Tankless Gas Hot Water Heater: Careful Planning Required

These days, when you're deciding on a new water heater for your home, you can choose between one that uses a tank and one that's tankless. And if you opt to go without a tank, you choices will boil down to either a tankless gas hot water heater or one that's powered by electricity. If you go electric, then you'll have to meet certain requirements, making sure your house is properly wired to handle the demands of an electric water heater. You'll need to be sure the circuit breaker will support it, or perhaps put it on its own circuit breaker to be safe. But if you go with gas instead, there are other sorts of requirements to meet.

With a gas powered tankless water heater, you'll need to know which type of gas is needed. You may have a natural gas line coming into your home, in which case you need to know whether the volume of gas that comes in will be sufficient to handle what's required by your tankless system. Or you might have to fuel the system from an outdoor tank of liquid propane (LP). Either way, you must be sure to get the right type of heater, either a propane gas water heater or one that is designed to be fuelled by natural gas.

Equally as important, you will need to investigate the venting needs of your system. First of all, you need to check the building codes in your area so you'll know all the requirements. Once you understand those, then you determine the specific kind of heater you need, and start narrowing down your choices to those that will accommodate the venting requirements.

Proper venting will involve finding a clear route out of your house. You need to be sure there is enough air intake for combustion in the heater, and perhaps even more importantly, you must vent the system properly if you don't want to suffer CO2 poisoning. This will require putting the vents where they don't pose a safety hazard, but will still do the job. The external vents must be far away from any other air intakes for the house.

Shop for tankless gas hot water heaters

When buying a water heater, you may be given a kit for venting, but it might not be adequate for your needs, because the situation in every home is different. Your tankless gas hot water heater will need to be fitted and vented in the way that suits your home, yet meets all legal and safety requirements. There is also likely to be some electrical wiring needed, to power the water sensors that instruct the heater to switch on. Going tankless will ultimately be an economical route to take, but it requires careful planning and installation.