When I moved into my house over 9 years ago, I knew that it was time that I had to do something with all of the plumbing. Then I noticed that I needed a new water heater. I originally had a 40 gallon heater. I really would like to have a 50 gallon one. I shopped around and found a wide variety of water heaters on the market. The prices ranged anywhere from $299.00 - $899.00. So that is when I stumbled across this Bosch tankless one. It was intriguing. The concept was very nice, a space saving idea. plus, this can be powered by natural gas, electric, or propane. The thought of not having a huge water heater in the basement made me very happy. Just like everyone else, I had the usual questions about this heater. Will it be sufficient for my house? You can listen to the sales person all day long and I am here to tell you the only way to find the answer to that question is by installing it in your house.
When I moved into my house over a year ago the first thing that I had to do was replace all of the plumbing. Then I noticed that I needed a new water heater. We originally had a 40 gallon heater. I really would like to have a 50 gallon one. I shopped around and found a wide variety of water heaters on the market. The prices ranged anywhere from $299.00 - $899.00. So that is when I stumbled across this tankless one. It was intriguing. The concept was very nice, a space saving idea. The thought of not having a huge water heater in the basement made my wife and I very happy. Just like everyone else, I had the usual questions about this heater. Will it be sufficient for my house? You can listen to the sales person all day long and I am here to tell you the only to find the answer to that question is by installing it in your house.
WHERE TO BUY
When I buy something I like to know how it is going to cost me out the door. That means how much with extra warranty and the cost to change it all over. The water heater by itself cost around $500.00 but, after you add all of the extras you may as well say it cost $1,000.00 out the door. They say that in time you should recoup all of that and more. You can find these at Sears and Home Depot and Menards or lowes. Just about any home improvement store will sell you some type of tankless water heater. Remember this does not include labor, you can probably add an additional $500.00 onto that amount depending on how much rerouting they have to do.
INSTALLATION
When you first see this you will think to yourself how can something this small do the job of the big monster that we are so used to. The size is about two by four feet and around six inches s or a little less deep. I found out that you will have to reroute all of your gas and water lines, and if you are not very handy in doing any repairs, do not attempt this on your own. I have been doing this type of work several years. Don't let anyone tell you any different, this is not easy and simple to put in. It will take you probably a whole day or two to do the whole process from removing your old one to installing your new one. You might have to even run a new vent line if your existing one is not big enough. Since this will only heat the water as you need it, I tried to put it as close to the sources as I could. So I had to totally redo everything. Since my old vent was only 3" in diameter and I had to redo it any way I just decided to move the whole thing. This was a lot more work than I expected, but it did pay off in the end. I found out part of my problem was that I had galvanized lines in the house, and this type of pipe will plug up over the years. Plus it was only 3/8" size pipe. That is when I went to 3/4" to make sure I got the proper supply.
source
OPERATION
Once installed I still wondered if I could run several things at one time. I had to make sure that the pilot light was lit by using the electronic igniter made this very easy, and then I could get the answer to my questions. It didn't take long and the water to get hot, almost instantly. Well, as I soon found out you can't use a lot of appliances at one time. It does very well for things when you only run one at a time but, when you try to do more than two appliances at one time the demand is to great.
To explain it a little easier so that everyone can understand it I will tell you this. Picture a "S" shape pipe running through a fireplace, then water running through the pipe. Then the flame heats up the water instantly as it goes through the pipe. That's it in a nut shell. Just remember, that the closer that you are to you sources the more hot water you will get and for how long you get it.
ENERGY WISE
Since I have not had this for too long of a while I can't tell how much I am saving. But, it does make common sense unlike the modern day heaters that are essentially a holding tank of water, that if you don't have to heat water on stand-by for 365 days a year and 24hours a day that you will save money. You have got to! I would not say this is a quick fix and you might not notice the savings right away but if you compare from one year to the next you will see a difference. This runs at 3-4 gallons per minute and about 120,000 BTU. That can pretty hot if you have the settings to high. Just remember that as the water is running through this it heats up. So it goes to show you, if you slow down the process it will take even less to heat up what water you need. They advertise that you can save up to more than 80% of your costs during the year. Remember that these are sales people and will try and do anything to get you to buy their product. What I am trying to say is, find some actual customer that has been using and see if they can let you in their house and see it in action. You know that old saying, seeing is believing.
