Help me choose water heater for 6 bedroom house

Users who are viewing this thread

jleonardwv

New Member
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
West Virginia
I have four children ages 13 and under and one on the way. With my wife and I, that makes 7 in the family. We are building a new house, and I'm brave (read stupid) enough to do a bunch of the work myself, including the plumbing. I've lurked around this forum and looked very critically at lots of tankless water heaters, but I'm not convinced this is the best solution. The new house will have gas for the furnace, water heater, cooktop, etc. We will have three bathrooms totaling 5 lavatory faucets, 2 showers, 1 shower/tub, and 1 large tub.

We currently have a 40 gallon electric water heater that we will leave behind in a few weeks as the house is sold. At our current usage, I can usually get two little ones bathed and one of the older kids can immediately have a shower, no problem. After perhaps 1/2 hour, another shower is possible. Our typical "long shower" is no more than 15 minutes. I am mostly the one who takes longer showers. My wife will sometimes run the dishwasher or clothes washer and take a shower at the same time. She doesn't run out of hot water.

Considering future needs, such as several teenagers taking long showers, is tankless the best solution? I have no particular preference tank vs. tankless.

Also, I'm not a pro, so I might need help on the install no matter what.

Thanks for the input,

jleonardwv
 

Lifespeed

Member
Messages
402
Reaction score
4
Points
18
Location
California
I have had excellent results with Noritz NRC1111 tankless.
http://www.noritz.com/residential-products/nrc111dv/
It is one of the higher capacity models available. It also has a large heat exchanger resulting in very low pressure drop across the heater at high flow rates. Most other tankless drop significant pressure at high flow rates. Be sure to consult a gas pipe sizing chart to meet the 200K BTU gas supply requirement, and confirm the gas meter is up to the task. Also do a hardness test (Hach 5B is a good kit) and install a water softener if needed to eliminate scale build up inside the heater.

Edit: Be sure to install the optional flush valves for easy servicing.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Terry

The Plumbing Wizard
Staff member
Messages
29,946
Reaction score
3,460
Points
113
Location
Bothell, Washington
Website
terrylove.com
On the low end, you could also get by with a 50 gallon gas tank, with tempering valve.
This allows you to run the tank on the high setting, 180 degrees, and mixing it down to 120 degrees with cold. It's sort of like having a 75 gallon tank.

I'm currently using a tankless at home, and it is kind of nice to have endless heated water.
 

Dj2

In the Trades
Messages
2,611
Reaction score
258
Points
83
Location
California
Consider these options:

1. High recovery 50 gallon tank.
2. Two 40 gallon tanks.

I'm not a fan of tankless.
 

lipton80205

New Member
Messages
5
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
Denver
Website
tanklessdenver.com
Since its new construction, I would say go tankless. The install cost is going to be much less then doing a retrofit later on down the road when you have teenagers. Having endless hot water is nice, I have one in my home.

Skip past all the glossy brochures and go straight to the flow rate charts. The glossy brochures will say something like 8.5 GPM. Sure, if you only have a temperature rise of 20-25 F. The flow rate drops as the needed temperature rise increases (basic physics). Also, take the flow rate charts with a grain of salt. These are conducted in labs under ideal settings, not real world applications.
 

Dana

In the trades
Messages
7,889
Reaction score
509
Points
113
Location
01609
A 50 gallon tank + drainwater heat exchanger will do as much or more for efficiency & capacity on the anticipated long teenaged shower end, at a lower price point, with lower maintenance, and less wasted water from ignition delays. A condensing 50 gallon tank like the Vertex (the cheaper one with the 76K burner) would do even more for efficiency when combined with a drainwater heat exchanger, and still would come in at about the same total installed cost as a condensing tankless. The only time that combination would come up short is if you were doing multiple tub-fills either simultaneously or in rapid succession, yet the recovery rate is quite good- the wait between tub fills would not be long.

A 76K condensing burner + drainwater heat recovery can deliver the endless shower experience, or even two simultaneous endless shower experiences if low-flow shower heads are used. But the "apparent efficiency" during those shower draws will be greater than 100%, with about half the heat for the shower being recovered from the drain rather than from the burner.

powerpipediagram.jpg.492x0_q85_crop-smart.jpg


DSC_6303.preview.JPG
 
Top
Hey, wait a minute.

This is awkward, but...

It looks like you're using an ad blocker. We get it, but (1) terrylove.com can't live without ads, and (2) ad blockers can cause issues with videos and comments. If you'd like to support the site, please allow ads.

If any particular ad is your REASON for blocking ads, please let us know. We might be able to do something about it. Thanks.
I've Disabled AdBlock    No Thanks