Comments for Home Interior Products

Comment on an old house, gas water heater is 1 foot from the gas meter. Do we have to relocate heater for safety reason? by sensible_man

sensible_man — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:51:18 +0000

If the Gas Company has required it to be moved, then you need to move it. If you don’t, they will suspend your gas service. I think the main reason is due to the house being a rental.

Comment on are tankless gas water heater any good? by hollifieldrobert

hollifieldrobert — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 06:51:03 +0000

gas is safe as long as it is propaly mantianed as for as tankless or any natural gas water heater they need to be installed by a pro tankless ones are even more complicated to install because of the venting you shouldnt have any problem with enough hot water unless you have 4 people takening showers in 4 showers at the same time a good plumbing company can advise you on what you need

Comment on are tankless gas water heater any good? by chevretteg

chevretteg — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 06:20:39 +0000

Stay away from gas, it is DANGEROUS,and expensive

Comment on are tankless gas water heater any good? by mike k

mike k — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 06:01:02 +0000

A tankless water heater should be adequate for a 2 person family. Make sure the heater has a sufficient capacity (in gallons per minute) for showering and other tasks. If your house has 2 baths, the heater must deliver sufficient hot water for both showers running at the same time. For a 2 person family, a tankless heater will probably be more energy-efficient than a conventional tank heater, since it heats water only as it is used, rather than a tank heater that keeps unused water heated all the time.

Comment on 2.5 Gallon Electric Water Heater – 14″ x 15″ by M. E. Waters

M. E. Waters — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 03:05:48 +0000

I ordered this heater to use in my camper. It does a great job as the only source of hot water. We have taken several showers in a row and had pleanty of hot water. My only complaint is that the heat adjustment is under the blue cover and is not easy to get to when mounted under a cabinet. I suggest that before mounting it perminatly to test the temperature of the water. It will get very hot. You may want to turn it down so children do not get burned.
Rating: 3 / 5

Comment on RHEEM 199KBTU Tankless Heater RTG74PVN by Michele Ellingon

Michele Ellingon — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:23:46 +0000

I have had a Paloma tankless water water for a few months now. Once it actually provided hot water for an entire week without having to be reset. Most of the time the best I can hope for is about 2 minutes at a time. Just enough for half a shower, or a few dishes. Then I have to go down to the basement and reset it. I am trying to wash last night’s dishes right now, since this thing has completely eliminated the “wash as you cook” concept. I paused on my SIXTH trip to the basement to reset this useless piece of junk so I can continue to wash one meal’s worth of dishes to warn everyone here to NEVER BUY ONE. I am dreading the approach of winter with what amounts to having no hot water in my house, just because I wanted to “go green” when my old water heater broke. I invested almost $1,000 buying and installing this thing and now I can’t afford to buy and install another tank style one. Customer service has been friendly enough on our several calls, but obviously not helping. Zero stars.
Rating: 1 / 5

Comment on RHEEM 199KBTU Tankless Heater RTG74PVN by M. Weski

M. Weski — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 11:56:33 +0000

First tankless. Self installed. Install directions on the mark. Buyer beware of cost of the exhaust piping for any tankless water heater. 5-10 times more expensive. We have had this unit online for ~4mo. Very sporatically the hot water will cut off and we need to turn tap off and on again to get going. Like I write very sporatically (1/mo) so not a big issue. I need to get a hold of Rheem to discuss solutions. Maybe installer error . In the end what a nice idea to get rid of the monster tank water heater. This unit sits off the floor in the corner out of the way. The exhaust chimney and (expensive) piping are all well sealed so no smell of exhaust and/or natural gas whatsoever. One thing that you have to get used to is a small clicking sound everytime the hot water comes on. Pretty minor… dog notices more than we do now.
Rating: 4 / 5

