Minimum 5. If you suspect showers and laundry will be happening simultaneously and you use hot water for laundry ( I don’t and you shouldn’t because you don’t need to) you might go 7 I guess. I suspect 5 gpm will be just fine though.
Well, there isn’t a need to man. A 1/2 “ soft copper line will serve the needs of every fixture under the roof of a home on a 2lb system. That isn’t every home though. I’ll just leave this here for you to check out.
Most water heater in my area are located in the attic. Basements aren’t a thing here. We are usually piping from meter to attic, with no need to bury. An old friend just started his biz after getting licensed and I have been subbing all my gas work to him lately. I hate sitting around waiting on inspectors to show, because around here theiridea of giving you an ETA is before lunch or after lunch. Cheaper for me to sub it so I can move on to the next job.
That maintenance is dead simple. All you really have to do is buy a cheap pump from Home Depot and a couple of washing machine hoses. Hook to the drain down kit on the heater and flush with household vinegar for 30 mins. Def stay away if you are on well water that isn’t treated before serving the heater though. Wells can be hard on everything. Recently had to replace every fitting in a home that was about two years old. It was served by a well, and all water piping was PEX with brass fittings. The piping was fine, but the well water destroyed every last one of those fittings. The guy called me about a small leak, and when he called the second time he said just do whatever is needed to get them all out of the system. Replaced them with Poly PEX fittings and haven’t heard a peep out of him as far as leaks. I agree with you that if it is something you don’t want to pay someone to do, just get a high efficiency electric and call it a day. Lot less to worry about, and most of us don’t want or need a two hour shower
Separate point of entry, regulator, single 1 1/4" fuel run to the heater. Seems to be the standard here. If someone is doing math based on the length of the fuel run it's most likely specific to tankless heaters because it's not something I personally deal with. I'm also not a service tech, but I am tasked with rebuilding 2lb and under meter sets and dealing with the associated appliances after service interruption to renew the lines.
Meant stay away from tankless on untreated well water. Also wanted to add that paying extra for a heater with dual sacrificial anodes is a waste of money. They don’t serve any purpose but to shorten the life span of a water heater if that water heater isn’t connected properly , and from what I see daily, almost none are. Most every tank manufacturer has what they refer to as dialectic nipples standard on their units. They are dielectric in name only, so if you rely on them for decoupling dissimilar metals, like copper to the steel that so called dielectric nipple is made from, you haven’t decoupled them, and that sacrificial anode will soon be gone anyway. But it will leave some nice crusty shit behind to beat the glass lining of your tank away and fuck that plastic dip tube up.
We have a lot of really old homes here. Isn’t uncommon under a home to see an old 2” IP gas main there that has been discontinued, and replaced with something smaller. Man, Plumbers and gas fitter really had to bust some serious ass back in those days. It is hard as hell to find any help these days around here. I could see me marking out a bunch of holes thru some floor joist and hand a helper a 1-1/2 brace and bit. Lmao. I would be stuck doing that by myself for sure. I got into the trades when I was 17, and we still poured led on a lot of commercial work back then. Now days I have to make myself slow down on a water heater so the customer feels like they are getting their moneys worth. The guy that invented the pro press deserves to have his likeness chiseled into Mt Rushmore as far as I’m concerned!!
I am glad to be for the most part an outside animal. I am more comfortable digging up, replacing, uprating and otherwise servicing mains and services than I am fucking with fitter work. The fact that I have to do it these days pisses me off. Anything over 2lb we just run a riser and the service department does the work.
That pro press is functional art as far as I’m concerned! lol . I have two just so I have a back up
Nope, his house is older than ghosts
So odd to me, well I should say different from my life of experience. Sorry, don’t mean to come off offensive.
Remember that video showing pro press where they did an entire stadium?
Odd to me as well. Really wish there was something in the code to stop it. The biggest issue with it aside from easy access is that it is out of site, out of mind to the average home owner, and they don’t realize that there is a problem with the water heater until it has ruptured and caused damage to property. Makes it way more expensive than it has to be to change one out as well. That’s builders for you. Given the choice of a couple of more livable square feet, or doing what is right, well, you know.
That may be true!
I assume you mean right over the gas meter ? The main is out by the street ( probably).