Tankless installation positioning

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Donald Mancosh

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Can an electric tankless system be mounted in an orientaion other than vertical. Space is such thatnmy bottom hookup can be done more effectively if the unit is turned 90 degrees.from vertical.
Does the orientaion matter? Water in pipes are under pressure and gravity.feed.is not an issue on these as far.as I can see.
 

Dana

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A model number would be useful. The Stiebel Eltron Tempra installation instructions stipulate on p.5:

NOTICE: Unit must be installed in a vertical position with the water fittings pointing downward.

But that may or may not be true for some other product line.

Electric tankless water heaters are fairly abusive to the power grid distribution infrastructure (particularly your own transformer). It's a very heavy but intermittent load, as heavy or heavier than the startup load on a modern central air conditioner, causing voltage & frequency disturbances on the local distribution grid (particularly when it turns on or off), that can be difficult to regulate, and can interact with the performance of other equipment tied to the grid, not just the stuff in your own house. I personally try to avoid them for these reasons. YMMV.
 

Donald Mancosh

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Can an electric tankless system be mounted in an orientaion other than vertical. Space is such thatnmy bottom hookup can be done more effectively if the unit is turned 90 degrees.from vertical.
Does the orientaion matter? Water in pipes are under pressure and gravity.feed.is not an issue on these as far.as I can see.
 

Dana

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The RTEX-18 is 99% a re-labeled EcoSmart 18.

This is what each looks like on the interior- it's mostly different paint & different colored plastic parts:

rheem-tankless-electric-retex-18-77_600.jpg

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^RTEX-18


0c2c4357-25b2-4566-96f3-eb3764088848_1.3455cace47115b1fe9db5f5a910c34ec.jpeg

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^EcoSmart 18


On p3 of the manual they indicate:

For ease of installation and servicing, we recommend that this product be installed in an upright position with the inlet and outlet water connections at the bottom of the unit.

They don't indicate whether there are functional issues with other orientations. EcoSmart is located in Waterbury CT- you might give them a call for clarification on whether it's simply an ease-of-installation issue or if there is anything more to it than that:

(877) 474-6473

A vapor lock or air bubble that exposed part of the heating element to something other than liquid water could cause it to fail. Depending on the design the odds of that type of thing happening can vary by orientation.
 

Dana

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Thank you.
I called.Ecosmart who said that it could be installed horizontally. Sadly, I did not.think to ask about flat.

Flat, as in mounted parallel to the floor, such as on a shelf, ledge or ceiling or something?

I would expect that it should be fine, if it's not a problem to mount it rotated 90 degrees on a wall.
 
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