I was recently asked to address the Hot Water Forum put on by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy on the impact of new water heater energy rules on contractors. The upshot of my research is that the new rules are having minimal impact. There are exceptions.
My friend Kevin Tindall (former Contractor of the Year, PHCC-North America past president) is having some of the more vexing issues because his turf in Princeton, New Jersey, has a lot of multi-family housing and it’s all gas. Kevin installs about 200 water heaters a year and he’s had 13 with problems where he’s had to go so far as to have a carpenter rebuild cabinetry. He’s charging 20% more; that’s not enough, but he says that’s all he can get away with.
And he brought up something that never occurred to me — the drain pans. It’s not just the water heaters that have grown larger, but now they need bigger drain pans too. What if they don’t fit the space? Tankless is not an option in the buildings he services because they don’t have adequate gas service or venting. A tankless heater would cost three to four times as much as a tank.
When I grew up in the suburbs of Cleveland, everybody had a basement. It’s the same for our columnist Eric Aune in the Twin Cities area. Everybody has a basement. Taller, fatter, it doesn’t make a difference. “It’s not that big a deal,” he said. The National Appliance Energy Conservation Act (NAECA) rules have, however, narrowed the price difference between tank and tankless water heaters in new construction, Eric told me.
‘Tankless water heaters don’t belong in every house, but opportunities do exist for the educated plumber.’
The problem with water heater installations, California contractor Greg Chick said, is not that water heaters are taller and fatter or that some models have come off the market — it’s the lack of thinking and creative problem solving.
“The thing is that the master plumber who holds the license sends out his crews to install water heaters and they learn how to install water heaters by installing water heaters,” Greg said. All they want to do is disconnect the old water heater and reconnect the new one and any problems baffle them.
Sometimes you need to gently remove the doorframe, slide the water heater into place, and then reinstall the doorframe. Or install a water heater that’s one size smaller, install an ASSE 1017 anti-scald valve, and crank up the temperature, Greg suggested.
“Tankless water heaters don’t belong in every house, but opportunities do exist for the educated plumber,” Chick told me.
NAECA aside, Chick has seen some really atrocious water heater installations in California. There’s not enough combustion air, there are no expansion tanks and the seismic strapping is wrong. He sent me a picture of one where the T&P was piped across the electrical panel, blocking access to it, and then into the laundry standpipe.
“It’s up to the plumber to learn how to do it correctly,” Greg said. “I think it’s time for plumbers to learn the emerging technologies; there are answers.”
A couple of other observations coming out of the hot water forum.
A water heater manufacturer told me that his firm hasn’t seen a heat pump water heater sales bump from the new rules. I heard similar observations from others during the forum. Homeowners may have questions about the products, but that’s primarily because electric utilities are offering rebates for heat pump water heaters.
Secondly, sales of tankless water heaters continue to grow, but that has nothing to do with the NAECA rules. They’re still a popular, but pricey option.