From talking to the plumber when he was at the house, a tankless heater uses a 4" exhaust in place of the 2" used on a standard water heater due to the drastically higher BTU`s. The problem is still that the exhaust (straight out the side of the house) is against building code in that it`s too close to the air exchange inlet. If I went electric tankless, then I`d be paying to have an electrician run the mega circuit to power it.
Agreed. I`m not gonna lie, it feels like it would be "easier" to go electric tankless and be done with the whole thing. But, given our water quality I worry about what annual life would be like. I think I mentioned earlier - at this point it feels like tankless is a good option if you`re building new, but not ideal if retrofitting an existing system.
The most recent development is now I can`t find someone to move the ducting. Everyone`s so consumed with building new houses and whatnot, anyone worth a dang is booked out months. (My wife`s folks had an appointment a few weeks ago to have someone come out to estimate replacing their deck; the guy later called to cancel their appointment because their entire summer is booked already. )
I`ve got a great guy I`ve used in the past that can help with the ceiling work, but he`s not HVAC licensed and doesn`t want to touch the ducting. I may talk to him about opening up the ceiling and doing the duct work myself and have him do the button up.
Hooray, more to research...
Bookmarks