In Part 4 we had received our first quote on the installation of a Rinnai tankless / instantaneous water heater.
Now, enter company number 2. They have had recently a lot of radio commercials and a program that includes it appears their own promotional discounts. So we give them a call and the first available appointment is 3 weeks or so in the future. They must be busy. And, this company is also promoting the identical Rinnai R75-LSi model as the company who provided our first estimate.
So, the gentleman arrives and we proceed to go down to the basement. Initially he indicates that the position of the furnace, main water intake line and so on will not allow the Rinai to be installed. I then showed where the first company’s salesman had indicated where they would install the unit. Upon reflection and looking at this location, the gentleman from the second company indicates that yes it will fit up against the east wall, close to the main natural gas intake into the home.
He leaves and a few days later, as he promised, he provides his quote. The quotes from both companies are summarized below:
Company 2 Company 1
Rinnai R750LSi $2,995 $2,892
Additional Lines* 150 50
Total pre-Discount $3,145 $2,942
Promotional Discount 500 100
Net Before Taxes $2,645 $2,842
Finanical Payback:
Annual Est. Savings $ 336 $ 336
Payback (# of years) 7.9 8.5
Warranties:
10 Years Parts & Labour 5 Years Parts /1 Year Labour
12 Years Heat Exchanger 12 Years Heat Exchanger
*Water and electrical lines need to be extended over to the installation location of the tankless water heating unit
So, Company 2 is less by approximately $200 and a much better warranty.
Which company would you go with? Did I forget any important details, like say available financing?
Here are the details of the financing offered to us without us asking:
Company 2 - None offered
Company 1 - Option 1: No payments / interest for 12 months
- Option 2: No interest with 24 monthly payments
So, which one would you take and why? Return in a few days to find out our decision and why….it may surprise you.
To continue with the next article in this series, simply select this link to Part 6.
5 responses so far ↓
1 Stephane // Jun 27, 2008 at 1:27 pm
You’re getting better quotes than I am! So far I’ve only gotten $3000+, I’ll have to see what Sears offers.
The problem is you’re dealing with maybe from a .60 to .82 efficiency, which means if you’re not using a lot of water, it’s not worth it.
You may want to just go solar water heating, since there will be bigger savings - 40% or so off you bill. It costs more though, about $6000 with some rebates also. In Ottawa, see Sustainable Ottawa for more rebates.
2 Dan // Jun 27, 2008 at 2:27 pm
Hey Stephane,
EnWise had a promotion which I think may be back on ‘Yank the Tank’…..I received a flyer in the main last week on this.
If you haven’t, you might want to check them out to see if that deal still goes….they offered their own $500 in addition to the ecoENERGY grant of $500.
FYI, we have a new advertiser, SEISCO, who had electric tankless. I haven’t finished investigating their product yet. The down side, there is no ecoENERGY Grant available for electric tankless. The good side is that there is no special venting needed so you can install it right where your current hot water tank is so I don’t have to worry about 30 feet of hot water travelling to loose it’s heat.
Electric tankless is 95%+ efficient (vs 80%-ish for natural gas tankless).
And, their units cost way less to install (<$2,000 from what I have learned so far).
There are issues with some electric tankless regarding the electricity spike at the start, so I still have more homework to do…which I hope to do in the next few weeks and report back with an article on this site).
Cheers,
Dan
3 Dan // Jun 27, 2008 at 2:28 pm
PS. I just can’t see plopping down $6K for a solar hot water heating system.
The payback is way, way too long for me on that one (from what I understand currently on those).
Dan
4 Tony // Jul 1, 2008 at 3:29 am
Why not install a Hot Water Lobster Instant Hot Water Valve! It’s a recirculation system that uses my existing plumbing! It saves a lot of time and water by not waiting for hot water! I installed the temperature adjustable recirculation valve under the sink farthest form my water heater and now I have instant hot water throughout my entire home. I’ve had it for almost 3 years and it still works perfectly!
It’s pump free so it creates no noise. The pumps I’ve had in the past have been noisy, not to mention I went through 2 of them in 3 years! I installed it myself in 10 minutes!
5 Dan // Jul 1, 2008 at 10:37 am
Hi Tony,
Always interesting to learn about energy saving products.
However, I am still looking around as there has to be a better solution than a natural gas tankless water heater which would require even more money spent by me to have the configuration work effeciently.
And, just installing such a device would still leave me wasting $$ and consuming non-renewabble resource (natural gas) and it’s pollutant emissions into the air (as less as they may be vs coal, or oil, etc.).
Dan
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