Takagi vs Noritz

So which one is better? It is Takagi vs. Noritz or vs. Navien or Rinnai.

Let’s start with the technology. They all use the same technology, pretty much same efficiency, no secrets there. Noritz advertises the "Dual Burner" technology. Is that a significant advantage to others? No. It is like your old 4 barrel vs. 2 barrel carburetor. They all modulate their burners to adjust for the desired heat and therefore desired water temperature. Turning off one set of burners versus turning down all burners gives you the same result.

I like the single burner actually better because it is less complex and of course less things to go wrong with the unit. The dual burner has no real advantage I am aware of.

I like simple elegant solutions to problems. Less parts, less things to go bad and longer lasting, usually.

Takagi and Noritz are both made in Japan and do share some components and have very comparable warranties. Rinnai is also made in Japan and has a different venting system than all the others. Better? Not really. One thing I like about the Rinnai is that it has the condensation trap built in. On the other units a lot installers forget or don't bother to install it because of the additional cost. That condensation trap if not installed can shorten the life of the heat exchanger significantly and it is not normally observed by the customer that it is missing.

Rinnai has a very nice look to it. I sometimes refer to it as the Stainless Steel refigerator and the others as the regular. Rinnai is a bit more expensive than the others and has spent more money on branding and marketing.

Navien is made in South Korea and fairly new to the US. It has a better presence in Canada. It has some innovative features, like some with a built in small tank that lets you trickle hot water. That little tank acts like a buffer and has a built in pump. Now is it better or does it heat the water better? Not in my opinion. As said Navien doesn't have much history here but in Canada they had product recalls.

Navien claims 98% efficiency, all others have about 94%. Is the 4% difference real? I don't know. Does it matter? I don't think so.

So at the end all these brands, Navien, Noritz, Rinnai and Takagi are technically very much the same. They deliver all very much the same amount of hot water using the same amount of heating energy. They also have pretty much the same warranties. It comes down to reliability and support in case something goes wrong.

I personally like Takagi because of service. 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... beep".

Now if something goes wrong Friday afternoon after business hours I want to be able to call someone to come and fix it and not have to wait until Monday.

One service we at Just Tankless offer at additional cost is that when something goes wrong you call us not the manufacture and we'll come and fix it within a few hours, warranty or not. It gives a peace of mind to our customers because let's face it most people can't do without hot water for long.

The most important thing of course is that the tankless water heater is only reliable when installed correctly; it is not like your old storage tank water heater that a couple of pipes are connected and it is done. It is therefore important to buy and have it installed by a company trained to do this with a good track record.