Tankless Hot Water Heaters, Efficient, Effective, Endless.
Posts tagged tankless water heaters
Mike Holmes on Tankless Water Heaters
Aug 16th
Still doubting the validity of a tankless water heaters for your home? Famed home renovation TV star Mike Holmes goes on record saying that the systems just plainly “make Sense”.
Below is a excerpt from the article.
“Environmentally responsible building is opening our eyes to some great, new technologies. But it’s also getting us to take another look at really smart old ideas — such as tankless water heaters.
These have been used in Europe and Asia since the Second World War, but are only now coming into common use in North America. I’m a huge fan of these in-line hot water heaters. They are super efficient, space-saving products that — when installed properly — will last almost forever, cut your energy bill and supply unlimited hot water to your home. You can literally open up your tap, walk away, and still have hot water coming out a month later.
Yes, they cost more initially, and you have to have them installed and calibrated to your household’s use by an expert, but there is no doubt in my mind that you will get your money’s worth.
Tankless water heaters are small — usually not much bigger than an electrical panel. When you turn on a hot water tap, a burner in the unit lights up and instantly heats water in a maze of copper pipe. With the tap open, the water flows through the heated pipes, and within seconds, you have continuous hot water. When you turn off the tap, the burner goes off. The result is you don’t have to heat and store 40 gallons of water in your basement any more. You only heat the water you use, and you have hot water for as
long as you need it.”
You can read the full article here with a lot more tips on how a tankless water heater may be right for your home…. Mike Holmes on Tankless Water Heaters in the Globe and Mail Article
Rebates
Jul 13th
Rebates Are Still Available!
Most people think that the Eco Energy rebate program has ended but it is still ongoing and it will likely be re-instated upon its scheduled closing. 
If your interested in getting a tankless water heater for your home then you can still be eligible for rebate and grants from the Canadian Government to offset the higher cost of the tankless. You will need to participate in the Government Eco Energy Audit Program to become eligible for the grants.
The Energy Audit tells you information about your home and is a lot of value to most home owners, you will also gain access to grant money for home insulation, toilets, furnaces, air conditioners, etc.
How much rebate for a Tankless?
This is a common question and it changes with the tankless water heater you buy. You can expect $315 for any tankless that has an efficiency rating below 92%. If you go with a condensing tankless which will bring your efficiency rating up in between 94% to 98% you will receive $375.
Tankless water heaters are notoriously difficult to install and thus a representative needs to come out and assess your home. They can answer any further questions you have and help decide where you would like the unit installed (remember it mounts on the wall).
Tankless Brands
Jul 11th
There are a number of different brands of tankless water heaters below you will find a short synopsis of each of each tankless system.
Rinnai Tankless
Easily one of the biggest suppliers of tankless units, they are known for stability and reliability. Of all the experience we have had with tankless water heaters Rinnai’s Tankless is by far the most reliable unit on the market today.
Navien Tankless
This one is often spelled incorrectly as “Navian”. It has been know as the the most efficient tankless with their units reaching 98% efficiency. They have had reliability issues in the past but they are on to the 4th generation now and most of the issues have been cleared up.
Noritz Tankless
Not the most popular brand of tankless but it is a nice unit none the less. Reliability is lacking a bit but it makes it up in its efficiency.
Bosch Tankless
Commonly sold in Home Depots, these tankless systems are good units but they are so frequently incorrectly sized and installed that they have developed a bad reputation due to this.
Takagi Tankless
If for some reason I couldn’t get a Rinnai tankless I would choose the Takagi tankless model for sure, high efficiency, reliability, and easy venting. What more could you ask for?
John Wood Tankless
This brand can be difficult to find in Toronto or Ontario for that matter, its mainly sold in the US and is made by GSW.
Toronto Heats Up
Jul 11th
Well it looks as thought the summer we misses last year has come back in 2010 with a vengeance! Don’t get me wrong, no one is complaining but its certainly one of those summers your thankful you have air conditioning. Now if your one of those family’s that just refuses to install central air its time to rethink that. 
Firstly, there’s so many appliances in a home that run now (computers, stereos, big screen TV’s) and these units produce a lot of heat. Think about when you leave the computer running in a room with door closed how quickly its transformed into a sauna. All these new electronics can really raise the temperature of any home and if its 36 degrees outside it doesn’t take long to send your homes interior temperature sky rocketing.