OVERALL JUDGEMENT
Well, what can I say. It is an investment and I am stuck with it and only time will tell the whole story. But, so far I am quite happy and if you watch what you are using at one time you should be okay. Don't expect this to work inside of a mansion. Some time you need to slow down a little and just relax. Take a breather and maybe do your laundry at night after the showering is done. Just don't expect this to do what a big monster will. It's just like David and Goliath; you never know when those little things will beat up the big ones.
WHERE TO BUY
When I buy something I like to know how it is going to cost me out the door. That means how much with extra warranty and the cost to change it all over. The water heater by itself cost around $500.00 but, after you add all of the extras you may as well say it cost $1,000.00 out the door. They say that in time you should recoup all of that and more. You can find these at Sears and Home Depot and Menards or lowes. Just about any home improvement store will sell you some type of tankless water heater. Remember this does not include labor, you can probably add an additional $500.00 onto that amount depending on how much rerouting they have to do.
INSTALLATION
When you first see this you will think to yourself how can something this small do the job of the big monster that we are so used to. The size is about two by four feet and around six inches s or a little less deep. I found out that you will have to reroute all of your gas and water lines, and if you are not very handy in doing any repairs, do not attempt this on your own. I have been doing this type of work several years. Don't let anyone tell you any different, this is not easy and simple to put in. It will take you probably a whole day or two to do the whole process from removing your old one to installing your new one. You might have to even run a new vent line if your existing one is not big enough. Since this will only heat the water as you need it, I tried to put it as close to the sources as I could. So I had to totally redo everything. Since my old vent was only 3" in diameter and I had to redo it any way I just decided to move the whole thing. This was a lot more work than I expected, but it did pay off in the end. I found out part of my problem was that I had galvanized lines in the house, and this type of pipe will plug up over the years. Plus it was only 3/8" size pipe. That is when I went to 3/4" to make sure I got the proper supply.
source
OPERATION
Once installed I still wondered if I could run several things at one time. I had to make sure that the pilot light was lit by using the electronic igniter made this very easy, and then I could get the answer to my questions. It didn't take long and the water to get hot, almost instantly. Well, as I soon found out you can't use a lot of appliances at one time. It does very well for things when you only run one at a time but, when you try to do more than two appliances at one time the demand is to great.
To explain it a little easier so that everyone can understand it I will tell you this. Picture a "S" shape pipe running through a fireplace, then water running through the pipe. Then the flame heats up the water instantly as it goes through the pipe. That's it in a nut shell. Just remember, that the closer that you are to you sources the more hot water you will get and for how long you get it.
ENERGY WISE
Since I have not had this for too long of a while I can't tell how much I am saving. But, it does make common sense unlike the modern day heaters that are essentially a holding tank of water, that if you don't have to heat water on stand-by for 365 days a year and 24 hours a day that you will save money. You have got to! I would not say this is a quick fix and you might not notice the savings right away but if you compare from one year to the next you will see a difference. This runs at 3-4 gallons per minute and about 120,000 BTU. That can pretty hot if you have the settings to high. Just remember that as the water is running through this it heats up. So it goes to show you, if you slow down the process it will take even less to heat up what water you need. They advertise that you can save up to more than 80% of your costs during the year. Remember that these are sales people and will try and do anything to get you to buy their product. What I am trying to say is, find some actual customer that has been using and see if they can let you in their house and see it in action. You know that old saying, seeing is believing.
OVERALL JUDGEMENT
Well, what can I say. It is an investment and I am stuck with it and only time will tell the whole story. But, so far I am quite happy and if you watch what you are using at one time you should be okay. Don't expect this to work inside of a mansion. Some time you need to slow down a little and just relax. Take a breather and maybe do your laundry at night after the showering is done. Just don't expect this to do what a big monster will. It's just like David and Goliath; you never know when those little things will beat up the big ones.
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