That'll do the job. Just had to break the vacuum

I had just vented my tankless water heater vent from PVC to my old steel vent through the roof. I did this just until it was warmer and dry out then I was going to finish the job right. This weekend it was warm enough to finish. I have 15’ horizontal 3" PVC vent that I ran down hill some then I put in a 90 deg with a drain. At this point I plumed out the condensate so this would not all go back to the water heater.

I had probably going up and down the ladder 6-7 times. Then on the last time I went up on the roof I painted the white 3” PVC black. I was done and glad to be done. My ladder was on my deck about 10’ up and it leaned against aluminum gutter. The gutter bent some and the ladder lost its footing. Down it went with me going for a ride with a sudden stop on the wood deck.:eek:

I skinned my right leg bruised the backs of both arms and my right side/foot. It was the first time in my life I had a ladder give out and hopefully the last time. It could have been lots worse but I will be more careful next time. If I would have just taken a little more time coming down the ladder I would not be typing this. It happened so fast no real time to do anything but land. Shoulda coulda woulda!:rolleyes:

On the bright side the condensate issue is completely solved. I filled the garden tub to soak in hot water and all condensate flowed out nicely. This was a very good test.:)


I special ordered this 3” PVC 90 deg with drain from Grainger their warehouse is 3-4 miles down the road but they had to transfer it to their store 20 min away so I could pick it up. At least there is no shipping charge.

Doh, glad to hear you're alright though. I know a guy at my church who tore his ACL coming down off a ladder...

All I can say is "ouch" and don't do that again. Working on roofs for a living, I can honestly say that I have never fallen off a ladder (a couple of roofs, yes, but not a ladder).

Last year I installed 40 solar panels completely by myself and never fell. My dad and I built a lean-to and I installed 14 more panels. Crazy this happened. I really did not per say fall off the ladder legs went out and surfed that bad boy to the wooden deck. The top of the ladder scraped down the side of the house destroying 2 pieces of vinyl siding along the way. But I wouldn’t say I was hanging 10.:D

Tee Hee hEE
 

I had a camera almost exactly like that when I was doing DirecTv service calls a few years back. All the other techs laughed at me and wouldn't let me play their reindeer games. Then the route boss started noticing how quick I was getting through some tough jobs. When he saw I could get through a floor/wall fish in under 1/2 hour, he poured them on me. That camera and some fish sticks probably made me an extra ten thousand dollars that summer.
http://www.harborfreight.com/media/c...mage_11494.jpg
Put that one in the "secret tool" box. It's a keeper.

This is my first natural gas bill without any gas heat usage. It is the lowest bill I ever have had.
Meter fee is $7.50 total bill was $15.61 we just used 6 units. We have intelligent hot water recirculation.

The smart hot water recirculation is working out really well for us. It is a great compromise of energy savings and having hot water when you need it.

It also normally provides hot water much faster that a tank without smart water recirculation.

Are the 89W and 4.2W numbers rated or measured?

No I got those from the documentation but I can take actual measurements and post them.
We have been very happy with this tankless heater.

You will most likely find actual power use to be much less than rated. rated is the MAXIMUM it can draw. I seriosuly doubt the ECM fan uses 89W unless it has a LOT of vent to push through when the WH is on it's max output.

Standby is 6 watts.
I ran some hot water it was 68 watts I will look at it when someone is showering and see what it is.
It is an EMC motor because it changes the usage with water flow.

Hi Pinball,

Many thanks for this excellent informative thread.

Very interested that you have briefly run this off a pure sine inverter. I need to run this full time off a larger inverter and would be turning power off to the Takagi between showers to save the energy the inverter requires just in standby mode. At least in winter.

So could you tell me if the Takagi loses whatever settings you have entered when all power is cut to it? Perhaps after 24 hours.

On another note, I'm worried about the warranty a little. Does it bother you that they told you they would honor the warranty if properly installed but the written warranty on the site says the opposite? Guess I'll be calling them myself after the new year. At least they seem more accessible then the others.

