Home Improvement Today?

oh, I see now... well, this new house is to be a dream house for sure!

 

Nice job on the shed build. I unfortunately dont have much time on the weekends right now and need the shed before the winter hits. I would have loved to do this my self, but i ended up buying a pre-built. It should be arriving next week. I did all the site prep myself, it should work out well. Ill post pictures when it is all set.

 

I'm looking for opinions on Tankless Water Heaters.

Anyone have any experience?

I'm replacing an old electric water heater with a gas one, and it will need to be vented through the wall to the outside. So no option of an traditional style gas water heater with a pilot light. It will have to be a power vent or tankless model.

Looking at an AO Smith ATI 540 from a local plumbing supply place. quoted around $1500, including everything required for me to install it.

 

I have not owned and used one but I have done research on them. It depends highly on the application for how well it would work. Things like the size of your house and how your plumbing is routed. A lot of variables about how it would work for you. As expensive as that sounds the pay back would probably take quite a while vs if you went with a traditional tank version.

 

Yea I have a small 1400 sqft ranch with 1 bathroom. So size wise it seems like it would work well. I'm not real concerned about the cost of it because as long as I do the install I think it's a pretty decent price. I am going to try to learn more about direct vent tank models too though.

 

Has your plumbing supply told you how much more efficient that may be? Tank models should be <$500 so it better be really efficient for that extra $1000 bucks.

 

We have a late 90's era on our maintenance shop. Traditional venting, no power/blower. It takes noticeably longer to actually produce hot water at the tap/shower, but once it's there it is plenty hot and never runs out. I like the idea of the older model because there are no computer control boards, fans, or other moving parts. Just a basic pressure switch and thermocouple.

 

I have a tankless water heater in addition to a small holding tank. The hot water arrives at the tap very quickly and there is endless amounts of hot water.
I also have a hydro air system for my heat which uses the same water heater. I believe my tankless water heater heats closed loop lines, 3 zones, one for the second floor hydro heating system, one for the first floor hydro heating system and one for the house/drinking water that is in the holding tank. Its extremely efficient and works very well.

 

I have been helping my dad with our kitchen remodel for the past 6 months and it is just about done, just the stone back splash left, turned out great and I learned a lot from the old man too!! Learned there isn't much my dad cant do!!

 

Wow. That's nice. Looks like you increased the pantry considerably using the desk space.

Are the cabinets usable under where the window seat was?

 

looks great!

 

Yeah, my dad ALWAYS hated that desk space and the mess, now great pantry space.

There is a 12"H x 18"D and 5' W area under the three usable drawers.

The end drawer fronts pull down to get to the AC outlets under the grommets in the granite.

The two end cabinet drawers do open, but just a shallow space, maybe 5" behind.

The cool thing he made was a awning type window that will raise up on two gas struts so there is one solid piece of stone out into the yard!

 

and thanks to @BeeRadd for the LED light kit we picked up a few hours ago, already in and looking good!!!

 

Badass! Nice job!

 

No issues with rain going under the window on that through slab ?

 

^^^ we are waiting to see if it ever rains here in CA again so we can find out. it will have a weather strip, just like the bottom of a door on a threshold, so hopefully not.

the next project is an eve over the whole thing, so maybe we will get that done before El Nino~ gets here soon!

 

Finished off a basement room over the last 2 weeks, was originally going to tile but the existing stuff was no longer available so we opted to stain the concrete.

The doors were sprayed down here so I had to do some sanding, without removing the rest of the patina.



Turned out ok.





Finished product (pay no attention to the dust)

 

...looks like you had to move a lot of architectural features; island, remove niche, enlarge doorway, ...the crown and pendant lighting really set it off, great work!

 

yes, as much planning and layout as construction. we also removed all the electrical from the back splash and moved it up under the cabinets with the LED lighting, with a 1" soffit to conceal the wiring. thanks much for the complements!

 

Are you talking about conventional tank, or direct vent/power vent "high efficiency" tanks?

My current 40 gallon electric water heater has a sticker on it that says it costs over $500 a year to run. I have it on a timer to only run when someone may actually need to take a shower, so maybe it costs $400 a year.

A tankless gas model should cost around $200 a year to run.

I'd rather spend a little more upfront and have something that costs less each month and lasts longer. Tankless models are supposed to be able to last up to 20 years. Tank models these days are lucky to see 10 years.

For a 15 or more years old model thats not bad. Although there are more electronics in the newer models, they are supposed to work a lot better.

Thanks man. sounds like a good system.

Wow! good job! looks awesome. That window idea is really cool. I hope you don't have any future problems with it.