Amazing instructional video! I hope to replace our 14 year old gas tank water heater with a tankless electric. It's very helpful to understand whats involved even when calling in pros to install.
Knowing what's going on and what's what is a good thing to keep from getting taken advantage of... not saying your installer would take advantage of you, but ignorance never works in your favor. Since you have a gas tank type water heater, why are you switching over to electric for your tankless?
Yeah, I was under the mindset of people running Romex and what to do with all the grounds in their lines. You can just snip off all but one. For bulk wire like I ran I could have just ran a single ground. Would have ben much easier. I was hoping no one would notice my faux pas. Thanks for calling me out.. lol I'm sure over the life of this video there will be more people catching that. Good luck with your projects and thanks for watching.
Really good video going over a lot of stuff etc. I'm a handy man and I enjoy doing things like that. I have a question as I also took a peek at other videos of Thermomate that had a graphic chart of the climate zones in deciding which version of the Thermomate. I'm in Massachusetts; 27KW would be the ideal size; has anyone every put 2 instant water heaters in series to ensure you get enough hotwater? Water temperature is approximately 50F ... though you do use "twice" as much electricity but heck, it "should" give you guaranteed hot water?
There are conflicting opinions on running them in series. Running in parallel is fine if you're trying to boost the capacity of the the hot water during peak times, but in your case you are trying to get suitable hot water in cold weather when the incoming ground water is very cold and you feel one electric tankless can't keep up with the demand to put out enough water hot for your use. First, check with the manufacturer to ensure they have no constraints on linking them in series. Next I'd set the first unit so it's output water temperature isn't too hot, otherwise you may have issues with the second unit. Check to see if the manufacturer has a max temp for the incoming water temp and set the first one to maybe 50% of the max temp rise... probably in the mid 70's may be good. Other factors to consider are incoming water pressure - you don't want it too high. Also you need to make sure you have the capacity in your service panel to support the power needs/breakers for two electric units. Insulating your pipes has a great impact also, so if you have access to your pipes between the water heater and the fixtures, make sure they're well insulated. Finally, if possible, maybe consider a gas fired tankless, If you have natural gas service to your home. The gas units tend to do better with temp rise in colder climates. I am waiting to get through the winter to do an update on my unit to put out a follow up video on how it handles the colder temps. Even though we don't get the sub freezing temps like you get up in the NE area, we still do get to freezing temps here in Vegas. I'm curios to see how it works so expect to see a follow up review around April. if you proceed, drop us a comment to let us know how it worked out. Thanks for watching.
@@thewoggerswaydiy Thank you for the quick reply. At this location (external garage apartment) there aren't any gas in the building so electric is the only way as I will not pipe in gas as it is cost prohibitive into this stand alone "garage house". I have friends that moved to Las Vegas in their retirement age as I know it does get chilly sometimes there. As you mentioned you are taking over 100A 3 single poles to this unit... which I suspect should heat the water effectivly.. so I'm just thinking about the needs. I don't know what the support from the manufacturer in terms of questions like mine... so ... this project is still in my mind till I get most of the information to proceed or not. Yes .. double the initial cost but you know .. if I can get a tub of hotwater for bath, then that works for me. I have a 45gallon short boy electric hot water tank as it is located under a stairway that's enclosed for warmth... :).
That is a Press Tool. The one I have is by Ridgid. Milwaukee also makes one. There are some off brand ones thru Amazon for a lot cheaper, although I don't know how good they are, and when working with plumbing and risks of leaks/flooding, I don't cut corners. They take special press fittings. The jaws are interchangeable. The one in the video does 1/2', 3/4", 1" AND 1-1/4". If you want more info on them and how they work just search "plumbing press tool" on RUclips. I'm sure there are tons of videos out there. For a DIYer they might be out of the price range, unless you plan on doing a lot of plumbing with copper pipes. The one in the video (Ridgid RP241) currently goes for around $2,200 which includes 3 jaws, two batteries, a charger and the tool as per this link amzn.to/3BsbYOL As a DIY homeowner, if you only plan on doing 1/2" and 3/4" copper pipe, you can go with the Ridgid RP 115, mini press tool, which runs just under $1,300 as per this link: amzn.to/3ZOJKHg Thanks for watching and good luck with your projects.
Yes. Please check your local code where you need to terminate the drain line. Some places you can just direct it to the floor. Others may require it to drain into an actual drain or to the exterior. Thanks for contributing to the comments and for watching.