Comment on RHEEM 199KBTU Tankless Heater RTG74PVN by L. Bank

L. Bank — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 09:38:01 +0000

It seems like a nice machine, but since we installed it, 2 faucets(one on a first floor and one on a second, not on top of each other) out of 4 just seem to never get any hot water. To be precise, it takes more like a minute or two! for water to heat up there. The other 2 faucets operate superbly. The issue may be with plumber who installed, but for now I reserve my judgment.
Rating: 3 / 5

Comment on RHEEM 199KBTU Tankless Heater RTG74PVN by S. Johnson

S. Johnson — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 09:22:44 +0000

I have multiple rent houses in a resort area. The weekly rental tenants use tons of hot water, so I thought endless hot water would be a great advertising point for my beach rentals. When I saw one of these on clearance at HD, I bought it and put in the garage for later use. I’m an experienced landlord and plumber, I can wire and install normal hw heaters, faucets, toilets, drain and supply lines. I have a full set of pex crimpers and can sweat copper too. To install this tankless, I had to locate it very close to the gas main, which entailed moving the gas main. The power company did this for free, because I added three new gas appliances. Normally it would be $600 extra they said. They buried the line under my new deck, so it had to be dug up and re-done. Then the meter had to be moved twice. Then I ran 10 feet of Trac-Pipe, which cost me $35 dollars a FOOT! and $1600 for a licensed gas contractor to install, plus $200 permit. I did this myself to save $1800. Then I had to have the electrician wire a plug in the attic for $100. The supply lines had to be re-routed. Then I had to buy a “Z” vent for $300 and install through my roof and go out on a 12 pitch to paint it. That wasnt enough, as the hot water hits the cold air, you get condensation, so I had to install a condensation drain line. After all that, the thing starts up, blinks 14 then -0, but no hot water. I check an all the valves are open. I make sure I have adequate water pressure. I open the gas line and purge it. Still no hot water. I call the number on the manual and get some Chinese guy, who tells me to call an 800 number which then tells me they are closed. I call the next business day and its a byzantine voicemail system I’ve yet to get through. So I checked for error codes on google, but cant find 14. The manual has so many caveats , I’m sure I did one of the install steps wrong. You have to have the proper range of water pressure, the drain line has to be oriented right, Lots of details. NotSince its been a year since I bought it on clearance and stuck it in my garage, I dont think Rheem/Paloma are going to support me in this problem, but I’ll let you know what happens. So far, tankless has been the most dissapointing home improvement I’ve EVER made.
Rating: 1 / 5

Comment on RHEEM 199KBTU Tankless Heater RTG74PVN by Townsend Wolfe

Townsend Wolfe — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 09:21:11 +0000

I purchased this unit for service in my mountain cabin which is at 10,000′. The price was right and the installation was very straight forward.

I have had this unit for over 1.5 years and it has never worked consistently. I have spent over 25 hours on the phone with technical support. They finally got frustrated with not being able to solve the problems with the unit and have simply decided to not talk with or help me any more.

I am 100% DISSATISFIED with both the product and the company. Considering that I will be installing a new home HVAC in the next 30 days there is no chance that I will be purchasing any Rheem product at anytime in the future.

Spend your money on the Rinnai!
Rating: 1 / 5

Comment on Stiebel Eltron Tempra 29 Plus Electric Tankless Water Heater by D. Covert

