The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Ask a Mustachian => Topic started by: gillstone on June 28, 2019, 01:21:32 PM
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So here's the situation:
My furnace is in the attic of my split-level for some god-awful reason. I've insulated around it as much as the furnace specs allow, but the heat it gives off and the opening for the ladder below (also insulated and sealed as much as practicable) still means I have snow melt and ice dams in winter. I've done a lot of work to insulate and vent the attic this year so it has adequate air flow to move heat out; but as long as its up there, I'm going to have a warmer attic than I'd like.
The way my ducting is arranged, I can move it down to the space next to my water heater fairly easily, but there isn't space unless I put in a tankless water heater. I'm looking for recommendations on indoor, tankless, gas water heaters and what information should I be paying attention to among all the numbers and terms that get thrown out by the different manufacturers. I'm not expecting the promised savings or unicorns to bow in my presence that is promised by manufacturers, this is more about fixing a different problem.
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What I had heard was there were issues getting parts/manufacturers were out of business type issues. And not all the repair/install people knew how to do them. That said, you're not doing it for giggles, so just be aware that these challenges may exist.
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You might want to consider a Navien tankless that doubles as a boiler unit if you want to have hot water for heat. Tankless hot water heaters are finicky, expensive, and difficult in their requirements for gas line size, dedicated circuit etc. but they are small and convenient. We put in a unit htat had a built-in recirc pump so it solves the typical issue of waiting for hot water. Other units though have a boiler function as well.