My water heater is inside my house in a closet?
It is time to replace it; how difficult will it be to put the new water heater in the garage which is attached to the house; but on the other side from where the current water heater is. And, does anyone recommend waterless heaters that give instant hot water?
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no itseasy to replace it and a waterless heater, don’t think you know what you are talking about.
I can’t wait to get mine installed, the instant heat…as far as relocating your hot water heater..you’d need a gas/electric connection plus plumbing, plus hot/cold water return lines…too much work..Go for the instant heat.
You can place the heater wherever you wish, so long as you can run the water / gas and/or electric lines to it.
Tankless heaters are great, but gas ones require a larger gas feed into your house, which means you would never recover the cost.
tankless water heaters are pretty awesome. don’t go for the cheapest one, though. definitely check the ratings and recommendations for your needs. if you have no experience with this type of work, get a licensed plumber to do it for you.
they are more expensive up front, but there is a federal rebate on them of, i think, up to $300, for energy conservation. the efficiency of the unit also translates to $$$$ savings over the year.
good luck!!
Usually you find the kind of water heater you want/need and then call the dealer and the come over and replace it. You might want to check the new “Rinnai tankless water heaters”. http://www.foreverhotwater.com/media-on-air.php
i’ve been looking into the tankless water heaters for the same reason you’re looking, to get a closet back. if you have a gas line to the current heater, it shouldn’t be horrible to change it out. i would have a plumber do it though. to choose a heater, it’s based on how many fixtures you have or want to use at once, like say a sink and a washer or a shower and two sinks. also, how much of an increase in temp, like if the water coming into the house is 40*f, the increase is 80*f to heat it to 120*f. if you live in a cold area, you’ll need a stronger heater. as to the rebate, it’s a $300 federal tax CREDIT which means it’s taken off the top of your taxable income and as of right now, it’s good till the end of 2007.
try this website
http://www.tanklesswater.com/
be aware, some cities require a permit to replace a water heater (like in houston…) and to put in a tankless, it will be more expensive, but maybe not, compared to moving the heater to the garage. you should be able to get estimates from plumbers for free and compare the cost.
i think a tankless hot water heater is awesome, I don’t know why they aren’t more popular. I herd they work really good and you save money. Instead of a water tank heating up and cooling down, and re-heating up, when your not using any water, the tankless only heats up when you turn the tap on. saving u money on your gas bill, or electric if you go that way. now for moving your tank to the other side of your house. its possible, but your looking at about $5 a foot for piping, and $100/per hour labor, depending on the area you live and company you go with. and not to mention that they might have to tare down some ceiling or walls to run the pipe. I recommend leaving it where it is, to save you money, even if you go with the tankless. its not like you need access to it everyday.
Ok the hardest part about replacing a water heater, is removing the old one and putting the new one in place. If you have anything above 50 gal you probaly will want some help moving it. also be very careful that u solder the joins in right, or u will have a leak.
Now it sounds like you want to relocate the water heater. Sounds simple enough, but you maybe have to repipe the whole house.
I think tankless water heater is the way to go if you have the money to spend on it, they use less engery and keep the hot water coming, plus a tax write off,
It shouldn’t be too difficult if you know how to solder and reroute the pipes. You may want to consider an insulating blanket for the water heater in your garage if you live in a climate that gets very cold in the winter- otherwise your gas/electric(depends on what kind of heater you have) bill will go up.
If it is a gas heater be sure and double check for gas leaks when you reroute those too.
I don’t know much about the tankless, but know an acquaintance that is happy with hers.
You can easily move the water heater into your garage especially if it is just on the opposite side of thr wall. You can either cut the wall open and cut the lines off in the wall then use fittings to turn the stub ots into the garage or just loop them around from in the closet making a couple holes and back into the garage. For your electris, if the power supply is not long enough to re route it as it is, get a junction box, a few wire nuts, and a few feet of 10ga. or 12 ga. wire.(match what is supplying it now.) run the wire in a flxible conduit through the wall to the other side. Very simple.
