RinnaiRUR199eN Condensing Tankless Hot Water Heater, 11 GPM, Natural Gas, Outdoor Installation

Our old water heater was in the laundry room, limiting us to an old, small stackable unit that I had to repair about every 8 months. Laundry day took forever. It seemed a tankless unit was the answer to our prayers, but having read the reviews here, and gotten a couple of estimates, I was very worried that I was throwing away a lot of money.I am pleased to say my worries were unfounded. After some debate, I went with the bigger unit (against my plumbers advice), but we can run two showers at once with no problem, and while everything I read said that the smaller unit should cover us, I wanted to be sure.I shadowed the plumber for the entire installation, and I can comfortably say that many of the nightmares I read about were a result of installer error.I had an existing, but broken dedicated recirculating line already, and we were able to use that, rather than the other system where you connect your hot and cold lines to make the recirc line.The unit came with the wireless module and, despite horrible reviews on the App Store, I have had no trouble at all with it. I can schedule times for the recirculation to be active, or I can activate it manually with no problems.We get unlimited hot water, instantly (when scheduled), and we now have a much larger laundry room with full sized units and cabinets. I couldn’t be happier.

We are using the Rinnai RUR199iN in Chicago. The incoming winter-time water temperature can be in the low 40's. This water heater will run 4 body jets and rain-head at full-flow, all at once, without problem. Each of those are rated at 1.5 Gal/Min by Kohler, so a total of 7.5 Gal/Min of HOT water.The optional WiFi module is attached. We use the Control-R app, one wireless button, and Alexa to ask for recirculation. Zero issues with any of those three.The unit is very quite, even when running in recirculation. The utility room is below the master bath, you can hear the water heater (when it is on) only if the room is otherwise silent. Even still, the sound is faint and not at all unpleasant.I intentionally tested some of another reviewer's complaints. I unplugged the water heater to simulate a power outage. After giving it a couple hours, I restored power. The set temperature of 120 returned, and the WiFi module reconnected in under 30 seconds. Additionally we have experienced internet outages, the WiFi module stays connected to the router and reconnects to the internet like every other device on the network when internet is restored, so I can't understand how there could be an issue (we had none).Making parameter adjustments requires access to the main board inside the heater, but I can't imagine why a user would need to switch back and forth between comfort/economy recirculation, so it's a non-issue for us.I self-installed the heater, the instructions are fabulous, but this is not a do-it-yourself type of project unless you have advanced plumbing skills. We were pleasantly surprised to find the WiFi module and crossover valve included in the box!Rinnai is the most popular tankless in the US, and has been in other markets for decades. This was one of the primary reason we chose the more expensive Rinnai. Additionally , the maximum venting distance for 2" pipe is 65 feet!The Control-R app is not as fancy as many out there, but it is completely functional for us, it meets our needs.Because we have not had a single issue, I have not called their support line, so I cannot comment on that.

Really is an endless supply of hot water. Recirculation feature supplies hot water within 2 seconds at every faucet. You will need a professional to install. I added a dedicated recirculation line, which cost more to install, but I don't get warm water when I turn on the cold. If you purchase, be sure to get an extra cost controller, because the recirculation feature wont work without one - I got the wireless one, which gives lots of ways to schedule recirculation. Also has a vacation feature to turn off the recirculation when you aren't home.Only complaint is that the heater shipped to me with the recirculation feature turned off in the parameters - you have to open the heater and push a button which is behind a plastic sheet that says "Do Not Touch."

Heats up water extremely fast.