Current Energy

Tankless Water Heaters

You don't use hot water 24 hours a day, but with a standard tanked hot water heater, you are paying to heat water all day long. With a standard unit, you heat and reheat the same water, even when you're sleeping, at work or on vacation. Rinnai® Forever Hot Water tankless heating technology is a more efficient way to heat water while saving money and recapturing valuable space in your mechanical room. Using the latest in gas technology, it heats water on-demand and delivers an endless supply of hot water for as long as you need it, offering personalized control for your convenience, comfort and safety. Rinnai tankless water heaters are the water heating system preferred by more consumers, home builders, business owners and installers.

The Process:

  1. A hot water tap is turned on.
  2. Water enters the heater.
  3. The water flow sensor detects the water flow.
  4. The computer automatically ignites the burner.
  5. Water circulates throughout the heat exchanger.
  6. The heat exchanger heats the water to the requested temperature.
  7. When the supply is cut off, the unit shuts down.

Frequesntly Asked Questions

What is a tankless water heater?
Tankless water heating systems are revolutionizing the way modern homes meet their water heating needs. These compact units can produce and supply endless streams of hot water to multiple outlets at once without any fluctuation in temperature within its 9.4 gallon per minute capacity.
What type of fuel does a Rinnai tankless water heater use?
All Rinnai tankless units are either LP or natural gas fired. Clean burning gas systems can be designed to provide hot water to a large household at the highest efficiencies available.
How does a Rinnai tankless system work?

Conventional water tanks heat and store hot water around the clock. You are heating and re-heating water 24 hours a day, 7 days a week while losing energy up your vent and through the walls of the tank. A tankless water heater only turns on when you start to use hot water, and immediately shuts off when you are done, preventing you from wasting energy when you do not need hot water.

The heat exchanger and burner system in a tankless water heater system are significantly more effective than those in conventional tanks. This allows you to utilize a much higher percentage of your energy dollar rather than wasting it up the vent stack of a conventional tank water heater.

Why are Rinnai tankless water heaters so efficient?
Rinnai has decades of experience in designing and building tankless water heaters throughout the world. Rinnai's precisely designed components are controlled by microprocessors that maximize efficiency. They do not store hot water or waste energy by using a conventional chimney. Also, they have electronic ignition so there is no wasteful pilot flame.
What is the Energy Factor of Rinnai tankless heaters?
Water heaters are performance rated by the US Department of Energy. The performance measure that they have developed is the Energy Factor (EF). The higher the Energy Factor, the more efficient the water heating system. Most gas fired water tanks have an Energy Factor of only about 0.62. Older tanks are likely to be 0.55 or less. Rinnai tankless units all have Energy Factors of 0.80 or greater, confirming that they are much more efficient than conventional tanks.
Does a higher Energy Factor mean that I will always have lower operating costs?

Given a specific fuel and a specific number of gallons of hot water used, the higher the EF, the lower the operating cost. Some people do not experience as much savings with tankless heaters because they do not have an artificial barrier for hot water use. With conventional tanks you will run out of hot water after a period of use, but with Rinnai tankless, this will not happen. In some homes this increases the gallons of hot water used simply because there is an unlimited supply, but it is great to have all the hot water you need, when you need it.

Given different fuels the EF may not accurately predict energy cost. For instance a Rinnai tankless unit with an EF of 0.85 will always operate at a lower operating cost than an electric tank with an EF of 0.90 (given current national average fuel costs).

Rinnai makes exterior units. Do they freeze in the winter?
Rinnai makes interior units which are sealed combustion and vented outdoors as well as exterior units. All Rinnai units are designed to operate properly in outdoor temperatures as low as negative 30° F. Exterior units will not freeze even well below zero as long as they have electrical power and gas. However, the water connections to an exterior unit must be properly protected from cold conditions by the installer to prevent these water lines from freezing.
How much power does a Rinnai tankless unit use?
Power usage can vary due to the size of the unit, but usage is typically less than 100 watts per hour during operation which adds up to only a few dollars on your utility bill per year. The Rinnai system operates on normal household 120 volt AC current.
Does a Rinnai tankless Heater have a standing pilot light?
No, it has direct spark electronic ignition.
How is the Rinnai interior unit vented?
Rinnai interior units are all sealed combustion and utilize a power draft system. Rinnai's exclusive pipe within a pipe concentric vent draws combustion air in from outdoors and expels flue gas back out through a single wall or roof penetration. This is the only cool to the touch tankless water heating vent system available.
Why do I need exterior combustion air?
Tankless water heaters have a large gas capacity and can need a lot of combustion air. Most homes do not have the free space necessary to install a tankless water heater to code without making significant modifications to your home. Even if you do have the huge open space necessary to install a system with interior combustion air, that unit will be drawing thousands of cubic feet of your home’s conditioned air each day and will discharge it outdoors. To replace this, outdoor air will be drawn back into your home through infiltration and will need to be warmed or cooled by your HVAC system.
What does it mean when Rinnai says that the R85i fires from 15,000 to 180,000 BTUs per hour?
Unlike tank water heaters which fire at only one rate, most modern tankless water heaters will use only the amount of gas necessary to heat the hot water being used at any given time. To do this they measure the incoming water temperature and the flow rate, compare that to the desired output temperature, and fire at the rate necessary to meet this need. If you change any of these variables, the tankless unit re-calculates and adjusts its firing rate accordingly. The tankless unit will therefore fire anywhere between its minimum and maximum firing rate. Rinnai units offer the lowest minimum flow rates available. As with minimum flow rates, the lower the minimum firing rate the more flexibility you will have when you only want a small amount of hot water.
Why do Rinnai tankless units use touch pad controls?
They allow the homeowner to interact with the water heater. You can set your desired temperature from a minimum of 98 degrees to a maximum of 140 degrees. You can verify that the unit is operating while optional advanced controls can perform many additional functions. The touch pad displays any service information or error codes. This allows you, and your professional Rinnai service person, to quickly review the unit history, determine the cause of any problems and correct those issues accurately and quickly.
Do all Rinnai tankless units come with Remote Touch Pad controls?
Yes, all Rinnai models come with a touch pad control.
I want a control in each of my bathrooms. How many controls can go on a single Rinnai?
Four controls.
I have an existing home and control wire that is difficult to run. Does Rinnai have wireless controls?
Yes, Rinnai has advanced controls that allow you to interact with your water heater even more effectively.
Are Rinnai tankless units approved for use in mobile homes?
No. Federal law governing manufactured housing requires that gas equipment installed in mobile homes be field convertible from LP to natural gas or visa versa, and Rinnai tankless units are not convertible.