Tankless Hot Water Heaters, Efficient, Effective, Endless.
Archive for January, 2009
Conventional Tank Thermal Images
Jan 30th
Hot Water Tank Thermal Images
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Here are some thermal shots of a conventional hot water tank, as you can see there is a lot of heat loss
occurring. Sure during the winter months this is probably not a very big deal as the heat leaks into the house. During the summer when you are paying copious amount of money to keep your house cool a conventional tank sits there 24 hours a day leaking heat, and costing money. Additionally if you can see the vent pipe coming off the tank it is quite warm, this is wasted heat and energy being directly
vented outside. That is lost energy and money for you. A tankless water heater has a much higher efficiency rating which significantly reduces the amount of heat and energy vented out of the house. The increased efficiency also means that there is less heat escaping into your home during the cooling season.
More pictures to come soon.
If you are interested we can bring the thermal camera out on an in home consultation and you can see first hand why your conventional tank is one of the largest energy waters in your home. Fill out the simple inquiries form and we will contact you within 1 business day (please specify if you would like us to bring the thermal camera).
Tankless Purchasing Guide
Jan 28th
Guide For Tankless Purchase
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Did you know that in your home you are probably paying $60.00 or more per month to simply maintain the heat in a conventional tank type heater? How is this possible? Its simple, your regular tank loses its heat up the flue, or out the chimney, then when the water cools it reheats, and send more money and heat out the chimney. This is occurring even while you’re sleeping or at work.
You likely use most of your hot water in the evenings and morning, do you ever run out? Tankless water heaters are able to overcome these problems. A tankless never runs out of water and can have efficiencies in the high 90’s, you will never run out of hot water in your shower with a tankless.
All of the Earths resources are finite and thus as supplies become scarcer prices will continue to increase, minimizing your consumption reduces your bills. A tankless uses energy only when you ask it to provide hot water, a conventional take keeps water hot even when you’re not there, costing you money. Tankless water heaters will save you more money over their lifespan (20 plus years) than it will cost for the new unit. Plus a Tankless water heater takes up limited amounts of space, is easy to clean, and is easily operated.
Tankless Brand and Venting. With all the different brands available to consumers there is a plethora of venting options to vent the various units. Some tankless water heaters can be vented horizontally and others can vent vertically. The majority of tankless water heaters also have computerized safety devices to protect consumers. Most conventional tanks don’t have these advanced safety features.
Applications and Uses. Some applications of tankless water heaters are: boats, mobile homes, RV’s, and radiant heating systems.
Return on investment. The payback period for tankless water heater is between 3 to 7 years, this is dependent on both energy cost and personal use. If you are a high hot water consumer it will speed up the payback process, if you normally use very little hot water then the payback takes a little longer. Remember though, tankless hot water heaters experience zero standby heat loss and this are much more efficient than conventional tanks.
Energy Audits. Currently the Ontario Government has an incentive program that promotes home energy efficiency. It starts with a home energy audit that assesses the current efficiency of your home, after it is completed a report outlining the current state is sent to the home owner. There is an 18 month period for any renovations to take place; once they are completed a follow up audit is preformed to confirm that all retrofits have been accomplished. At this point grants and incentives are sent from the government to the retrofitted home owner to offset some of the costs.Just installing a tankless water heater qualifies you for $500. Check out the Audit page HERE.
Tankless Lifespan. The expected life of a tankless water heater is roughly 20 years. We have customers who still have their tankless water heaters and it has been in service for more than 20 years. A major reason for this is that tankless water heaters are serviceable, unlike conventional (disposable) tank type water heaters.
Find out more. Tankless water heaters will serve you and your homes hot water needs for years to come with reliable performance. It is important that you size and install them correctly for this type of performance. This is where we at the Tankless Hot Water Guide can help, fill out the contact form and we will contact you to set up a free In Home Consultation. The REP will be able to guide you in your purchase by measuring your water consumption and advising you as to where a tankless can be installed.
Rinnai R75i Specifications
Jan 26th
Rinnai R75i Specs
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- Natural Gas or Propane Gas Models
- 15,000 to 180,000 Btu

- 0.7 to 6.0 GPM (55 F rise) / 0.7 to 7.5 GPM (35 F rise)
- 98-140 Degree Settings or 98 – 185° F with (MCC-91 controller)
- Height 26″ Width 14″ Depth 10″
- No Pilot Light – Direct Electronic Ignition
- Maximum Hot Water Capacity – 7.5 GPM (multiple points of use)
- Newly Designed Commercial-Grade Heat Exchanger
- New Integrated Condensate Collector
- On-Board Diagnostics and Safety Monitoring
- EZ Connect (connects 2 units together without use of a control board
- High-Altitude Operation Up To 10,000 Feet Without Additional Parts
Tankless Rental
Jan 23rd
Renting a Tankless System
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Is a tankless rental the right option?
I hate to get in to this and fuel the recession right now but if money is tight then renting a tankless water heater might be the right thing to do.
A tankless rental works out to be a cheap investment for your home as as the cost for the unit is fixed every
month and the amount of natural gas, propane or even electricity consumed is reduced significantly. On top of that a rental system has the installation cost, and the venting kit built into the rental price. Currently systems are renting from around 35 to 50 dollars per month. The price does vary according to the size of the unit required for the house. If you live in a 4000 sq foot home you will need a larger tankless than a 2000 sq foot duplex. Is renting a tankless the right option for you? This is really up to your financial situation, the cost of outright purchasing a system is between $1500 and $3500, renting might work out more cost effective in many cases.
If you are interested in finding out more about a tankless rental systems please fill out the form and we will have someone contact you within 1 business day to discuss your options.
Frequently Asked Questions
Jan 20th
A Few FAQ
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Can a home owner install a tankless hot water heater?