Really this one best video installing an electric tankless water heater. Thank You, sorry I live in MD far from you. By the way how much do you charge?
Thank you. Let's see.. my work truck costs me about $1.35/mile to operate.. at roughly 4,834 miles to MD and back.. that's just over $6,500 for the vehicle.. then 80 hrs drive time round trip at $80/hr tacks on another $6,400.. then there's the materials and labor to install... might be cheaper for you to just move to Vegas and buy a house. Haha. If you're asking just in general here, it all depends on the situation.. how far the electrical needs to run.. the difficulty in running the electrical depending on the situation.. how much plumbing alterations need to be performed.. etc etc etc. this Spring, after I've operated the unit for 1 year I'll be doing a follow up video on how it performed in the heat and cold weather.. the overall operation with the demands of this house.. and the cost for me to install it in my house. Of course that would just be at my cost and not what I charge for an install, but it will give an idea on the bottom line costs. Do you operate an electric water heater in MD? If so, how does it keep up with your demands in the winter, since it's much colder there than here in Vegas. Thanks for watching and appreciate the nice comment. Good luck with your projects
Noticed that the inner piping in the heater are a bit smaller that the outside pipes, does that affect the temp, small pipe pumping water into larger pipe, temperature has to be affected?
Good question. I'm assuming the smaller diameter piping inside the unit is for better heat transfer to the water in the pipes, or maybe just to save on space. I have not noticed any issues with water temp or pressure and it's been working without issues for the last several months. Once I go through the winter season I'll do an update on this unit to let you know how it kept up with the colder incoming water supply. Thanks for watching.
Glad you asked. That's something I completely overlooked to include in the video. Technically yes, you should have a disconnect. It states it must be in sight of the appliance or located in a readily accessible location. According to the NEC you have a few options as to what can by utilized as a disconnect... 1) Circuit breaker at an in-sight panel.. 2) An in-sight pull disconnect or circuit breaker switch box and 3) A regular wall switch in-sight of the equipment, although for a water heater a regular wall switch is not allowed. As a 4th option, any of these 3 can be used when they are installed out of sight but they must be able to be physically locked out from operation. In my case, I already had a disconnect box on the wall in the garage directly behind the service panel. Since I already had it there, and didn't need to install it, I didn't even think about including it in the video. Always check with your local code to determine what is required in your area. Great question. thanks for asking.
We focus on Electric tankless water heaters and are looking for testers to shoot videos. We look forward to collaborating with you and hearing back from you.
Happy happy joy joy. Maybe not after I see how the electric bill changes after this winter. Will do a follow up video around May as a review on how it performed after the first year (spoiler alert - good so far), and how my electric bills the first year using it compare to my electric bills the year prior. it's a video a year in the making! Thanks for watching.
I'm not quite sure yet since it's only been a few months and through the summer when my electric is high anyway. Once I get through the winter I'll be doing a follow up video on how the unit performs through the cold weather and the effect it's had on my electric bill over the course of one year. Thanks for watching.
Oh boy, i dont feel compelled to comment unless i see a dangerous situation, NEVER use two hands inside a panel, a shock can go i one hand travel thru yur body and stop yur heart, the other, thing i see with wannabe electricians is not using a electric meter to verify, the power is off, its just like using a firearm, always assume it is loaded, i dont mean to be critical, but electricity is serious business, it can kill you😢😢
Thanks for the comments. I'll try to make sure the important things don't end up on the cutting room floor, or at least comment on them. Thanks for keeping me on my toes.
Probably should have installed at least a sediment filter on the cold side unless you have a whole house system before the water heater. Sediment and scale shorten the life of these things. I’m putting a sediment filter plus a descaler unit because my water supply sucks. I live close to the river that supplies our water.
I also live in an area with poor water quality, and a whole house system is upcoming. Until then cleaning/descaling this tankless unit is happening every 3 months. Thanks for the input and thanks for watching.
You only need one ground wire for each wire raceway installed, not for each circuit. Installing a single larger raceway sized properly for all the circuits is best. That way you only have one ground to terminate.
Agreed. unfortunately the case on the water heater isn't deep enough to go with a larger conduit, probably why it comes with two openings to feed the wiring. Although, since I was running wires and not Romex, I still could have limited the amount of grounds. Thanks for watching and the input..