D. Covert — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 17:10:09 +0000

i bought this to replace the broken water unit in my oil furnace. i must admit i am no good at intstalling anything myself so i had to hire someone to do it for me. finding one company to install the whole thing was a real pain in the butt. i had to find a electrician to run the wires and install the 3 50 amp breakers. then i had to get a full service plumber to install the piping. i used lucas plumbing. they did a very good job. as for the unit itself. i really love it it works just as you would expect. i have not had a chance to use the unit in the winter. i i had it installed in the summer and i live in pennslyvania. the cold incoming water temp in temp in the summer is 75 degrees and about 40 in the middle of the winter. i will post again in the winter to let everyone know how well in works with very gold water coming in. i would definitly recommend the unit to anyone i really like it. just one very important warning!!! you must measure the water flow on all your faucets to make sure you get at least .87 gallons per minute. if you dont you will have no hot water on that faucet until you turn on a second faucet because the unit has a .87 gpm minimum turn on flow through it for it to turn on. check the flow rate during the day time between 1pm to 6pm. that seems to be when the pressure is the lowest. i checked all my faucets at 9pm before i bought it and they all filled a 1 gallon jug in under a minute however. i didnt know the flow was slower during the middle of the day. so. it turned out my faucet in the kitchen was clogged and had a bad valve and had to be replaced. now the new faucet works fine and i measure almost twice as much water coming out of it per minute, anyway so far i really like the unit. i think its awesome. i will get back to this review in the winter to give you the update . Bill —- update after winter.—– the unit costs about $8 per month to run in the warmest months and $40 per month on the coldest months. my 2 children take baths and my wife and i use the shower. i did not see an increase in my electric bill except in jan and feb. also i can only run one shower at a time in jan and feb. but during all the other months i can run 2 showers at once. i am very happy with it. it is not expensive to run and i highly recommend it! it works as adversed. i would definitly recommend it to a friend!
Rating: 5 / 5

Comment on Factory-Reconditioned Aquastar Natural Gas Tankless Water Heater 1600H-NG by D. J. Pridemore

D. J. Pridemore — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 11:57:07 +0000

I selected the Bosch Aquastar 1600H for several reasons. It was the correct size for my 3 bed 1 bath ranch home where all of the plumbing is centrally located. I liked the fact that there was no standing pilot light OR plug for an igniter on the system. But the biggest selling point was that it used standard 4″ Class B vent pipe for the flue. Most of the tankless water heaters that cost $900 to $2000 stab you in the pocket book again by using 3″ stainless steel flue pipe that costs a fortune. In fact, a lot of them have optional kits that start around $300 for the basic pieces with you needing to buy additional pieces just to install you heater.

Now, the negative. First off, understand that I am a contractor by profession and that while installing this water heater was pretty straight forward; diagnosing issues with it is a whole different ball of wax. This was the first time that I had ever installed a tankless water heater and I was putting it in my own home. After changing my plumbing lines around, switching out the black pipe to ¾” for the gas line, running a new flue and hooking everything up, I was having problems getting it to function correctly. More specifically, the heater would not heat the water to a desired temperature and if the furnace or the stove/oven was running, the temperature would drop even more. After checking the manual and getting online to find out how to make a manometer ([...]), I found that the natural gas pressure was set incorrectly for my house. It was measuring around 5 WC (inches water column) and while it didn’t really come out and say it, I found that this heater works best on at least 6 ½ WC. While the pressure was fine for my stove, the furnace and my old water heater, it just wasn’t enough for this new water heater. The manual says to have the gas company come out to test and adjust the pressure, however, I just did it myself and set it to 7 ¼ WC. I will say that while this heater saves natural gas by not constantly heating the water in a tank, it does use A LOT more to heat your water when it is in demand. Another thing I found out, if installing this water heater in a climate where the temperature can drop below freezing, MAKE SURE that you install it in an area where there is good air flow with a decent ambient temperature. The reason being is that tankless water heaters like this Bosch Aquastar work on a capillary system to heat the water. If cold air comes down the flue, it can freeze the water in the heat exchanger and bust the pipes within it or just not function as your water line for your hot water will not flow.

However, after that, I will say that I have continuously enjoyed an endless supply of hot water. With two teenagers in the house, I can tell you that it used to be frustrating to have to wait an hour to take a shower if they had used the shower beforehand. This is the reason that I went with a tankless water heater to begin with. I also am happy to report that my gas bill was and has continued to be cut in HALF. I have been using this system for 7 months now and I can’t wait to see my bills for the winter.

Rating: 5 / 5