Again with tankless water heater

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Hey folks,
Been a while since posting. Slow progress on the homestead. My question is about the gas tankless water heaters. I'm not concerned about insurance so other than that why can't/shoulden't they be used?? If the instalation is done corectly, I see no reason why they can't be used. Am i missing something? We are going to be off grid and this is the best opption for us.
TIA
jason gnatowsky

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Jason Gnatowsky '72 Havelock 12x56 SW our off-grid mobile home http://jgnat1488.bravehost.com/
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I have not installed any tankless units yet, but I have been looking into them a lot lately. Maybe someone else might know more about this than I, but other than the insurance reasons, I can not see a reason that you couldn't use a tankless hot water system in a mobile home. There must be some units approved for mobile home use. I read in a mobile home trade magazene where 3-4 lines of Champion, Fleetwood and Palm Harbor homes are being sold with the tankless options. I know that the some Aquastar units specifically says "not for mobile/manufactured use, but some other manufacturers talk about putting the units in mobile homes. Also, there are brands like Wawiela tankless water heaters that have unit approved for outside installation. Of course you would want to follow the installation instructions. You want to especially follow instructions for areas with freezing weather.

Again, I am no tankless expert. Heck, I am about half tanked on this Friday night! Just my thoughts on the subject.

JD
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You might have a difficult time finding a tankless unit that does not use electric for its control circuit. Something else to think about.
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I have not heard of any insurance problems, the only problems I have heard about is the up front cost. Greg
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From what I read, it seems that many 40 gal replacement units (handles 2 showers at one time) will draw up to 1.2 to 1.8 amps, depending on the manufacturer. I don't know if this is a peak draw or constant draw. Many of the cautions would be comparable to any gas device, whether in a mobile home or not. Such as a combination or 2 more units, gas heater, stove, fireplace all pulling gas at the same time. The tankless can be damaged or dangerous if parts of the unit freezes through back draft of the exhaust venting. Hard water scaling the heat exchanger parts being dangerous.

The only problems I have heard about in regards to insurance has been from posters of this forum stating that tankless units did not have HUD or "mobile home use" approval. But again from what I have read, there are HUD and mobile home units. I even read about an RV unit that was available. An RV unit sounds like a great idea.

JD
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Hi JD,

Your answer is correct.

My insurance company does not have a problem with a tankless unit providing that it is MH approved, and professionally installed as we use gas. This is where some of the trouble comes with the units...not necessarily the unit itself but being gas and ascertaining that they are properly installed.

Not completely understanding all that I know about gas, but every home is only allowed so many BTU's. Also from what we have seen this unit also requires it's own dedicated circuit. In our area these units are still real pricey. I must admit though that as of late I have not done alot of research as to what is approved for MH and what brands are not.

As for RV units...my IL had one in there last RV and loved it. Sorry but I do not know anything about that unit either.

Have a great day!

~Yanita~
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From what i can gather the MH that come with them are getting the electric tankless. May be wrong. The one we are liking is the bosch 125hx, no electric needed at all!! It has a small built in hydro generator for the ignition. I still see no problem with corectly installing one in a MH. I did send an email to bosch last night so maybe I can get a reply from them about it.

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Jason Gnatowsky '72 Havelock 12x56 SW our off-grid mobile home http://jgnat1488.bravehost.com/
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Hi,

Please post what you get for info. I do remember my Hubby mentioning the brand name Bosch!

Inquiring minds are waiting!

Thanks,

~Yanita~
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I looked at them a few years ago. We knew our hot water wasn't going to last forever!

Everything that I found out was that it would not work for us. Our water heater closet is located on the outside of the home, we're prone to freezing temps, weeks at a time, and we have very hard water. I didn't even bother looking into what our insurance would cover. We had a tankless installed waaay back in 1987, in our custom built home. It didn't last a year. It was located in a finished garage. Now, that was 20+ years ago, but it just didn't take care of a family of 4 back then. We went back to a gas water heater.

I can't remember what it cost way back when, but we just replaced our water heater a few weeks ago. I did notice that the tankless were going for about $900.00 in my area. That doesn't include professional installation!

We upgraded to a 40 gallon unit, it's more energy efficient then the old one and better constructed. Man, the old one that we took out only had a 5 year warranty, and it was here long before we moved in! My neighbor helped install it about 15 years ago. But, we did take care of it for the last 9 years. It's amazing what some maintenance can due to the life of any appliance!

But yes, please report back to us! There are plenty of folks in mild climates, where this will work great! If installed properly. I recommend a professional install!

Maureen 8-)
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If I get a reply yall will definatly know.

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Jason Gnatowsky '72 Havelock 12x56 SW our off-grid mobile home http://jgnat1488.bravehost.com/
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Good heavens. As my dad used to say, there's nothing new under the sun.

My grandmother, around 1940 (England) had a gas one, but then they were called geysers. My first husband's family had a bigger one, 1960's, that spat out boiling hot water enough to fill a big old bathtub.

Found this link which says some are approved for our homes:

http://www.tanklesswaterheaters.ca/

Nicky T
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I must be getting old but, where did it say on the site that it was approved for mobile/manufactured homes? Also does this apply to the US? Just asking since the site is canada.

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Jason Gnatowsky '72 Havelock 12x56 SW our off-grid mobile home http://jgnat1488.bravehost.com/
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At the site I mentioned above, scroll down to "Why buy tankless". The mention of RV's, mobile homes etc is in the fourth paragraph.

Nicky T
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I never got a reply from Bosch. I did go ahead and buy the 125HX LP from ace hardware online. Just arived today, not bad since it wasn't ordered until last sat. night. Still have work to do before I can set it up but I will give yall a report once we start using it.

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Jason Gnatowsky '72 Havelock 12x56 SW our off-grid mobile home http://jgnat1488.bravehost.com/
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Hi,

Thanks for the update, and will be waiting for the one about how the unit works.

You live one state north of me, so if it works well for you, then it ought to work great for us. Did you get a gas or an electric unit?

~Yanita~
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