Back at you ... Hope you got some helpful info from the video. After a couple months of cold weather this coming winter, I'll do a follow up video on how this unit is performing. Right now with 100+ temps here it's pretty easy for it to provide hot water since the tankless unit doesn't need to work very hard. The real test will be once we get down near freezing temps. Thanks for watching
I agree with you on Channel Locks, but Knipex and/or Knipex style smooth jaw pliers are a different breed. They grip like a wrench and you only need to push on one of the handles and they stay locked on, so no more having to grip like the Hulk like you do on Channel Locks to keep a grip on the work, plus, as a service technician it's much nicer to only carry one tool than several. Unfortunately, the price point will turn off a lot of home DIYers that don't need them as often, in which case stick with your wrenches, but when out in the field these make a lot more sense. Thanks for watching and contributing to the forum.
You are correct.. normally. On the bottom of the union to the isolation valve there is a washer, but the manufacturer of these valves noted to apply Teflon tape to the fitting regardless. I was curios if this was something isolated to this brand of valves, but I checked valves from 5 other manufacturers and 3 of them also mentioned in their installation guide to apply Teflon tape. The other two didn't mention it one way of the other. I had to call one of them since their entire installation manual is just a piece of paper saying to call them for instructions. So I did. They said they recommend applying Teflon tape to theirs also. I've seen too many leaking unions on service calls where they are so corroded and coated with calcium deposits that I just take the belt-and-suspenders approach and install tape or thread sealant just as a precaution. Good catch on your end, and thanks for bringing it up so it would be addressed with everyone. But you are correct, usually you don't apply tape or sealant on fittings with a washer/o-ring, but always go with what the manufacturer says. Thanks for watching and good luck with your projects.
Best video I've seen on you tube on installing an electric tankless water heater. Thank You Sir!
Kind of what I was shooting for.. thanks for the kind comment.
Amazing instructional video! I hope to replace our 14 year old gas tank water heater with a tankless electric. It's very helpful to understand whats involved even when calling in pros to install.
Knowing what's going on and what's what is a good thing to keep from getting taken advantage of... not saying your installer would take advantage of you, but ignorance never works in your favor. Since you have a gas tank type water heater, why are you switching over to electric for your tankless?
Awesome video.
Glad you liked it. Thanks for watching and the nice comment
Great video!! Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
No, thank you. Thanks for watching and I appreciate the comment.
Great video! The details are amazing.
Thank you very much... and thanks for watching
Thank you. Very detail installation guide
Thank you and thanks for watching
By the way, just an fyi you only need 1 ground conductor in that one conduit. Less wire to pull and less clutter in the panel and water heater
Yeah, I was under the mindset of people running Romex and what to do with all the grounds in their lines. You can just snip off all but one. For bulk wire like I ran I could have just ran a single ground. Would have ben much easier. I was hoping no one would notice my faux pas. Thanks for calling me out.. lol I'm sure over the life of this video there will be more people catching that. Good luck with your projects and thanks for watching.
Really good video going over a lot of stuff etc. I'm a handy man and I enjoy doing things like that. I have a question as I also took a peek at other videos of Thermomate that had a graphic chart of the climate zones in deciding which version of the Thermomate. I'm in Massachusetts; 27KW would be the ideal size; has anyone every put 2 instant water heaters in series to ensure you get enough hotwater? Water temperature is approximately 50F ... though you do use "twice" as much electricity but heck, it "should" give you guaranteed hot water?
There are conflicting opinions on running them in series. Running in parallel is fine if you're trying to boost the capacity of the the hot water during peak times, but in your case you are trying to get suitable hot water in cold weather when the incoming ground water is very cold and you feel one electric tankless can't keep up with the demand to put out enough water hot for your use. First, check with the manufacturer to ensure they have no constraints on linking them in series. Next I'd set the first unit so it's output water temperature isn't too hot, otherwise you may have issues with the second unit. Check to see if the manufacturer has a max temp for the incoming water temp and set the first one to maybe 50% of the max temp rise... probably in the mid 70's may be good. Other factors to consider are incoming water pressure - you don't want it too high. Also you need to make sure you have the capacity in your service panel to support the power needs/breakers for two electric units. Insulating your pipes has a great impact also, so if you have access to your pipes between the water heater and the fixtures, make sure they're well insulated. Finally, if possible, maybe consider a gas fired tankless, If you have natural gas service to your home. The gas units tend to do better with temp rise in colder climates. I am waiting to get through the winter to do an update on my unit to put out a follow up video on how it handles the colder temps. Even though we don't get the sub freezing temps like you get up in the NE area, we still do get to freezing temps here in Vegas. I'm curios to see how it works so expect to see a follow up review around April. if you proceed, drop us a comment to let us know how it worked out. Thanks for watching.