Secondly, (more on the lines of tankless water heaters) a tankless water heater will only turn on when there is hot water needed, so all day when the home is empty that old conventional tank is just producing heat, and heating up your house. Its even worse if you have air conditioning and its working to cool your home all the while the water heater is heating up the house…. Might be time to switch to a Tankless
Toronto Tankless
Jul 10th
Tankless water heaters are very popular right now and more and more Torontonians are switching over to them as they are subject to large Government subsidies as well as offering significant energy savings. Basically its a win win situation for any home owner looking to upgrade their water heating equipment.
Common miss-conception right now is that rebates are not available anymore for tankless water heaters in Toronto, this is not true and you can expect a significant savings if you decide to upgrade. To access the grants there is a few steps that you the home owner must complete to be eligible, first is to get a Home Energy Audit which will get you access to $5000 in rebates, and not just for tankless water heater systems but furnaces, air conditioners, home insulation, etc. Then simply get your tankless installed and wait for your rebate in the mail.
Toronto has slightly hard water and so it is important that you have your tankless water heater flushed once every year or two to ensure that it maintains its efficiency. A conventional tank cant be flushed and this buildup occurs and within a few years its relatively low efficiency is even lower. Move up to a tankless water heater and get your share of Government grants and reduce your energy bills.
Get Your Free Tankless Quotes Now
Home Owner To do List-Tankless
May 27th
Bosch vs Rinnai Tankless
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When it comes to home improvement there are so many options available. Most homeowners make a mental to do list of the projects that are weekend projects and ones best left to the pros. To do lists are usually placed in order of cost and capability to complete the task. A tankless water heater is a project that is well worth putting at the top of your to do list. We can have REP come out and go over where a unit can be installed and what an install entails. Then you can spend the rest of your Saturday planning on how to use the extra space your old hot water tank took up.
With conventional tank type water heaters there is a strangely long list of things that are not exactly great selling points. Things like, pilot lights that miraculously go out at the most inconvenient times, limited storage capabilities, short life spans, and a loss of energy efficiency due to sludge build up at the bottom of the tank.
The tankless water heater solves a lot of the standard water heater problems. Current water heaters use energy by constantly working to maintain heated water temperatures of 40 to 50 gallons that is not even being used. A tankless system costs 60 percent less to operate than the standard tank because it only heats the water when it is requested by the home owner. Another selling point is the life expectancy of these units, double sometimes even triple to that of the traditional unit.
If you are trying to ‘Go Green’ most tankless water heaters are Energy Star approved. This means that you are not only reducing your carbon footprint by 63 percent compared to the standard unit, you will also be saving energy, and that means real money back in your pocket.
In addition to the money that you are going to be saving on reduced energy bills, the Provincial Government offers tax incentives of up to 30 percent for energy efficiency improvements.
Microwave Tankless Water Heaters….
May 11th
Microwave Tankless
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Giant microwaves to heat water instantly? Is this real? And can it actually work?
A microwave (like in a microwave oven) is generated by a magnetron at a frequency of 2.45 gigahertz, this is the 
exact frequency that targets water molecules and gets them vibrating faster and faster, thus heating up.
The principal behind a microwave tankless water heater is basically the same as your microwave oven at home just on a larger scale. Cold water will simply pass through the unit where it will be bombarded by microwaves actively exciting the molecules to the required temperature. The warm or hot water will then pass through the pluming system to the source of demand.
Effectively this is making hot water produced by electricity actually a reality. There are electric tankless water heaters, sure, but they require massive amounts of power and don’t reliably produce enough water to supply a modern home. Wanderport, a manufacturer of these systems is claiming upwards of 6-7 gallons per minute which is directly on par with conventional tankless systems.
What’s potentially so great about these systems?
First off there is no venting needed, no holes in the walls, no venting proximity restrictions; these are huge barriers that gas or propane tankless systems face. On that same note, the conventional tankless systems sometimes require home owners to upgrade supply lines as units can consume upwards of 199,000 Btu’s.
Secondly a microwave unit has an efficiency of 99% and emits no pollution. The unit also doesn’t degrade over time as a conventional tankless does with calcium deposits and buildups in the various heat exchangers that they need.
So what’s the chances of you getting a microwave water heater in your home in the near future?
According to Wanderport, quite realistic. In fact they have a product on the verge of being released. Its already won an advanced technology award from the
Toronto Construction Association.
Check out the future of water heating here.
Instant or Tankless Water Heaters?
Apr 29th
Things to Know.
