Our 14-year-old Rinnai tankless water heater developed a pinhole leak in the heat exchanger and wasn't worth fixing, so we opted for this unit because of our tight budget. Naturally, all the plumbing and fittings (such as the shut-offs, maintenance valves and pressure relief valve) were already in place, having been installed by a plumber. There was already a hole in the wall for the exhaust, and there was already a grounded outlet nearby. (Obviously if you're using this for new construction or replacing a tank-style water heater, you'll have to start from scratch.)
Installing the unit was a matter of turning off the gas and electricity, draining the old unit, removing the old unit and venting, and installing the Excel in the same place. It fit even better because it's slightly smaller than the old unit. We did have to make adjustments because the Excel gets combustion air from vents on the side of the unit, so the exhaust vent pipe (which is included--bonus!!) is just 3" in diameter, whereas our old Rinnai had a dual-layer exhaust pipe that drew in the combustion air from outside the building, and thus had a larger-diameter pipe. (We ended up re-using part of the old Rinnai vent almost as a wall thimble, which centered the new vent in the oversize hole.)
There is a certain minimum flow required for the unit to kick on (just like our old Rinnai). You may have to turn the hot water faucet up to full blast for a few seconds to before you hear the "whoosh" of the gas jets coming on. After that, you can usually get away with turning the flow back down to normal.
We would absolutely buy this unit again. We were quoted $1,500 to replace our Rinnai with a tank-style unit (because supply lines would have to be moved) and over $3,000 to replace with a new tankless unit (because apparently the plumber thought we were easy marks.) So this easily saved us a thousand dollars.
PROS
• You cannot be the price for a 6.6 GMP unit.
• Even with the extra $38 for the buyer protection policy, this unit is still cheaper than the other units I looked at by over $125.
• It comes with a brass reducer for the gas line fitting.
• It comes with the horizontal venting.
• The LED display is super-simple and has animated blue flame and showerhead icons that appears when the hot water is running somewhere in the house.
• The unit makes more than enough hot water for our 3-bedroom house. It's not uncommon for someone to be in the shower when someone else is doing laundry. No problems at all.
CONS
• The instructions read as though they were translated by Google Translate from Chinese into German into English. They're mainly nonsense. However, if you are replacing an existing tankless unit, it will be obvious what goes where and you will rarely refer to the instructions. The only nugget of wisdom I got out of the instructions was a factoid that the unit will shut itself off as a safety once it has run continuously for 30 minutes. You're supposed to turn the water off for a second then back on to reset it. Ours has been installed for 2 weeks, and I have honestly not noticed that it has ever turned itself off.
• You may have to buy a couple of reducing fittings for the cold in and hot out nipples, depending on your setup.
• Very minor--this unit was manufactured for the European market so the display is in Celsius. Just ask your smart phone to translate that into Fahrenheit for you so you can set the temp.
• Not sure how I feel about this, but it does have a manufacture date sticker that makes it about 15 years old. It is obviously brand new/never used, and I don't think tankless water heater technology has changed that much since it was manufactured, so I'm OK with it. I did buy the extra protection policy, however.
| Manufacturer | EXCEL |
|---|---|
| Part Number | 0707239100098 |
| Item Weight | 40 pounds |
| Product Dimensions | 14.5 x 5.5 x 23 inches |
| Item model number | JSD10D 10D |
| Is Discontinued By Manufacturer | No |
| Style | Indoor Installation |
| Voltage | 110 Volts |
| Item Package Quantity | 1 |
| Special Features | Vented |
| Batteries Included? | No |
| Batteries Required? | No |
