Rinnai Tankless Hot Water Heaters

Rinnai Tankless Hot Water Heaters

June 14, 2006

A warning to anyone interested in purchasing these units, as we recently did: 1. My chief complaint is that the time interval to gain hot water at any point of service has doubled or even tripled. It takes a pathetic 67 seconds to get hot water at our kitchen sink; it used to take a

much, much shorter time with our traditional hot water tank. The time spent watching water go down the drain can be very frustrating -- especially if you're in a hurry! 2. There is a chance the appliance will not properly operate single valve faucets (such as showers where the hot/cold are on the same lever). We were not told of this, and now must have new fixtures

installed at our own expense. 3. Ongoing maintenance. We live in a 30-year-old home. We continue to get small deposits of sediment that clog the unit's filter, so weekly maintenance is necessary, involving about five minutes to shut off cold water supply, hit the release valve and remove and clean the filter. 4. Temperature of water at point-of-service sometimes varies. The Rinnai literature says it is constant, but in our home it's not. 5. The unit makes a moderate amount of noise when running. 6. It's a possibility that you may need to have a new gas meter and all new gas pipe installed in your home to accommodate Rinnai tankless units. When not running they don't draw any gas, but going full tilt they require almost 200,000 BTU, which coupled with a standard home furnace is more than many gas meters can deliver. Plus, a minimum 1 inch gas pipe is required. In addition, our municipality required an automatic earthquake shutoff valve ($250) to be installed with the new pipe. The literature doesn't mention the time delay, possible incompatibility with fixtures, potential on-going maintenance and noise the unit makes, and unless your heating contractor is more knowledgeable than ours, chances are they won't tell you either, so BUYER BEWARE! Mark

Sammamish WA

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I sympathizes with Mark. Some of his complaints are indeed true. Some are more of an installer issue. But, over all, he is correct.

I purchased 4 Rinnai units for our large home. Three have worked flawlessly. The third, is for a shower by a swimming pool. This unit has been bad since the day it was put in. It vibrated so badly, that it fell off it's wall mounts.

The plumber made a complaint to the factory and they all but told us, to drop dead. First they blamed the problem on the installer. When we informed them the plumber was certified by Rinnai, they said the gas line must be too small. When we informed them the line was one inch, they changed their reasoning to: "The line must be too big." Then they blamed the method of the exhaust. We told them we used their exhaust system. That is when they said we must not have enough water pressure. This has gone on that way now for over two years.

Last month we noticed a very strong odor coming from the unit. We had the plumber call them and tell them that the original complaint of the vibrations was still there and now there is a strong odor that is not tolerable.

They had us send them the unit. While the unit was at Rinnai, our plumber installed a "loaner" unit so we would still have hot water for showers. This unit worked perfectly. No noise, no smell. Perfect.... just like the our

other units.

A few days ago, the plumber got a new gas valve from Rinnai. They said it was faulty. They did not even install the new gas valve.

The plumber installed that new gas valve in our old uni, and re installed the Rinnai for us.

The horrible vibration was STILL THERE!

The bad smell was gone how so ever.

Our plumber was so up set, he told us to keep the loaner and he would use the defective Rinnai for his work shop. In that use, he could secure it so it would not vibrate off a wall and the noise would not be a problem as the shop was noisy all the time anyway.

I am indebted to our plumber. I detest the warranty people at Rinnai!

It is a real shame, as the product, if installed by the right plumber, who should educate you on the traits of the product, is great.

But god forbid if you need a warranty repair. You likely will not get it from Rinnai. Under that scenario, I would not buy another Rinnai. There are other choices.

David

Albuquerque, New Mexico.