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Using The EZTR40 To Replace Your Tank Water Heater.
If you’ve been in the plumbing and HVAC fields for a while, then you’ve replaced countless water heaters for customers. It has probably become a matter of course—a client’s 40-gallon, gas-fired, storage tank-type water heater fails, and you replace like for like.
Although you may have installed tankless water heaters now and then, they may not be the first option that comes to mind when replacing your customers’ tank unit—after all, they often require the extra cost and labor of installing new plumbing, venting and gas connections.
Recent innovations in product design and manufacturing, however, have made replacing tank with tankless smooth and far less costly. The residential EZTR40 condensing tankless water heater from Noritz embodies this innovation and makes the upfront costs of switching to tankless lower than ever.
Here’s how the EZTR40 completely eliminates the old challenges contractors faced when making the switch:
Venting:
A major objection contractors raise to switching from tank to tankless is the need to change out the venting to accommodate the new heater.
It’s true—the EZTR40 uses different venting—two-inch, flexible polypropylene tubing, to be exact. But all you need to do is run it through the existing B-vent, formerly used by the tank water heater being replaced. There is no need to go through the hassle of pulling out the old vent.
Gas Line:
Traditionally, one of the most expensive aspects of replacing tank with tankless was the need to upsize the gas line from half-inch to three-quarter inches. The reasoning was simple; the tankless unit needs enough fuel to superheat the water on demand.
Updates to the National Fuel and Gas Code now permit half-inch gas piping for inputs up to 174,000 BTUs per hour, as long as the gas pressure to the water heater is at the appropriate level. This means that the EZTR40 can connect to the same half-inch gas line as the tank unit it’s replacing, cutting labor time by up to half.
Water Connections:
Switching to a tankless water heater used to require extra plumbing because water connections were located on the bottom of the unit instead of the top. This led to extra material and higher labor costs, as well as a messy maze of pipes meandering around the unit.
The EZTR40’s connections are conveniently located on top of the unit, allowing a clean and simple switch utilizing the same flexible hot-and-cold-water lines as the tank-type water heater. This not only saves the contractor time, but gives the setup a much cleaner look for the homeowner.
Replacing tank with tankless was once difficult and expensive. Now, it’s essentially no different than replacing tank with tank, except the customer gets to reap all the energy- and space-saving benefits of a tankless water heater.
For more information about the EZTR40, please visit https://www.noritz.com/eztr/