Tankless Water Heater Pictures and Questions

Note: The problems seen below are only related to the improper installation of the Rinnai Tankless Water Heater. Rinnai is in the process of having a rep work with the installer. Rinnai’s tech support has been wonderfull and our training was excellent. In fact Rinnai taught a class at the North Georgia code officials Association. See the truck below.

Rinnai Truck

Rinnai Truck

So for our September 17, 2008 next North Georgia Code Officials meeting will be about tankless water heaters. I am supplying photos and questions to the speaker for this meeting. The easiest way to do this is to put this on the web. This way if any of you have questions you would like answered in the meeting you can post them here. If you have any questions post them soon, like in the next two days. Remember Click on the Small Photo to Get a Big one.

We start with a Rinnai Model R75-LSe mounted on the exterior of the house.

Exterior Mount

Exterior Mount

In viewing this installation, I have the following concerns.
  • No heat trace or insulation on the pipes.
  • The manufacturer recommends (but does not require) solenoids that drain the unit in a power outage for freeze protection. I don’t see any.
  • No service disconnect.
  • The TPR valve does not discharge to a safe location as described in the installation manual.
  • The use of a drop cord for power
  • The cord is not protected in conduit.
  • The yellow protector sleeve on the flexible gas line has been cut too short. The CSS is not supposed to be exposed.
  • We also have the cord is not to penetrate a wall. See instructions on the label on the cord in the picture below. You will have to click the picture for a bigger one.
Cord Label

Cord Label

Here is a photo behind the access panel.

Access Panel

Access Panel

If we take a closer look we can see the ground screw.

Ground Screw

Ground Screw

Again you need to click on the small picture to get a larger one, The wire doesn’t even have a terminal on it and it is wraped around the screw so that when it is tightend, it pushes the wire out.
The other terminals are not much better.
Controls Connection

Controls Connection

 Thats about it for this water heater.

Comments on Tankless Water Heater Pictures and Questions

September 9, 2008

Tony Tidwell
8:36 am #

These pictures show why we all need to be at the upcoming seminar to find out all the do’s and don’ts on these installations!