Tankless Hot Water Heaters, Efficient, Effective, Endless.
Archive for April, 2009
Enbridge Gas Distribution $300 Rebate
Apr 29th
$300 Rebate
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Enbridge Gas Distribution is offering a new program that offers residential customers $300 off their gas bill with the installation of a new or rented tankless natural gas water heater. Enbridge has taken the trend 
toward environmental stewardship and embraced it by offering clients an additional incentive to become more efficient.
Customers of Enbridge can become eligible for the rebate with the purchase of a tankless water heater that is a qualified energy star system. The primary brands that qualify are, John Wood, Navien, Paloma, Rheem, Takagi, Rinnai, and WaiWela. The hitch is that the units need to be installed before August 31, 2009. The territory severed mainly consists of, Toronto, York, Durham, and the Greater Toronto Area.
People can find out more at the Enbridge website here, or fill out a quick form and we will have some one call you to explain in greater detail
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Rinnai Concentric Venting
Apr 28th
Rinnai Venting
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Rinnai tankless water heaters use a single tube for their venting, how do they do this? It’s quite a simple process that prevents two holes from being drilled in your wall. As you can see in the picture of the elbow, the vent pipe has two distinct sections. This type of venting piping is called concentric venting. 
The tankless concentric vent pipe handles both the incoming supply air as well as ejecting the toxic exhaust gases. This form of tankless venting can save an extra hole in your wall and thus reduced risk of air leakage.
Concentric venting is really quite expensive as the pipe is made from stainless steel. On average you are looking at about 60 dollars per foot plus installation. This is why it important to position a Rinnai tankless water heater as close as possible to its venting termination point.
Navien Condensing Tankless 98%
Apr 22nd
Navien Condensing Tankless 98%
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Navian tankless water heaters are rated at up to 98% efficiency; this is achieved through a process called 
condensing. This is the highest rated condensing tankless available on the market today. As a result if the Navian’s high efficiency an average house can expect to save about 40$ additional over a conventional non condensing tankless Water heater. Compare it to a conventional tank type water heater and you could potentially save more than 160$. Efficiency is the key for the future, we need to get more out of what we now have less of. 98% of the energy used in this Navian unit actually works to heat water and is not just blown out the exhaust vent. The chart should help to determine what size of Navien tankless water heater you might need to meet your home/familys domestic hot water needs.
Navian has now moved to dual stainless steel heat exchanges in its tankless water heaters, they claim that this material offers 20 times more corrosion resistance and increased condensation damage. The Navien Tankless water heaters are also employing a new air pressure sensor that senses incoming and oxygen and can compensate for long vent runs to maximize efficiency in the combustion chamber.
Navien has also updated their website so check it out here. Visit Navien’s Website
Solar Water Heater and Tankless Update
Apr 21st
Solar Water Heater and Tankless
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One of our readers is working on installing a domestic solar hot water heater in conjunction with a tankless. They were going to go with a Rheem tankless to offset any additinonal temperature increase that was needed over the solar gains. Unfortunately they found out that the particular unit that they were planning on using senses the incoming water temperature, buy ‘ignores’ water that is within 40F of the target temp (ie. the unit won’t cut on to work). This has caused them some problems because:
1) The max output on any residential line is 120F (49C) (this is canadian law it cant be any hotter than this in a residential home).
2) If the solar heated water comes in at 100F (37C) or warmer, the unit will not kick on. This means the output is 37C, a cold shower to be sure.
3) If you go to the commerical unit, the max temp is 180F. This much too hot for residential use (think of someone turning on the hot water at the sink to do dishes), but it would work from the 40F differential standpoint (ie. if the water is 60C or colder, then the unit will fire, anything warmer than 60C doesn’t matter as it would be warm enough for a shower). Again this is illegal in Canada as the Max allowed Temperature is 120F.
The best solution is to more to a Rinnai Tankless water heater as this unit only requires there to be a 20 degree farenheight differentiation between water to be heated and heated water. Therfor your shower will at the very least be 100 degrees farenheight which is plenty warm enough.
These co-heating water heating systems are quite complicated so its important that you talk to a prefessional regarding any plans that you have for your home or cottage. Feel free to send us an email if you have any questions.
Tankless Installation Time
Apr 8th
Installing a Tankless
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How long is it going to take to install a new tankless water heater?
There really isn’t a simple time frame that can be stated because no two installs are the same. Everyone’s home is unique and this means that install times are different for every home. If you have a tankless system and are replacing it (far and few between) the tankless install will be relatively quick as most of the pipes and the gas line will be the right vicinity.
If you are moving from a conventional hot water tank to a tankless water heater then it will take at least a few hours. These are a few of the required tasks of an install crew
This is a very short rundown of the installation process, it is much more detailed and requires more time than you might expect. All tankless water heaters have very specific details as to where and how they are vented. This does place a bit more work on the installer as they have to ensure that their installation meets all codes.
All and all a new tankless installation will run anywhere from a few hours to an entire day. For the majority of situations it is rare for a tankless to take more than half of a day to install. So I would suggest to budget about 4 hours for the installers to finish their work.
Grant Money Increased By 25%
Apr 1st
25% more for a new Tankless
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Part of the government’s economic action plan is to boost the eco energy retrofit program that is currently running. The government has increased all available grant money for energy efficient retrofits by 25%. Additionally the program has been expanded with a 300 million dollar increase in funding over the next two 
years.
You can download the new PDF here
Initially the program gave home owners 18 months to complete all retrofits, perform the E audit and submit files for rebates. This has now been extended and homeowners that are past their 18 month time frame can still perform retrofits and get access to additionally grant money by performing a F-audit.
This is really significant for The Tankless Hot Water Guide as the additionally grant money will further reduce the cost of tankless water heaters for consumers. A tankless with an efficiency of .82% or better will get you 630$ in rebate money. If you decide to go with a condensing tankless water heater the grant money is even better (.94% efficiency or better) this will net you a 750$ cheque from the government.
You cant find a better time to get go out and get a tankless water heater.
