We hear this question at least 3 times a week. The short answer is probably not. Allow me to clarify. We are more than willing to sell you a tankless water heater in a box. Can you install it yourself? 99 out of 100 cannot. The actual act of mounting and connecting a tankless water heater isn’t the hard part in the whole tankless equation. That is simple plumbing, and anyone with basic knowledge of plumbing practices, and who has basic plumbing tools, can get that part of the project done. The hard part of a tankless retrofit is knowing how to size the system, where to install it, how to vent it, and what to expect performance wise based on the choices you have before you. We also have to determine if the current gas meter is of sufficient size to handle the added BTU load that a tankless will bring, and many other factors must be considered before a positive endorsement can be made for switching to tankless. Tankless water heater installation is a “Specialty Niche” of the plumbing trade. A contractor that specializes in tankless water heaters (like Washington Water Heaters) is very much a specialist. I can’t tell you how many times we get the call to go fix a newly installed tankless water heater that a plumber just installed. Since we do the majority of the warranty repairs in the Puget Sound, we get these calls from the manufacturer’s representatives. We arrive and in most cases quickly see that it isn’t an issue with the heater itself. It is usually an installation error, or the customer was never told what they could really expect out of the system from the start. This scenario doesn’t necessarily mean the original plumber is incompetent. It simply shows that this plumber doesn’t do enough of them to really become familiar with all the do’s and don’ts of tankless. It is like going to a neurosurgeon if you need an operation on your foot. A podiatrist and a neurosurgeon are both MD’s, but they don’t specialize in the same medicine. At Washington Water Heaters, we are THE plumbers who SPECIALIZE in tankless water heater system design, repair, and installation in the Puget Sound region.