We lost power for six hours and it remembered the set temp. it just came back one and went right to work. If I unplug it now and plug it back in it just works fine and it remembers the temp it was set at.
Mark

:) Heh Mark, very cool. Extremely doubtful that if One asked Takagi they would get an answer.

Do you (or anyone) possibly know what a "condensate trap" is? Don't think it's the same as the condensation drain discussed in this thread and mentioned elsewhere because the Rinnai RUR98i brags about having an internal one with a murky photo so doesn't seem like drain.

Also can't find out from takagi manual if the allowable input water temp can be altered as in using in solar hw systems. But, in the troubleshooting it implies such is possible because it gives "water input temp set to high" as a cause for heater not activating. So research is frustrating. Maybe someone here knows. Dread trying to ask Takagi.

Never owned a tankless before but here's something I learned today that might help others. YT--Sparky channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcPhLWa89H0

Apparently when flushing with vinegar it is critical what you do before draining and it differs with different brands. For instance with Rheem must turn off power while hot water running or bypass valve won't open and vinegar won't enter HE sufficiently to clean. You believe erroneously that you have descaled it. Gives different directions for Rinnai and Noritz but no mention of Takagi and can't find mention anywhere else. If you guys know please pipe up. Don't want to buy such an expensive tool without knowing how to keep it slick. Directions elsewhere seem incomplete concerning said bypass valve and therefore dangerously wrong. :(

I've put in a number of Takagi units and some have had SDHW system on them so you may be fine. Two that are not good are the older electronic ignition Bosch and Paloma units as well as the non condensing BAXI ones. My understanding is that any of the condensing units are better at handling the higher input temps.

That said, some definitely have a fixed (sort of) temp rise built in and the units will give way too hot water if the inputs are close to set point. That temp deadband is tough for any gas powered unit.

Wouldn't you think though that if the heater was good for SDHW (have never done) it would be necessary to adjust the inlet water temp and that therefore the manual would discuss how to do such? You can see here [???. 44/56] ?????? - ??????????????? - Takagi T-H3M-IN/OS [ver. 3] under problem "unit does not ignite" where it says "check if inlet water temp too high" which implies is adjustable.

Not that SDHW is anymore then a dream I'll probably never get to. Still really liking unit and would get without such capability.

Can one get better service manuals for these without being a pro I'm wondering.

Would definitely install correctly but don't have a plumber friend to back me like Pinball does to claim he installed it so little off putting that printed warranty so strict about pro installs. And would be nice to be able to get answers to things like the flushing question above directly from tech support and buy parts hopefully far down the road. As we all know tho, with many companies these days the answers you get are confident and wrong.

Sure looks like a beauty, so am considering taking a chance on this one. Info on this forum you don't see anywhere else. It's great

Nope, input water temp is not typically adjustable by the owner. Good ones have a thermister to sense the temp and is supposed to adjust the burn rate to compensate and give a stable output temp.

Now that you have had it awhile what are you finding on how much gas you use for heating water vs. the old WH?

@Carlt
I know I can have the remote show incoming water temp and outgoing temp. But our water never comes in close to what temp we want so Mike will be better at answering anything past what I just said.

@ServiceTech
We now have one more adult living with us so I don’t have a one to one compare.
On average we are using 3 units less about $4 a month our bill it usually $13 - $20 an month. I had a tankless 80% efficient before this one it had a pilot but I did not expect very much savings.
My old one was varying in temp from steam to cold that has going completely away.

Note
Some of that savings would be used up with electric cost. My old water heater did not have a power vent motor so it used no power at all. The new unit uses some power all the time and more when you use it.
I have enough solar installed to cover it so it does not matter to me.


We have not used gas heat since last year. So my electric and gas bill are under $30 a month. (good old solar power)

$30/mo? Awesome. The meter connection charges are more than that for us.

Just natural gas charges are $13-$20 a month. average is about $15
meter charge is $7.50 gas is $1.26 a unit

$13 bill - $7.50(meter charge)= $5.50 gas usage.