got ethical husbandry?

Went tankless!

... with a water heater.

So long story short, traditional water heater leaked, had to replace it, would have gone hybrid electric if I had electric already but I had natural gas which still is cheaper to run IIRC, plus even PG&E are a bunch of dillholes who don't give you a rebate unless you're replacing an existing electric heater (even though they're pushing big to de-gasify the home). Thought about tankless, got sticker shock... on how much traditional water heaters cost... a few models of a tankless were 20% off which made it about the same price so went with that. 3 days of work later, all installed with my very own hands, and everything up to code too! Even though the work of plumbing (gas, water and venting) wasn't really that hard I still have a whole new respect for plumbers as just kneeling, standing, climbing, crawling... needless to say Advil was my dessert of choice each night after dinner.

Wife talked about it and how I installed it to her friends, quiet brag, and one of them needs a water heater replaced (of course they do) I gave some advice but like most people they called a plumber who quoted them $2200 for a traditional, and $5k for a tankless... kind of makes me want to get a plumbers license, except there are rules that you need to be an apprentice for 5 years before you're even allowed to take the test or something... well I'm too old to go through that, so I'll continue to look for another line of work since I got budget-canned from 17 years as a teacher.

Either way, I like the sleekness of the tankless, got extra room to store a ladder or two as well now! :D That is all!
 
... with a water heater.

So long story short, traditional water heater leaked, had to replace it, would have gone hybrid electric if I had electric already but I had natural gas which still is cheaper to run IIRC, plus even PG&E are a bunch of dillholes who don't give you a rebate unless you're replacing an existing electric heater (even though they're pushing big to de-gasify the home). Thought about tankless, got sticker shock... on how much traditional water heaters cost... a few models of a tankless were 20% off which made it about the same price so went with that. 3 days of work later, all installed with my very own hands, and everything up to code too! Even though the work of plumbing (gas, water and venting) wasn't really that hard I still have a whole new respect for plumbers as just kneeling, standing, climbing, crawling... needless to say Advil was my dessert of choice each night after dinner.

Wife talked about it and how I installed it to her friends, quiet brag, and one of them needs a water heater replaced (of course they do) I gave some advice but like most people they called a plumber who quoted them $2200 for a traditional, and $5k for a tankless... kind of makes me want to get a plumbers license, except there are rules that you need to be an apprentice for 5 years before you're even allowed to take the test or something... well I'm too old to go through that, so I'll continue to look for another line of work since I got budget-canned from 17 years as a teacher.

Either way, I like the sleekness of the tankless, got extra room to store a ladder or two as well now! :D That is all!
How much did you pay for the tankless?

Edit: I just re-read your post... I thought you were going to pay 5k for the tankless and I almost choked
 
Last edited:
Just remember with a tankless you NEED to maintain them. You're supposed to maintain all water heaters but if you don't maintain a tankless you're really going to shorten the lifespan.
 
At the church where my family attends, I clean the ignition rods every six months; the plumbing company that services it instructed me on the matter, easy. they still do service to clean it to prevent build-up.
I've changed very few water heaters over the years and I can say that none of my friends had given the heaters the proper maintenance at all.
 
Plumbers rules 101, shit flows downhill, venting is good, use shutoffs, and don't bite your fingernails.

that being said, I would love to change out my gas water heater to tankless and gain some garage space...would be a great fit and location for a mixing station!
 
How much did you pay for the tankless?

Edit: I just re-read your post... I thought you were going to pay 5k for the tankless and I almost choked
It was about $1k for an 8.4 gpm (157kBTU) condensing unit. The $5k price was a plumber's quote for a friend. Not sure how much additional work would have been needed there so it may be justified (probably not though)
Just remember with a tankless you NEED to maintain them. You're supposed to maintain all water heaters but if you don't maintain a tankless you're really going to shorten the lifespan.
Yup, part of the problem that ate away at all the savings of the cost was parts, one of which was a set of maintenance valves. They also came in super handy in emptying the hot water line when I saw a leak because solder didn't sweat into the connection.

At the church where my family attends, I clean the ignition rods every six months; the plumbing company that services it instructed me on the matter, easy. they still do service to clean it to prevent build-up.
I've changed very few water heaters over the years and I can say that none of my friends had given the heaters the proper maintenance at all.
Yeah it's funny the manual has quite a few pages on how to do maintenance which I guess people toss the manual when they're done. The great thing is with all the aquarium gear I have I already have most everything needed for flushing maintenance.

Plumbers rules 101, shit flows downhill, venting is good, use shutoffs, and don't bite your fingernails.

that being said, I would love to change out my gas water heater to tankless and gain some garage space...would be a great fit and location for a mixing station!
Yeah when the other heater lost it's integrity I found out very quickly that the gate valve for the cold that went into the water heater was no longer functional, luckily the whole house water shut off still worked. That said, I think there's 5 different shutoffs not including the clean out shutoffs, 2 for gas one at the unit one on the other end of the flex line, cold water main shutoff, and 2 shutoffs for hot and cold directly at the unit. It definitely is nice for how much more open the area is, I did move the new one about 5-6 feet over from the old one because it would be easier to route the vent lines, and that probably tripled the amount of work necessary for everything. Unfortunately my furnace and water heater shared a line so 90% of the planning was figuring out how to run the vent & fresh air line (something the old water heater did not have)
 
Back
Top