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Author:
egec (TX)
I have some unique dynamics as follows...
I recently bought a house in a remote location with a takagi outdoor tankless unit. Recently, the unit intermittently shuts down with a combustion related error code. I've had a couple licensed plumbers out to look at it and we can't figure out out. Venting is ok. Gas feed and pressure is ok. I'm about to throw in the towel and buy a new unit.
The house is in the U.S., but given the remote location, there are no licensed dealers within at least 100 miles (rheem, takagi, rennai..)...this make me want to just to back to a traditional unit because I don't even know if I can have an active warranty..and dealing with problems is a mess where I live.
BUT, the house has a very large tub (roughly 130 gallons if I had to guess)...plus if I went back to traditional, I would have to rebuild the outdoor housing and venting that was built for the current outdoor tankless unit.
These latter points lead me to strongly consider replacing my current unit with a new (and different brand) tankless. Is there a tankless brand that is known for reliability?
I'm really not sure what to do...any ideas or direction would be very welcome.
Thank you!
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Author:
steve_g (CA)
I personally think that Takagi is as reliable as any other tankless. I would call Takagi and work your way up the tech support ladder until you speak to someone that knows what they're doing, or have a plumber there to talk with them.
[www.takagi.com]
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Author:
stuckinlodi (MO)
You could go back to a traditional tank style unit for the house, but add a smaller tankless unit just for the bathroom with the large tub. That way if you had trouble in the future with the tankless it would be less of a problem for the household. Even though they have been around a while tankless are still a lot less familiar to many plumbers, especially in areas where they don't see many of them installed. So their experience in servicing them isn't up to speed.
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Author:
egec (TX)
Thank you - yes, I like the redundancy aspect of that approach.
However, my current tankless unit is outside in a non-heated enclosure. Could I put a traditional unit outside? It drops below freezing (10 to 20 degrees F) in the winter.
Also, to separate the pipes going to my tub, from the general hot water pipes probably means I need to rip apart my walls and the outside wall of my house...which makes it a much bigger job. Am I thinking about that right?
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Author:
stuckinlodi (MO)
No, you wouldn't want a tank-style WH outside where it can freeze. I thought since you said you were thinking about going back to a traditional tank style that there was already a place inside the home where a traditional water heater could go (where the original WH was located).
How hard it would be to connect that bathroom to its own separate tankless WH would depend on your home layout. If there is a basement then the bathroom's pipes would probably be fairly accessible, and the tankless WH could even be installed down there.
Even though you are in a remote area some tankless manufacturers and their authorized dealers might have you in their coverage area and be willing to come out for service when needed. It's like any business, the amount of good customer service you will get varies by the individual office and their people.
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