Rheem eco tankless ?

[james southerland]

Just found this site, great answers. I just purchased a Rheem Tankless Eco 150DVLN3-1, nat. gas, 150,000. after reading some of the problems with Rheem wondering if this was a mistake. Have not installed it yet, should I return it.

 

[Dana]

A DIY on a tankless with a 150K burner is fraught with risk of errors. If it's replacing another big-burner tankless the gas plumbing is PROBABLY fat enough but if it's replacing a tank type water heater on a half-inch or 3/4" gas line it may not cut it (probably not at high fire.) A home-run 1" or 1-1/4" gas line to a tee near the meter/regulator with no tees feeding other appliances is usually what it takes. At 3/4" it has to be within about 25' of the regulator, including about five "equivalent feet" of every 90 degree turn through an ell or tee along the path.

I haven't heard anything bad about this model. I think it's made by Paloma (a re-labeled PH2 series) which has been at least a decent manufacturer(or at least the sheet metal looks nearly identical. ) Some of Rheem's higher-end tankless units look like they are probably Kiturami internals under the skin (another decent manufacturer.)

 

[Sponsor]

 

[james southerland]

Dana thanks for the reply will contact a plumber to install. I gave 100. for this it is new in the box. After closer look it is nat. and I need propane,do you know if a conversion kit is available? Thanks!

 

[Dana]

They make a propane version of this model, but I don't know if (and kinda doubt that) it's as simple as a retrofit-kit. The propane version is a slightly different model number 150DVLP3-1 instead of 150DVLN3-1.

It's more complicated with modulating burners than with simpler equipment. Both the parameters on the electronic controls as well as the mechanical fuel mixture components usually need to change.

Sometimes there's a "NG/LP" DIP switch on the control boards inside these things rather than a full board swap, but people who never read manuals sometimes convince themselves that it's all that needs to be done to switch fuels ( with pretty disasterous results... )

 

[james southerland]

Dana, thanks again for the info, my wife works for a company that buys semi loads of close outs etc. thats the reason it was so cheap. He will resale it for me.Thanks again , this is a great site. James

 

[Dana]

When you go to find a plumber to install the closeout-tankless of your dreams, make sure that it isn't their first tankless. The connections are usually 3/4" thread, but the pipe runs can almost never be that small and still run well. People who have been doing tankless water heater installations for awhile get that, but newbies often don't.

With higher pressure fuel lines regulated down close to the tankless it can work with smaller diameter fuel plumbing though.

 

[james southerland]

Dana thanks for the info, have called 2 local plumbers and they did not have the techs to install. James

 

[Dana]

An electric tankless an abusive abomination, putting a LOT stress on the local power distribution grid.

To achieve adequate performance the instantaneous power draws for a whole-house tankless anywhere in the UK would exceed 20,000 watts (a single shower at a 25C temperature rise takes about 15,000 watts) and may even exceed the capacity of the service connection to the house in some instances, and puts undue stresses on the transformer, and creates power frequency & voltage disturbances on the local distribution grid (especially when turning on or off.)

By contrast an electric cylinder type water heater typically draws less than 5000 watts when heating, can support much higher flows (for many minutes before the stored heat in the cylinder is depleted.)

The electric tankless discussion should rightly be in a new thread, not tagged onto a thread about a propane tankless water heater.