Tankless Water Heater Brands -  Compare Takagi - Noritz - Rinnai & Navien

I have a friend who services and installs tankless hot water heaters.  I asked him the other day which is the best brand of tankless water heaters.  Turns out it's not quite that simple according to my friend.  Here is what he had to say about tankless water heaters.

All of the tankless water heaters are pretty much the same. They have similar technology, similar efficiencies, operate the same and are all subject to the same kinds of problems. The manufacturers claim a few differences, but I don't consider them anything significant.

Noritz advertises its "Dual Burner" technology. Does dual burner technology have an advantage over single burner units?   I don’t think so.  Since all of the brands modulate the flames I don’t see any difference the number of burners makes. The total Btu's is just divided up between two burners.  There isn't any difference in the amount of heat being generated or in the efficiency of the heater. 

Takagi and Noritz are both made in Japan, share some components, and have similar warranties. Rinnai heaters are also made in Japan. Rinnai has a different venting system than the others.  Do I think its better?  Not really.

Rinnai tankless heaters have a feature that I like, a built-in condensation trap.  With other brands sometimes the installers forget or don't bother to install a condensation trap, possible because of the added costs.  Without a trap the life of the heat exchanger can be significantly shortened, and the customer most likely will never realize it doesn't have a trap.

Navien is made in South Korea and fairly new to the US. It has a better presence in Canada. The Navien units have some nice features, like a built in small tank that lets you obtain low flows of hot water. That little tank acts like buffer and has a built in circulating pump for the tank.   Navien has had major recalls and plenty of service problems in Canada though. The forums have quite a bit of negative comments about the Navien service.

Navien claims 98% efficiency while the other major brands have about 94%. Is the 4% difference significant?  You might be able to save almost a dollar a month in energy costs over the others, and if that is significant to you then so be it.

Technically Noritz, Takagi, Navien, and Rinnai are very much the same.  All of them produce roughly the same amount of hot water consuming about the same amount of electricity or gas.  The warranties are pretty similar too.  What it comes down to is the reliability of the units and the support in case something malfunctions which depends heavily on the unit having been installed correctly.

Personally I like the service that Takagi provides.  They have a toll free number 24/7 I can call. I don't get the message “We are closed now and please call us during regular business hours Monday through Friday 8am to 5pm and please leave us a message ".

My opinion is that the most important consideration when purchasing a tankless hot water heater is to be sure the unit is installed correctly. It is not like your storage hot water heater that you hook a couple of pipes up and you are done. It is very important to purchase it and have it installed by an experienced plumber that is experienced with tankless water heaters and one that will be there if you experience problems down the road.