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Most of us have grown up with a standard tank type water heater. As such we are used to the way our hot water system works. Switching to a tankless water heater will have an affect on the way your hot water system works.
With a tank type heater, when you turn on a hot water faucet, the hot water, typically 140 degrees, immediately begins flowing through the pipe to get to your faucet. As the water travels through the cold pi pe, it cools off until the piping material warms up. That is why your hot water doesn’t instantly go from cold to hot; it has to warm up the pipes first.
Some homes have hot water circulating systems that circulate the hot water through the pipes to obtain instant hot water at every sink. Circulating systems can save a lot of water. They are wasteful of energy though, since the water heater will fire up more often to replace the heat being lost through the piping which acts like a big radiator even if the pipes are well insulated.
There are also pumping systems that pump the hot water to the fixture from the heater only when you want to use hot water and you don’t run any water down the drain. You still save the water and time, but you don’t waste water.
Tankless Systems
Tankless water heaters are being promoted as providing endless hot water and as being energy saving over traditional water heaters. While both of these facts are true, there are other things to consider.
If you are considering replacing your tank type water heater with a tankless unit, and you have a typical house, make sure you get one large enough to do the job. Since you are heating water as you use it, you must heat it much more quickly than a tank type heater so you need to add heat much more quickly.
For a gas type heater this means you will be using a lot more gas volume/ minute than with a tank type heater. Your exhaust flue may need to be larger and the gas line might need to be upgraded. For electric units you might have to have special wiring put in to handle the high amperage loads created by an electric tankless water heater.
Tankless water heaters are typically much smaller than conventional tanks and are hung on the wall, resulting in a significant space savings.
Tankless water heaters can save you a modest amount of energy, typically around $20.00 – $40.00 a month. They are also eligible for home energy Grants and Rebates provided by the Government to aid in a speedy transition from the old energy consuming conventional tank to this new efficient technology.
The Best Tankless Water Heater
Apr 28th
The best Tankless ?
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This is a controversial question as some tankless water heaters result in a much better fit than others and thus they may be considered better by some users on different situations.
We have facilitated the installation of thousands of tankless systems and ensured that additional warranty and extended service is provided on all of the installed systems. In terms or reliability the Rinnai tankless heater is by far ahead of all the competition. Service records are able to prove this statement, emergency maintenance personnel are rarely called to fix the unit.
The Rinnai R75 is one of our biggest sellers.
- 12 year heat exchanger warranty
- Max input of 180,000 BTU
- EZ connect (2 unit connection)
- 7.5 GPM
- Energy factor of 0.82
- Concentric venting
- Reliable
It should be noted that Rinnai has very particular venting requirements that make it a bit more difficult to install. The specialized vent pipe is concentric meaning that the exhaust pipe is inside the intake pipe. This means that the hole drilled in the wall is at minimum 5″ in diameter. What makes it such a great unit is its reliability, Rinnai systems rarely break down.
The Navien tankless is a big seller as well; it has the condensing aspect of the market cornered. This condensing technology brings the efficiency of the unit up into the high 90’s and makes it the most efficient tankless. Do note – There have been issues and we are servicing this tankless more than any other we have installed.
The Navien CR210A is the primary tank installed.
- Max input 175,000 BTU/h
- Energy factor of 0.95
- 7.6 GPM
- Buffer tank and circulation pump
- PVC venting
The water quality in Toronto and surrounding areas like Mississauga, Brampton, and Caledon (Peel region) is considered moderately hard. Vaughan, Markham, Richmond Hill, or York Region has hard water due to the Oak ridges moraine and deposits within it. City of Toronto, Pickering, Ajax, and all cities along the shore of Lake Ontario that rely on the lake for water have moderately hard water. This is important to know as a tankless water heater can collect deposits causing the systems efficiency to be reduced. It is important to clean your Tankless water heater on a yearly basis.
There are a number of great tankless water heater brands available in the market place currently. The new version of the Navien condensing tankless seems to have far fewer issues. Also most of the manufactures have developed and now sell condensing units.
Takagi TH-2 is a great condensing tankless
Rinnai has condensing unit available that works amazing as well — RC98 Brochure
Noritz also make a very good condensing tankless.
All of the units mentioned above have very similar stats and performance, thus its boils down to the situation. Get a few quotes and go with an installer that’s not quoting you the bottom of the barrel price, you will get what you pay for. The brand of tankless that you choose will be determined in part by you and the layout of your home with regards to venting and code requirements.
Post any questions you may have in the comments section and we will try and answer them all.
