Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Our Propane Tankless Water Heater




We are using  propane tankless Marey water heaters in our house.  We have one in the bathroom and will have one for the kitchen.  Yes, there is a reason why we have two smaller ones, instead of one bigger water heater.  We plan to build a recycling shower system and need a water heater just for the shower.  That whole deal with be a post on its own but we are very excited to see if we can get it working like we plan. 

We got ours from Amazon.  We payed about $170.00  and the reviews from others using them were good.  Most people that go with propane use a Marey unit.  We went with the 5L unit. 




First thing...we had to cut a hole in our roof...again!  Everyone knows this makes me extremely nervous. 











Such a pretty view through the hole.  Still doesn't stop me from being a ball of nerves about this process.






























We made a cardboard template for the piece of roofing material that will seal the flashing boot on the roof. The finished piece cut and ready.




The boot slides up under the roof.  This goes around the pipe to help keep it from leaking.











The roofing piece goes over the boot and original roof.  It is sealed with rubber gasket roofing screws and silicone caulk. 









The angled pipe in place.  The pipe rotates around in two places to fit your needs.










The water heater attached and the collar on the ceiling to keep the pipe from touching and cover up the hole.  We built a couple of wood shims to keep the unit from touching the wall and stained them the same color as the sink cabinet. 














The pipe finished on the outside.  A solid piece exits the boot and ends with a vent cap on top.  There is a storm collar just above the boot to keep heavy water away from where the pipe and boot meet. 






Gas line and water lines are hooked up.  There are shut off valves on each.  The water lines also have capped areas where we can cut the water off and hook up hoses to clean the unit when it needs it.  Everything we have read says that you need to clean your unit every now and then due to calcium and mineral build up that slows the heating down.  You can buy service valves already made but they seem to be for bigger units.  We made ours out of standard plumbing parts. 







We also got the sink drain plumbing done as well.  This is a shot looking up under the cabinet.  We used a drain vent on our sink...funny looking thing off to the right side of the picture. This cuts out having to vent your drain lines through the roof. 



We bought some small fans to install in the bedroom for air movement across the bed to help on those hot Georgia summers.  They are hard wired into a switch on the wall but can also be turned off individually.  Each fan has a low, medium and high setting and the angle can be adjusted for individual preference.  These were cheap fans we got at the hardware store and just screwed them to the ceiling.  They are pretty quiet and pretty powerful on the low setting.  They should work great at keeping us cool. 












19 comments:

Katieanne said...

I am so very interested in the shower system you are going to make. Can I sign up for a newsletter?

Unknown said...

Katieanne

I don't have a newsletter but I will be doing a post on the shower system once we get it done. I will try to be very specific with lots of details and lots of pictures. If it works, and we don't see why it shouldn't, it will be a game changer for water storage on tiny homes. If you are following my blog, you should get all new blog posts. I also post them on Facebook when I get them done. Thanks for commenting!
Chrissy :)

Unknown said...

This is a nice article about your propane tankless water heater. I can share this to my clients so that they will have an idea about their water heater.

Tankless Water Heater Mississauga

Unknown said...

Thanks Tony. I hope it will help your clients in some way. We will have more posts about its use and installing the kitchen one as well.

Anonymous said...

I didn't realize that people still sold propane tankless water heaters. Given the fact that propane is so flammable I would have thought that most people would be switching over to electrical ones. In a few months, could you guys give us a review of how the system is working for you guys? Thanks. http://gasmasterstampa.com/water_heaters.htm

Unknown said...

Hi Jordan. They still sell them altho they are not found in most stores. We had to order ours. We will be doing a blog on how well things work for us once we have been living in Tiny for a while. We haven't yet moved in really and haven't hooked up our water system just yet...but that's coming soon!

Bert Aguilar said...

The final outcome looks really neat and seamless. I like how they seem to be built-in to the house, rather than added to it afterwards. I hope that you are quite satisfied with how your tankless water heater is performing so far. Thanks for sharing!

Bert Aguilar @ RainFillTanks

Stevie Calloway said...

Tankless water heaters are very popular today especially with those people who want to save water and energy. Some kinds are cheaper to buy and easier to maintain than others. I had a tankless water heater installed that was inexpensive and efficient, but when it needs any repairs calling a plumber is a better choice than trying to fix it.

Stevie Calloway @ Infinity Plumbing Services

Daniel said...

I think I would be terrified to do the same thing. I am glad it went successfully for you. We had a tank and it was getting on our nerves so we switched to tankless. I did not realized that just that could make it so improved. I also decided to do an investigation into how they work. Very complicated.

Ambrose @ Brown & Reaves Services, Inc.

Lisa Jones said...

In order to better serve our customers we are now carrying a full line of Tankless Hot Water Heaters. These Tankless hot water heaters are a great product for the money and are available in Natural Gas..
Kirkland Plumbing Company

Unknown said...

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Unknown said...

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Unknown said...

Thanks for sharing the article. It helps.

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Anonymous said...

That whole deal with be a post on its own but we are very excited to see if we can get it working like we plan. Fred

Cosmopolitanmechanical.ca said...

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Unknown said...

Brilliant work - I really love the thoughts and enjoyed reading your process. Thanks for sharing this Heating and Cooling Toronto

Unknown said...

i liked the above tank less water heater and i need to buy it
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My Home Appliances said...

propane water heaters are very good to use especially in areas which have frequent electricity drops even I am using a propane tankless water heater and it is working excellent and tankless saves more on energy bills.

Jennifer said...

My electric bills have gone through the roof since the Little Magic Box was fitted to our hot water cylinder. We have complained but been told the amount of electricity use is correct. Certainly not the £80 a year we were told it would cost to run.

https://www.magicboxinternational.com/