We would not recommend a home owner to install their own tankless hot water heater. Tankless water
heaters have strict venting codes that really need to be installed by a professional H.V.A.C company with certified technicians. Most of these units require direct (through the wall) venting with clearance regulations. Unit efficiency can greatly be decreased by insufficient/improper venting. With on demand gas units, gas piping and water pipes may need to be upgraded as well.
Should I buy my tankless hot water heater, then call an installer?
If you decide to purchase a hot water heater from a source other than your installer, you may be faced with warranty issues. Also, all required parts for a full installation, sufficient venting, pipe upgrading and safeties are not usually included when purchasing a unit. Most installers insist on supplying dealer brand units with their installations. This will benefit you, the homeowner, as installers are specifically trained for the brand they install and if required, there will be no warranty issues with parts under manufacturers’ warranty.
Venting a Tankless
Jan 14th
Tankless Venting
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There is a plethora of information regarding tankless systems and which is right for you. This can be an intimidating experience for any consumer, today we are going to deal with venting and choosing the right method for your application. There really is no right or wrong choice it’s that some situations will require different methods and we aim to help you choose the option that best suits your needs.
Use the information below to the best of your ability, but if you have a unique situation send us a quick email or give us a call and we would be more than happy to help out.
Tankless systems require oxygen or air to complete and maintain the combustion process. It is essential for tankless water heaters to precisely monitor and control both the incoming and exhaust gases to achieve peak efficiency. As time goes by natural and environmental occurrences build up reducing a tankless heaters ability to efficiently heat water. Different venting systems have different traits let’s look at some of the different characteristics.

Non Direct Vent Indoor (fan assisted)
- Uses a powered fan to push exhaust gases out of the house
- Pulls the air or oxygen needed from the inside of the house
- Fan powered tankless systems allow for increased flexibility in venting (vertical or horizontal)
Direct Vent Indoor (fan assisted)
- Combustion oxygen is taken from outside the home, eliminating thermal drafting issues inside.
- The Tankless water heater is sealed and doesn’t consume any air form the inside of the house.
- Venting is done with two pipes or a single concentric pipe (a pipe inside another pipe).
- Can be used in locations where appliances may be competing for the same oxygen or in cold climates where air leakage reduces home energy efficiency.
- Vertical or horizontal venting
Outdoor
- This is restricted to warm weather climates only as subzero temperatures significantly reduce efficiency and there is a risk of the unit freezing
- Air for combustion is taken directly from the environment around the unit.
- Improves home energy efficiency as excess heat is thrown off outside and reduced A/C load.
Tankless Water Heater Facts
Jan 12th
Tankless Facts
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- 25% of every household energy dollar is spent making domestic hot water. Heating water with a conventional tank is the third largest energy consumer in your home (behind furnace and A/C).
- Electricity is the WORST way to heat hot water while natural gas and propane gas are much more efficient. Based on national fuel price averages of $1.46/ccf and $0.09/kwh, the cost/100,000 BTU’s is $1.46 for natural gas and $2.64 for electricity. Just under 60% of North American households have access to natural gas, and if you don’t, propane gas is available to almost everyone and is still a better value than electricity. In addition electric water heaters have only a small fraction of the capacity of gas water heaters. So if you like expensive, short showers, with cold water at the end, use electric; otherwise gas would be a better choice.
- Modern gas fired tankless water heaters are the best alternative available to today’s homeowners to reduce their residential energy consumption. A typical gas fired tankless water heater cost about 2-1/2 times as much as a standard tank water heater. However it will pay for itself in just a few years or less, and will last twice as long as a tank.
- If you are considering a tankless water heater Rinnai is likely the best choice. On average a new Rinnai is installed somewhere in North America every 3.75 minutes. Rinnai has shipped over 30 million tankless water heaters world wide.
Greatest Tankless Penetration
Jan 9th
Most Popular Areas
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2008 was a great year with many people switching over to tankless systems, it sure has keep us busy around here. Going over some of the results have yielded some surprising stats.
Most Popular Brand
Rinnai
This was not that surprising to us as we had a hard time maintain an adequate amount of stock for customer installations. Hands down the Rinnai tankless is the best unit out there.
Navian
This units efficiency rating was through the roof and thus made it an easy choice for a lot of consumers, we have stopped selling it due to system flaws. 2009 should be a much better year for the Navien.
Location
Toronto Core
This location has one of the highest densities of homes and so it is to be expected that it had the greatest density of tankless installs.
Mississauga
We didn’t expect this but Mississauga came in second with numerous installs of tankless systems.
Brampton
Brampton came in third for the city with the most tankless installs. They also had the highest penetration of Rinnai’s verses other brands, 94 percent were installed Rinnai’s. That topped all the other cities by a slight margin.
Oakville
There is really nothing too exciting about Oakville but they achieved the fourth highest number of tankless installs.
Markham
This city has achieved a fifth place ranking on total tankless installations but they also have the highest number of rented tankless systems.
Burlington
Not the greatest claim to fame but Burlington had the highest percentage of Navian’s installed, and the city with the sixth greatest tankless installations
Other
We installed tankless systems in many other location, nearly 50% were installed outside the six cities listed above. Here is a list of 9 more make this a list of 15 top tankless installs per city in Ontario.
- Hamilton
- Etobicoke
- Richmond Hill
- Scarborough
- Vaughan
- Kitchener
- Guelph
- Newmarket
- Whitby
I will try to publish some more interesting facts such as
- Average Tankless Cost
- Average Venting Cost
- Type of Home system installed in
- Average Home Age
- Average Home size
Find Out More
And as always if you are interested in a tankless water heating system follow the link below or click the “get a quote” at the top of the page.

