Tankless water heater just burst | GTAMotorcycle.com

Tankless water heater just burst

Relax

Relax

Well-known member
Looks like I have somewhat of the opposite problem of @NuggyBuggy

I'm renting from Reliance, and waiting for them to complete their "system update" to see if we can schedule anyone to come sooner that Wednesday afternoon. Why would any company update their computers in the middle of the day???

I'm hearing that if it can't be repaired and needs to be replaced, I'll be locked into another 10-year contract. Makes no sense, I thought that was the whole purpose of the rental program???

Can anyone recommend someone who can at least install, if not sell and install a tankless water heater? I figured maybe I can buy the exact same unit to simplify the RE/RE?
 
Our old contract tank water heater burst. Same deal. We opted for the new contract thing as the company that attended the burst tank did so well after hours and ended up installing the new unit in the early hours of the morning and it cost us nothing. We had hardly any interruption and hardly any damage either. That made it well worth it for us. It would depend on what your service is like where you are.

Yes, with a new unit it’s a new contract no real way around it.
 
Relax said:
I'm renting from Reliance, and waiting for them to complete their "system update" to see if we can schedule anyone to come sooner that Wednesday afternoon. Why would any company update their computers in the middle of the day???
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Can't help with your water heater question, but as a former office worm in an outfit where any downtime was devastating, mid-day "updates" were just "something has broken catastrophically and we are being forced to take drastic measures to try and fix it"
 
I am very anti-rental for hot water heaters. They don't do the required PM and they charge you a fortune more than a normal install and required repairs. Normally cost up to 4x of paying for it yourself and no reasonable way to get out of the contract. I would take this situation as a blessing and pay a plumber to install a heater you own. Install cleaning valves and decalcify it every year. If the plumber wants less than $200 a year to handle the PM, that is reasonable imo.
 
crankcall said:
We bought our way out of a reliance contract. They suck . Take this as a good omen and get anyone else to replace it .


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We had to pay a fortune when we sold our house, they put a lien on our property for the financing of a new furnace and AC unit. Of course the our original furnace and AC died during a heat wave and we just spent $$$ on another project.. While we rent our current water heaters in the new house, I am glad it is not with Reliance..
 
My parents bought a new house 5 or 6 years ago and one of first things my dad did was take out the "rental" water heater for his own. Never signed a single document regarding water heater upon purchase of home. Called them to come take it away and they refused, wanted him to come drop it off. After a few more convos with some higher ups they came and picked it up. New one can be had for not that much money. Best to buy your own. Have gotten 20 years or more out of conventional ones with minimal maintenance.
 
Mikedezo44 said:
My parents bought a new house 5 or 6 years ago and one of first things my dad did was take out the "rental" water heater for his own. Never signed a single document regarding water heater upon purchase of home. Called them to come take it away and they refused, wanted him to come drop it off. After a few more convos with some higher ups they came and picked it up. New one can be had for not that much money. Best to buy your own. Have gotten 20 years or more out of conventional ones with minimal maintenance.
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You have something like 24 or 48 hours after house closing to get out of the contract. After that window, you are F'd and the only way is to pay a ridiculous rate. My water heater is about ready for the garbage and they want over $1000 to buy it out. The only other way to get out is when it is beyond repair but they are the sole arbiters of that decision. If they think you are leaving, they may spend a fortune to keep you on the hook. The whole business model is disgusting and should be banned. Rental is fine but after 6 years or so (typical tank warranty) the buyout should be close to zero not four figures. Most people would continue renting anyway as they are blissfully unaware. The high rates trap the few that pay attention.
 
I’ve got a contract with reliance and have never had an issue with them. I pay 22.50 a month and they replaced two hot water heaters in 20 yrs free of charge, I’ve had many service calls for pilot light issues and other things
I’m happy with the service
 
ToSlow said:
I’ve got a contract with reliance and have never had an issue with them. I pay 22.50 a month and they replaced two hot water heaters in 20 yrs free of charge, I’ve had many service calls for pilot light issues and other things
I’m happy with the service
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I had a rental agreement for the water heater when we lived in Gtown and I kind of agree, never had an issue with service, they replaced the old heater within 24 hours of noting a issue and upgraded all the inlet and exhaust piping to a new code all for no extra charges. What I did not like was what I stated in my other post.
 
In my last house the tpv failed and started to leak. Rental company said they would be out in probably 72 hours but stay home in case they could make it earlier. That contract was only $20 to buy out so I bought it, fixed the tpv and installed a new anode. That tank was still in the house years later when I sold it. Current house has a tank @$45/mo. Tank is 10 years old. Buyout is $1200. One night the combustible gas sensor crapped out. Kids were trying to have a bath in cold water and wife needed a shower. I fixed it in 30 minutes. I am hoping it gets beyond repairability soon so I can get out from under the stupid contract. A heat pump hot water tank will replace it.

