Good luck with that.....
There is a learning curve - quick and painless are not part of that either. They are not overly difficult but you must pay attention to the details. Navian line is a brand that I did some testing for. They make a line of condensing units that in some respects I actually like better than my main Noritz line I usually sell. Navian has a few advantages and they have done some things I really liked with their heaters. I am still a bit leery about selling too many of them.....I was not impressed with the PCB layout (printed circuit board), no the rubber tubing inside. I did not care for the remote menue system, nor its connections to the main board. However...they are condensing and are .98% efficient (unheard of) they are very quiet...more so than the Rinnai's and Noritz units. They on some mdls have an internal recirculation pump with a thermal sensor to recirculate the water...HUGE in my book. They are condensing, so you need to have a drain or install a condensate pump and plumb it to a drain....more $$$$ but in the right situation...Navian is a great choice....for me, not every choice would be it. I have done2 for the company and I sold about 4 or 5. So far no callbacks but I am not slanging them full swing. They are a little more complicarted than the average tankless.....you would be well suited to start reading tankless manuals of different brands. you will soon learn the similarities of them all...Learn your vent clearences.....Things like what Smells is going through with block wall for his wall thimble (not needed on Navian units) those things become a non pain in the ass issue. But after he has done a few he can now walk up to a job and know he can knock that out in 1.5 hrs so when he is putting his bid together he has that much more experience versus the guy that has no clue how to get through the block....who than allocates billable 4 hrs just for vent termination. THOSE are the painfull, learning curve lessons one must learn with tankless. Any monkey can hoock up hot cold gas drain...etc....It's just getting to that point. It's being able to relocate a heater for X amount of reasons and not make it a 12 grand job. That is the learning curve. I will tell you all this...getting good with tankless heaters will make you a much better plumber.
I was the 4th guy to walk a job today. Realtor tells me all 3 of the otjher guys want to put the tankless heater in the garage. What do I think?
I said, I'll tell you...they are clueless to operation. The garage is 30 ft from the mstr bath and another 30 to the kit. I said, lets relocate to the kitchen area, because at least that will get hot water faster...Master bath is going to have to wait X amount of time anyhow, may as well pick up the kitchen. This guy stops in his tracks and says....ya know? your right. I looked at him with a confident smile and said...I am!!
On the way out he tells me to keep it under 4 and it's mine....it's a 3000 job....
Point is, don't shy away from the learning curve. Tankless is just like baseball.
It's good that it is sometimes hard....that's what makes them great to install. If it wasn't hard everyone would do it. If my knees lasted longer I would be retiring from major league baseball right about now....see my post on breaking brick with a big Fing hammer!
For your first few...go slow, it's not a hollywood hooker. Take your time and make it right. Good Luck
but not me.
