation and the two RUC80iN Tankless water heaters live up to it. Its been 2 weeks since installation and no issues with the units themselves. They do not produce instant hot water but it is continuous once it gets there.

Negatives: Unit hums when running and vibrates slightly. Would recommend installing on an exterior wall if possible. Installed an add-on Watts recirculating pump and it helps to move the hot thru the recirc.

line but I am having issues with the timing of the on/off cycles. Can be an expensive purchase – need to search for a good deal. Shipping box and protection is very minimal from Rinnai. Buy shipping insurance! Positives: Takes up very little room compared to a tank type water heater.

Continuous hot water, easy to adjust temperature, ease of installation (weighs a lot less than a tank type).