Edit:

Existing install sucks. Anti-scald valve leaks, is non-adjustable and requires greater than 1gpm to work reliably so it hunts and battles thermostats in showers. Plumbing is a hot mess with no thermo-siphon loop. Exhaust piping is sloppy with glue and fingerprints everywhere but at least reasonable layout. Gas pipe not painted and rusty but that may be part for the course for interior installs. I have no idea about gas codes.
 
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ToSlow said:
I pay 22.50 a month and they replaced two hot water heaters in 20 yrs free of charge
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$22.50/month plus is $2700 every ten years, so you basically paid $2700 per tank.

If it's an electric tank, you get buy them all day long for $600-$800.

If it's a flue based gas, around $1200.

Direct power vent, as little as $1500.

So in the end, this wasn't the deal you think it might have been, sorry.
 
PrivatePilot said:
$22.50/month plus is $2700 every ten years, so you basically paid $2700 per tank.

If it's an electric tank, you get buy them all day long for $600-$800.

If it's a flue based gas, around $1200.

Direct power vent, as little as $1500.

So in the end, this wasn't the deal you think it might have been, sorry.
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When you factor in all the service calls that is included in that plus the tank being replaced three times in 20 yrs. I call it worry free

Plus the fact that I was remote 2wks a month and not able to deal with things like a broken down water heater, to me it is well worth the 22.50 a month for peace of mind
 
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ToSlow said:
When you factor in all the service calls that is included in that plus the tank being replaced three times in 20 yrs. I call it worry free
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In my case, with an older style direct flue tank (and I'd probably install another when the time comes) the difference would be almost $3000.

There's no way I'd have paid $3000 in service calls. The thing I like about the older style tanks is that there's absolutely no moving parts and no power requirements - just a pilot light, and a burner. So not much to go wrong, and sitll works when the power is out.

My current tank is <old enough I probably shouldn't mention it lol> years old and I had to replace the thermostat assembly once, cost was something like $200.

$2800 in my pocket still.
 
I cant put tankless in my house , the tech said my distance to an outside wall was too long . Current tank heater is power vented same distance , so not sure . I was told when I put in a new furnace in January that ‘I did not want a heat pump’ in my particular installation. I don’t know enough to disagree.


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Renboy said:
I installed a tankless years ago and would never go back. In almost 16 years of use I've had to replace a flow sensor that cost around $50. I would never rent a water heater.
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Switched to tankless a year ago, absolutely no problem with hot water supply i.e. it is almost instantaneous and multiple use does not effect the temperature level.
Caveat: depends on the type of tankless, the common adage "you get what you pay for" applies.

The company I used had no problems with the installation location (vent pipe distance, not an issue) and they used copper piping for the water supply (not the pex).

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Direct vent can damage building envelopes if they empty into small spaces. I actually have this problem at home, the neighbours water heater and furnace dump between the houses (houses are about four to five apart). The water heater vent points at our house and is slowly damaging the brick on our house (over the last decade or so since it was installed, not fast), it dumps a lot of warm moist exhaust in winter that pushes into the brick and mortar (also freezes the lock on our gate...). I do not see the same problem near the furnace outlet, it dumps downward, larger exhaust and much less velocity. I saw some draft CSA rules on this but it does not seem to make it into the national code (AFAIK), Alberta and Saskatchewan have some rules in place.

As for rental companies. You actually NEED to be there and supervise them as they are known to red tag other equipment for the up-sell, specially in winter, and specially if you have some older non-rental equipment. I actually had to stand between our boiler and the technician (there to service the rental water heater that came with the house) as he kept wanting to poke around with our boiler (and that was one of the better main stream rental companies), stay in your lane buddy. We had a previous one red tag and shut off our heat in winter because their failed (rusted out) water heater dumped rust into the flue, "I have to shut off your gas because there is rust (dust) in the flue!" The moral of the story, don't consider the rental guys to be a no worries service... there are worries.

OP, if you can, take it as a opportunity to get out from under the rental contract.
 
backmarkerducati said:
Direct vent can damage building envelopes if they empty into small spaces. I actually have this problem at home, the neighbours water heater and furnace dump between the houses (houses are about four to five apart). The water heater vent points at our house and is slowly damaging the brick on our house (over the last decade or so since it was installed, not fast), it dumps a lot of warm moist exhaust in winter that pushes into the brick and mortar (also freezes the lock on our gate...). I do not see the same problem near the furnace outlet, it dumps downward, larger exhaust and much less velocity. I saw some draft CSA rules on this but it does not seem to make it into the national code (AFAIK), Alberta and Saskatchewan have some rules in place.
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I think I've seen some power vents with a T on the end to redirect the blast up/down instead of into your wall. I have no knowledge of gas codes. If a 636 T fell from the sky and landed on the end of their vent, I doubt anyone would ever notice and your wall would be happier.
 
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