We've got very hard water, and have been considering a water softener down the road, but not a great place to install one. Our best option was to convert our water heater to tankless for the additional space, presuming the whole house main comes in underneath the water heater. We've actually got two water heaters, one for downstairs (feeds Master/Kitchen/Utility room) and one for upstairs (feeds kid's/guest bathrooms).
Both water heaters are getting up there in age, probably a good time to replace them regardless. I'm likely going tankless just to give us the option to install a softener in the future. My understanding is that you need a higher efficiency tankless unit if you are replacing a tank unit with a traditional 1/2" line, just due to the fuel demand of the lower efficiency unit, and to utilize the existing ducts. I can't find great info on what supply is adequate for what size tankless unit, so I'm really sticking with units that describe themselves as compatible with a 1/2" supply, like this Rheem (Link)
Finally, I have this set of risers underneath the downstairs water heater (pic below - had to get creative to get it). Ideally, one of them is the incoming supply for the house. I'd like to cut it, and add a shutoff valve, and eventually add the softener in line with this supply. I assume the left line is the hot line, and right the cold line because that's how they exit the wall and enter the water heater.
Here are my questions:
Both water heaters are getting up there in age, probably a good time to replace them regardless. I'm likely going tankless just to give us the option to install a softener in the future. My understanding is that you need a higher efficiency tankless unit if you are replacing a tank unit with a traditional 1/2" line, just due to the fuel demand of the lower efficiency unit, and to utilize the existing ducts. I can't find great info on what supply is adequate for what size tankless unit, so I'm really sticking with units that describe themselves as compatible with a 1/2" supply, like this Rheem (Link)
Finally, I have this set of risers underneath the downstairs water heater (pic below - had to get creative to get it). Ideally, one of them is the incoming supply for the house. I'd like to cut it, and add a shutoff valve, and eventually add the softener in line with this supply. I assume the left line is the hot line, and right the cold line because that's how they exit the wall and enter the water heater.
Here are my questions:
- Any thoughts on this Rheem unit? I think upstairs could get by with something with less flow (2 showers being worst case), so if there's a cheaper alternative that works with existing supply, I'm open to suggestions. I'll probably keep it higher end downstairs.
- Any reason to think there are cold water services that don't go the risers in the picture below? Don't most houses supply all cold water through the water heater closet (1994 build)?
- Any suggestions for a DYI softener?
- Anything I'm missing?