Comments on: Endless Hot Water: Takagi Heaters

By: under sink water heater

under sink water heater — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 20:43:44 +0000

nice review, tankless water heaters will save almost anybody a lot of money but this beast looks better than most!

By: Steve Souza

Steve Souza — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 21:10:49 +0000

Did anyone answer back on which tankless unit would work best with Solar preheated water? I get water out of my solar that is above 160 degrees.

By: Hugo

Hugo — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 05:22:47 +0000

I purchased Schuco solar water heater, and I want to combine it w/a tankless on demand water heater.
Im reading some coments about Takagi and Rinnai.
What is the best unit to combine w/ solar
Thanks

By: Tony Edwards

Tony Edwards — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 13:38:42 +0000

In reply to Kris Lee. In the UK the Brittony 11T by Chaffoteaux was the best tankless on demand gas water heater,unfortunately they have recently stopped making them. ...with balanced flue gas wall heaters proved a low maintenance long term low cost alternative to central heating(if you consider initial cost and the cost of maintaining and replaceing condensing gas boilers.)

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:20:17 +0000

I have owned a Takagi TK-3 Model Tankless hot water heater for almost two and a half years. It is the worst thing I had installed in my house because it has already started leaking. Takagi claims they have a five year warranty, but they want me to purchase a new water heater and send them the old one to determine if the defect is under warranty. Now that is NOT Great Customer Service, so I would definitely purchase a different brand or stick with a tank model.

By: Charlie

Charlie — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 17:23:59 +0000

Heath, wonder if you can comment further on Rinnai.

I just got off the phone with the Rinnai tech rep and he said the units modulate on in and out temperature and should work as well as any tankless units. They could have some issues if incoming water is within about 15 degrees of set point but that should not be unique to Rinnai. I would think the Rinnai units, which modulate all the way down to 15K BTU, should be better than many others, though the Takagi T-K3 does go down to 11K.

On the other hand, one installer I asked said the factory rep told them the Rinnai units would not work with solar preheated water.

In the literature I’ve found, the only manufacturer that I’ve seen explicitly assert solar compatability have been a few of the Bosch units.

I’ve got a low pressure well, which is another concern. Bosch recommends 40 lbs minimum for a well. I see various comments about other units getting “squirrely” which I can’t imagine is a good thing. Would sure be nice to see a definitive review of tankless units installed on well pumps with solar.

By: Heath

Heath — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 19:31:51 +0000

Karl is incorrect. I sell solar water heating systems everyday and constantly address the tankless issue. Rinnai heaters really don’t work that well with solar. Takagi and Noritz are the way to go.

By: curt

curt — Tue, 13 May 2008 23:17:25 +0000

Efficiency factor of this Japanese device is truly fantastic.

By: Barry

Barry — Wed, 25 Jan 2006 13:25:34 +0000

Takagi and Rinnai manuals both say that it takes 4-6 seconds from the time the flow sensor (water tap turned on) detects flow to full up firing of the unit with output at the set temperature. This 6 seconds of water flow will be cold even if there’s warm water in the pipes. That’s the sandwich. Only a small holding tank would prevent it (as suggested in the Rinnai Manual).

By: Norman

Norman — Sat, 07 Jan 2006 13:16:20 +0000

Karl:

Why would one manuf. have a much greater problem with water sandwich than another?
I talked to 3 manuf’s concerning water sandwich and got 3 different answers. Depending on the stats of my house and distance the sandwich period could be from 3 seconds to over 45 seconds. Is the water from the sandwich warm or on the cold side
depending on the length of time you had the shower off while soaping up or whatever?
One person in the engineering dept. said that the water in the line would probably not get cold for at least 10 minutes, maybe more. A plumber told me that the water sandwich water would be cold. Which is it?
Wehn you turn on the water in the shower for the second time, having waited 10 minutes say, what temp. water will I get? I live in CA and the pipes go under the house.

Norman