It's come time to upgrade the comfort and water heating systems in our new (old) house. In the interests of saving space/energy (and the fact it seems my family could drain Lake Michigan of hot water if it was what we had to use) we've decided to go with a tankless model.
For a modest sum (to say the least), our plumber has picked a Rinnai unit to install. Everything I've read has chased down most complaints to installer error rather than equipment issues. Does anyone else have any thoughts or experiences on tankless heaters? If they work out half as good as I hope, I think it will be a perfect solution for us.
On the other side of the coin, we're also looking at having a 14 SEER 2.5ton A/C unit with a 95% furnace installed around the same time. He installs Heil units - I've heard mixed results from 'net searches, but again, the general consensus is the equipment is only as good as the installer. I was going to go heat pump, but there's just too much going on this year to spend the extra money.
My only concern is he doesn't like to use a Manual J for size computing - he thinks it under-sizes the units for the area. We live in a small community - but this guy does the work for my employer, my real estate agent, and probably half the city; and hasen't let anyone down yet.
Thoughts and opnions? This is in a 1930's built story-and-a-half bungalow with ~930sqft on main and basement, with 330 sq.ft in a finished attic; all conditioned spaces.
For a modest sum (to say the least), our plumber has picked a Rinnai unit to install. Everything I've read has chased down most complaints to installer error rather than equipment issues. Does anyone else have any thoughts or experiences on tankless heaters? If they work out half as good as I hope, I think it will be a perfect solution for us.
On the other side of the coin, we're also looking at having a 14 SEER 2.5ton A/C unit with a 95% furnace installed around the same time. He installs Heil units - I've heard mixed results from 'net searches, but again, the general consensus is the equipment is only as good as the installer. I was going to go heat pump, but there's just too much going on this year to spend the extra money.
My only concern is he doesn't like to use a Manual J for size computing - he thinks it under-sizes the units for the area. We live in a small community - but this guy does the work for my employer, my real estate agent, and probably half the city; and hasen't let anyone down yet.
Thoughts and opnions? This is in a 1930's built story-and-a-half bungalow with ~930sqft on main and basement, with 330 sq.ft in a finished attic; all conditioned spaces.