@@thewoggerswaydiy Thank you for the quick reply. At this location (external garage apartment) there aren't any gas in the building so electric is the only way as I will not pipe in gas as it is cost prohibitive into this stand alone "garage house". I have friends that moved to Las Vegas in their retirement age as I know it does get chilly sometimes there. As you mentioned you are taking over 100A 3 single poles to this unit... which I suspect should heat the water effectivly.. so I'm just thinking about the needs. I don't know what the support from the manufacturer in terms of questions like mine... so ... this project is still in my mind till I get most of the information to proceed or not. Yes .. double the initial cost but you know .. if I can get a tub of hotwater for bath, then that works for me. I have a 45gallon short boy electric hot water tank as it is located under a stairway that's enclosed for warmth... :).
19:03 what is this tool you're using for tightening the connections? Novice here.
That is a Press Tool. The one I have is by Ridgid. Milwaukee also makes one. There are some off brand ones thru Amazon for a lot cheaper, although I don't know how good they are, and when working with plumbing and risks of leaks/flooding, I don't cut corners. They take special press fittings. The jaws are interchangeable. The one in the video does 1/2', 3/4", 1" AND 1-1/4". If you want more info on them and how they work just search "plumbing press tool" on RUclips. I'm sure there are tons of videos out there. For a DIYer they might be out of the price range, unless you plan on doing a lot of plumbing with copper pipes. The one in the video (Ridgid RP241) currently goes for around $2,200 which includes 3 jaws, two batteries, a charger and the tool as per this link amzn.to/3BsbYOL
As a DIY homeowner, if you only plan on doing 1/2" and 3/4" copper pipe, you can go with the Ridgid RP 115, mini press tool, which runs just under $1,300 as per this link: amzn.to/3ZOJKHg
Thanks for watching and good luck with your projects.
Do I need a pipe connected to my pressure relief valve for drainage?
Yes. Please check your local code where you need to terminate the drain line. Some places you can just direct it to the floor. Others may require it to drain into an actual drain or to the exterior. Thanks for contributing to the comments and for watching.
Really this one best video installing an electric tankless water heater. Thank You, sorry I live in MD far from you. By the way how much do you charge?
Thank you. Let's see.. my work truck costs me about $1.35/mile to operate.. at roughly 4,834 miles to MD and back.. that's just over $6,500 for the vehicle.. then 80 hrs drive time round trip at $80/hr tacks on another $6,400.. then there's the materials and labor to install... might be cheaper for you to just move to Vegas and buy a house. Haha. If you're asking just in general here, it all depends on the situation.. how far the electrical needs to run.. the difficulty in running the electrical depending on the situation.. how much plumbing alterations need to be performed.. etc etc etc.
this Spring, after I've operated the unit for 1 year I'll be doing a follow up video on how it performed in the heat and cold weather.. the overall operation with the demands of this house.. and the cost for me to install it in my house. Of course that would just be at my cost and not what I charge for an install, but it will give an idea on the bottom line costs. Do you operate an electric water heater in MD? If so, how does it keep up with your demands in the winter, since it's much colder there than here in Vegas. Thanks for watching and appreciate the nice comment. Good luck with your projects
Noticed that the inner piping in the heater are a bit smaller that the outside pipes, does that affect the temp, small pipe pumping water into larger pipe, temperature has to be affected?
Good question. I'm assuming the smaller diameter piping inside the unit is for better heat transfer to the water in the pipes, or maybe just to save on space. I have not noticed any issues with water temp or pressure and it's been working without issues for the last several months. Once I go through the winter season I'll do an update on this unit to let you know how it kept up with the colder incoming water supply. Thanks for watching.
great video,,,good job
Thanks. That's what I was going for. Good luck with your projects!
great video was the ground 8 or 10 ga?
Thank you. I'd have to go back and look, but I wat to say 8. Thanks for watching.
Is a disconnect not required? It looked like the panel was too far to be counted as a disconnect.
Glad you asked. That's something I completely overlooked to include in the video. Technically yes, you should have a disconnect. It states it must be in sight of the appliance or located in a readily accessible location. According to the NEC you have a few options as to what can by utilized as a disconnect... 1) Circuit breaker at an in-sight panel.. 2) An in-sight pull disconnect or circuit breaker switch box and 3) A regular wall switch in-sight of the equipment, although for a water heater a regular wall switch is not allowed. As a 4th option, any of these 3 can be used when they are installed out of sight but they must be able to be physically locked out from operation. In my case, I already had a disconnect box on the wall in the garage directly behind the service panel. Since I already had it there, and didn't need to install it, I didn't even think about including it in the video. Always check with your local code to determine what is required in your area. Great question. thanks for asking.
