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September 6, 2007
venting a natural gas tankless water heater
Hi, I hope to install a a tankless water heater for one bathroom in my house. I know it can not be vented through the chmney flue that the furnace uses (right?). But there is an 3'x4' opening (I think originally for coal or oil) from the "frontyard" of my brownstone to the basement. I vent my clother dryer through there. Could I also vent the water heater through there if it is 3' from the house? I assume I need the vent cover needs to be a certain distance high to rise above potential snow accumulation.
One more thing... if the tankless thing doesn't work, can traditional water heaters be put in parallel? I have a very large tub to fill.
Thanks
Comments
Oh please don't waste water like that. You intend to swim in this tub?
Posted by: guest at September 6, 2007 12:28 PM
Depending on which tankless water heater you're talking about, it will have to be vented one to five feet away from any building opening (window or door).
Definitely not through your boiler's chimney.
The tankless water heater is also going to need a large gas pipe (is your gas meter big enough to handle that unit and the heating boiler at the same time?) and an air intake pipe.
Not easy in Brooklyn, but certainly worth exploring.
As for water heaters in parallel? Yes. We do it all the time.
Just don't put them in series.
Posted by: Master Plvmber at September 6, 2007 2:24 PM
thanks for the advice. we are going with the water heaters in parallel
Posted by: luther924 at September 7, 2007 10:29 PM
Hi,
I finally decided to replace the tank water heater I have with a tankless one. After some research, I narrowed the choices down to two "finalists": Takagi and Rinnai tankless water heaters. Rinnai seems to have some advantages, among them higher output (8.3gpm vs. Takagi's 6.9gmp) and, most important, lower kick-off flow (0.5gpm vs. Takagi's 0.75gmp). On the other hand Takagi seems more spread than Rinnai and also I could find a lot of information documentation for Takagi and almost none for Rinnai.I found some info on the tankless water heaters at www.houseneeds.com
Need some advice from people who are using these water heaters.
Posted by: guest at May 15, 2008 7:54 AM
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