I have installed many tankless heaters lately. I have only heard of a few complaints. first, you get what you pay for! Dont look for a flea market bargain. If you go for cheap it will most likely be cheap and will cost you more than buying a good make and model now. 2 there is some misconception of what the heaters actually do. They provide endless hot water on demand. Not instant water at any fixture in the house. In otherwords, it wil take the same amount of time for the hot water to reach fixtures as with a regular tank heater. The water still has to run through the system in the same way, but you will never run out of hot water. Other than these things, everyone I have installed one for seem to be very happy with them. I have mostly installed Ranni and Takagi heaters but there are many out there. Just do your research. Some county utility departments or gas companys even provide the heater and/or give a discount for having them installed. It may even be possible to get a tax break for improving the energy consumption of the house with these. Hope it helped! Good luck!
OK! Before you jump into replacing your tank water heater with a tankless unit, there are some things to consider. A tank type heater uses about 35,000-40,000 btu’s of gas, compare that to 100,000-200,000 btu’s for a tankless unit. This fact alone means that you will need more gas to the water heater, which means you will need larger pipes, whether you leave it in place or move it. Next, the flue pipe that carries exhaust through the roof, as specified by the manufacturer, requires a triple wall stainless steel exhaust pipe that will cost more than the heater itself, and this isn’t an item you will find anywhere, except straight from the manufacturer, because plumbing supply stores won’t pay for such an expensive item, that will just sit on the shelf. Next, the piping leaving the new tankless heater CANNOT be plastic pipe of any type, this is straight from the manufacturer. The water gets so hot, that it will melt the p[lastic pipe, even CPVC pipe that was made for hot water distribution. So if you have plastic pipe now, you will have to repipe your entire hot water distribution system. Another point to consider is, the size of the pipe supplying the tankless heater has to coincide with the manufacturers recomendations, as the proper amount of water needs to flow through the heater, in order for it to work properly. Next, the cost of a tankless heater is roughly 3-4 times that of a tank type heater. Finally, any water heater installed in a garage or area where combustible materials could be stored, must be elevated above the floor 18″, so that there is no possibility of an accidental fire, caused by the vapors being ignited by the heater. This goes for gas and electric water heaters. Also, the temperature and pressure relief safety valve, must be piped full bore through the exterior wall of the structure, and terminate within 6″ of the ground. This prevents an accidental scalding, if the relief valve were to release water. The type of piping required for this varies from city to city, so your local jurisdiction will advise you what is required to meet city code. No matter what you decide, this is not considered by insurance companies, what is refered to as a “customer type installation”. This should be left to a professional plumber, who will know all the required codes that need to be adhered to, and most importantly, you will have the peace of mind of a warranty, if anything were to go wrong. Do it yourselfers will argue that they can do the job, but if you ever try and sell your house, the water heater has about 7 items that come up in an inspection report. These have to be addressed by a licensed plumber, in order to clear the way for a good inspection report. I hope this clears up some confusion about these new tankless heaters.
In the first place have you thought about the changes you’d be making, in the lines. If it’s on the other side of the house your going to have a lot of changes in the lines. Secondly, an instant water heater is great, if you can afford one. They’re still new on the market and the prices are very high, check it out at Home Depot. I would have to have one for fifteen years to make a difference between a standard one and the waterless one, I’m 68 years old ?
If you people don’t know what your talking about then don’t answer. 1. No a larger gas line does not mean more gas usage. 2. You can’t put a hot water heater anywhere and in some states code says no to the garage for fuel burning appl. 3. UNLESS YOU LIVE IN THE NORTH POLE YOUR GROUND WATER IS NOT 40 DEGREES!!! so you will not have 80 delta t. or for you geniuses out “rise in temp”. 4. And finally go to Rannai.com you can put the instant hot water heat on the inside or outside of the building and you can size the one you need that way when you deal with so called master plumbers you can educate them to what you need. Most plumbers do not go to school for heating anything.