We focus on Electric tankless water heaters and are looking for testers to shoot videos. We look forward to collaborating with you and hearing back from you.
If you have requests for collaborations you can send us an email through the Contact Us link on our website. Thank you
Stranded or single core wired?
8 ga is going to be stranded. Thanks for watching
😂 double the joy !!!
Happy happy joy joy. Maybe not after I see how the electric bill changes after this winter. Will do a follow up video around May as a review on how it performed after the first year (spoiler alert - good so far), and how my electric bills the first year using it compare to my electric bills the year prior. it's a video a year in the making! Thanks for watching.
How much more has your electric bill gone up?
I'm not quite sure yet since it's only been a few months and through the summer when my electric is high anyway. Once I get through the winter I'll be doing a follow up video on how the unit performs through the cold weather and the effect it's had on my electric bill over the course of one year. Thanks for watching.
why no neutral (white) terminal included?
There is no neutral for 240V. Thanks for the question and appreciate you watching.
2 hots x 3
Oh boy, i dont feel compelled to comment unless i see a dangerous situation, NEVER use two hands inside a panel, a shock can go i one hand travel thru yur body and stop yur heart, the other, thing i see with wannabe electricians is not using a electric meter to verify, the power is off, its just like using a firearm, always assume it is loaded, i dont mean to be critical, but electricity is serious business, it can kill you😢😢
Thanks for the info. I did use my meter to verify the power was off.. it probably didn't make it thru the editing process.
@@thewoggerswaydiy thanks for the video, my friend.
Thanks for the comments. I'll try to make sure the important things don't end up on the cutting room floor, or at least comment on them. Thanks for keeping me on my toes.
Probably should have installed at least a sediment filter on the cold side unless you have a whole house system before the water heater. Sediment and scale shorten the life of these things. I’m putting a sediment filter plus a descaler unit because my water supply sucks. I live close to the river that supplies our water.
I also live in an area with poor water quality, and a whole house system is upcoming. Until then cleaning/descaling this tankless unit is happening every 3 months. Thanks for the input and thanks for watching.
You only need one ground wire for each wire raceway installed, not for each circuit. Installing a single larger raceway sized properly for all the circuits is best. That way you only have one ground to terminate.
Agreed. unfortunately the case on the water heater isn't deep enough to go with a larger conduit, probably why it comes with two openings to feed the wiring. Although, since I was running wires and not Romex, I still could have limited the amount of grounds. Thanks for watching and the input..
😊
Back at you ... Hope you got some helpful info from the video. After a couple months of cold weather this coming winter, I'll do a follow up video on how this unit is performing. Right now with 100+ temps here it's pretty easy for it to provide hot water since the tankless unit doesn't need to work very hard. The real test will be once we get down near freezing temps. Thanks for watching
Channel locks suck, use a wrench that fits.
I agree with you on Channel Locks, but Knipex and/or Knipex style smooth jaw pliers are a different breed. They grip like a wrench and you only need to push on one of the handles and they stay locked on, so no more having to grip like the Hulk like you do on Channel Locks to keep a grip on the work, plus, as a service technician it's much nicer to only carry one tool than several. Unfortunately, the price point will turn off a lot of home DIYers that don't need them as often, in which case stick with your wrenches, but when out in the field these make a lot more sense. Thanks for watching and contributing to the forum.
There is no reason to use Teflon on the fitting with o-rings.
You are correct.. normally. On the bottom of the union to the isolation valve there is a washer, but the manufacturer of these valves noted to apply Teflon tape to the fitting regardless. I was curios if this was something isolated to this brand of valves, but I checked valves from 5 other manufacturers and 3 of them also mentioned in their installation guide to apply Teflon tape. The other two didn't mention it one way of the other. I had to call one of them since their entire installation manual is just a piece of paper saying to call them for instructions. So I did. They said they recommend applying Teflon tape to theirs also. I've seen too many leaking unions on service calls where they are so corroded and coated with calcium deposits that I just take the belt-and-suspenders approach and install tape or thread sealant just as a precaution. Good catch on your end, and thanks for bringing it up so it would be addressed with everyone. But you are correct, usually you don't apply tape or sealant on fittings with a washer/o-ring, but always go with what the manufacturer says. Thanks for watching and good luck with your projects.