The installation looked very clean and I had no issue with it.  The one thing I realized about these water heaters is it that the exterior ones will take more awareness from the home owner to keep the exterior vegetation away from the unit.  This water heater had a direct exhaust vent situation and because the vent gets hot it would be unsafe to have plants (brush, bushes or tree limbs) growing up against the unit.

Many people delegate their yard work and landscaping to others who may not be aware of the special needs at these type of appliances.  Let face it in this country up to now very few water heaters have been installed on the exterior of the house.  New fire safety vigilance will be required.

Over the last 14 years I have probably inspected between 4,500 to 5000 water heaters, and of those only about 15 now have been tankless water heaters.   All, yes all of these tankless units I have seen have been in the last year.  The tide may be shifting and tankless water heaters are coming to a neighborhood near you.

Like all items proper installation, location, and maintenance will be key.  Many of the buyers I inspect for indicate they want to put one in when they move in or when their current water heater gives out.  Their reasons vary from to save energy or to save space.  No one does it to save immediate cost.  These units are not cheap up front but if you have a small house with limited space losing the 40 gallon water heater out of an interior closet or the garage and installing a tankless water heater in it’s place or on the exterior of the house might make sense for you.

All the best out there.

Post from: Inspectors in the Attic

NEWS from CPSC

U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission

Tankless Water Heaters Recalled for Repair Due to Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Hazard

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed.

Name of product: Power Vent tankless water heaters

Units: About 42,200

Importers: Water Heating Division of Rheem Sales Company Inc., of Montgomery, Ala. and Paloma Industries Inc., of Oxnard, Calif.

Hazard: Components inside the water heater may shift during transit, causing an air filter door switch to operate improperly. If the switch fails and the air filter door is out of place, the water heater could continue to operate and dust and lint could build up, posing a carbon monoxide poisoning hazard.

Incidents/Injuries: None reported.

Description: The recall involves indoor models of the Power Vent 199,900 BTUH tankless water heaters. The brands and model numbers included in this recall are listed below and are located on the front of the unit and the rating plate. The water heaters have a cream jacket or gray jacket enclosure with the piping on the top and bottom of the unit. The rating plate is a silver label located the front of the unit, in the lower right hand corner.

Sold by: Retailers nationwide and through plumbing wholesale distributors to plumbers, contractors and consumers from May 2004 through December 2006 for between $800 and $1,300.

Manufactured in: Japan

Remedy: Consumers with the recalled water heaters should stop using them immediately, if the air filter door is not in place. Consumers, who have not already been contacted by an authorized contractor, should immediately contact their installer or Rheem Manufacturing Company to arrange for a free, on-site repair. Consumers are reminded to use the air filter door for these water heaters to avoid a carbon monoxide hazard.

Consumer Contact: For more information, contact Rheem toll-free at (866) 369-4786 between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. CT Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. CT Saturday and Sunday, or visit the firm’s Web site at www.tankless-recall.com

Note: Regardless of the type of water heater that is used, every home should have a CO alarm outside all sleeping areas, and consumers should ensure that their CO alarms have working batteries.

Model of the Power Vent 199,900 BTUH tankless water heater sold under the brand names: Paloma, Rheem, Ruud, Rheem-Ruud and Richmond

Heavy-Duty Indoor Models of the Power Vent 199,900 BTUH tankless water heater sold under the brand names: Paloma, Rheem, Ruud, Rheem-Ruud and Richmond

CPSC is still interested in receiving incident or injury reports that are either directly related to this product recall or involve a different hazard with the same product. Please tell us about it by visiting https://www.cpsc.gov/cgibin/incident.aspx

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Send the link for this page to a friend! The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of serious injury or death from thousands of types of consumer products under the agency’s jurisdiction. The CPSC is committed to protecting consumers and families from products that pose a fire, electrical, chemical, or mechanical hazard. The CPSC’s work to ensure the safety of consumer products – such as toys, cribs, power tools, cigarette lighters, and household chemicals – contributed significantly to the decline in the rate of deaths and injuries associated with consumer products over the past 30 years.

To report a dangerous product or a product-related injury, call CPSC’s Hotline at (800) 638-2772 or CPSC’s teletypewriter at (800) 638-8270. To join a CPSC e-mail subscription list, please go to https://www.cpsc.gov/cpsclist.aspx. Consumers can obtain recall and general safety information by logging on to CPSC’s Web site at www.cpsc.gov.

In the area we inspect in tankless water heaters are still few and far between.  However almost all of the tankless water heaters we have seen during our inspections over the years have been in just this last year so they are coming.  As we have mentioned before as with all products in the home it is a great idea to go the consumer protection website to check on recall and general safety information (see the links in the paragraph above).

All the best out there!

Post from: Inspectors in the Attic

One reason for this is that water heaters are often located in a low traffic area or are in a closet and the homeowners have no idea that they area leaking or rusting away. It’s sort of an out of sight, out of mind situation. At a minimum make it a habit of looking at your water heater from time to time for leaking.  Granted it is not work of art but it needs to be monitored before it becomes an ugly situation.

To learn more about common items that homeowners fail to maintain or that sellers often fail to correct before a home inspection go to www.beattheinspector.com

Please note: Hot water at the faucets is not necessarily an indication that all is well with the water heater much less the associated components. For further evaluation of your water heater and possible safety concerns or to correct leaking you just discovered! we recommend contacting an appropriate licensed contractor.

Post from: Inspectors in the Attic