Tankless Hot Water Heater

texasprairierose · Sat Jan 03, 2009 11:18 pm

My husband wants to put a natural gas tankless hot water heater in our house, but all of the manuals state that they are not to be used in a mobile home. We have a natural gas furnace but our hot water heater is electric. Does anyone know why they are not supposed to be used in a mobile home?

Thanks!

Diane

Harry · Sun Jan 04, 2009 5:22 am

Hi

I think Noritz says you can. Here's a link: http://www.noritz.com/homeowners/services/faqs/

I converted all our gas to electric and am happy we did.

Harry

Greg · Sun Jan 04, 2009 9:43 am

Diane, For any heating appliance (furnace, fireplace, heater ect) to be Mobile home approved they need to have an outside air source. This it to prevent depleating the air that you breath.

I know that some here changed to tankless, Personally I question the savings/payback on the system. check the other threads on the subject. Greg

Brenda (OH) · Sun Jan 04, 2009 2:45 pm

One situation I heard about, a gas water heater was in the same room as the washer and dryer, and clothes got shoved up against and under the water heater and caught on fire.

guess the water heater enclosure serves an extra safety function I had not thought about for the gas models.

Brenda (OH)

texasprairierose · Sun Jan 04, 2009 11:10 pm

Thanks to all who replied to my question...and Harry thanks for the link to Noritz.

Diane

Yanita · Mon Jan 05, 2009 7:14 pm

Hi,

Good link Harry for those that do not know about tank less heaters.

I would like to add, regardless of what any manufacturer says, get all the info you think you need about the unit and then present it to your insurance company. They may have other thoughts. MH approved or not.

I have Foremost insurance and they refused the install of a pellet stove for this home.

JMO,

Yanita

saler · Fri Jan 09, 2009 12:49 am

When we bought our mobile home it had a tankless hot water heater in it, and if you do not have good water pressure it will not work at all. We wound up taking it out and putting in a reg. gas hot water heater, and we are very happy with it !!!

oldfart · Mon Jan 12, 2009 10:51 am

Diane the manufacturers of tankless hot water heaters often preach about the energy savings of said appliances. "It only heats up water when you need it!" Good idea....poor execution. It ain't so. They use MORE energy to heat water "on demand" than a standard hot water heater uses to keep hot water hot. Check out the facts at Consumer Report and you'll find out the tankless heaters only save you money after 20+yrs. of use. Read that to state..they break even on energy usage/cost when compared to a modern elec./gas hot water heater in 20yrs. of service....including the cost of replacing a standard elec./gas hot water heater every 7 years. More energy efficient? I don't think so. Audie..the Oldfart...

Greg S · Mon Jan 12, 2009 12:20 pm

One of the residents in our park has a tankless that shuts off if park water pressure drops below 35 lbs which it does most weekend mornings. Food for thought.

texasprairierose · Mon Jan 12, 2009 12:41 pm

Thanks for the additional information on the tankless water heaters. The water pressure issue is something we had not thought about but is definitely something that could be problematic...especially in the summer when the sprinkler system is running.

Diane

bell30655 · Tue Jan 13, 2009 9:43 am

One of the residents of the park I live in has a tankless water heater. It is made by Rinnai, I don't know the specs but it is very small in comparison to a regular water heater. It is about the size of a suitcase. They have not had the issue of it shutting off, probably because we have very good water pressure here.

I was considering one so I asked lots of questions since they installed it. With his family size (2 adults, 3 children) it is a real advantage to never run out of hot water. However, their utility bills have not really went down any it just lowered the electric column and raised the gas column (we have one utility bill for everything).

I have opted to keep my electric water heater. I may buy a larger one in the future but I don't think I'd see enough of a benefit from switching. Before making this kind of change be sure to speak to people other than the dealers that sell them. A plumber here in town informed me that these units are a fire risk and recommends standard electric water heaters. However, he only installs electric water heaters. He could be a bit biased.