Space Savings and Increased Effeciency With a Tankless Hot Water Heater

Project: Manhattan Remodel and Cape Cod Affordable, Episode 9, Part 2



Bob joins Jason Hill of New England Classic as the paneling is installed in the kitchen and living area of the Manhattan Brownstone floor-through apartment. This ready-to-assemble Shaker-style flat panel is paint-ready, medium-density fiberboard faced with a wood veneer. The baseboard is applied first with panel adhesive, checked for level, and nailed in place. Each panel and vertical stile is then set and checked to be sure it?s level and plumb. Panels fit snugly into the rabbeted stiles and are tapped into place. Top rails and caps complete the profile. Bob then meets with Chris Vila, the project manager, and Robert Kirkpatrick of Rinnai to preview the tankless water-heating system. These compact units are wall-mounted and self-contained, have a copper heat exchanger inside, and flow valves with sensors to determine flow rate and temperature of the incoming water. These systems save 70 percent over traditional electric hot-water systems, provide significant space savings, and produce an endless supply of hot water. Bob wraps with the installation of Woodport historically accurate, five-panel doors. The Thorough Construction crew cuts mortises for the brass hinges, builds a jamb, installs it and sets it to level using shims, then trims the door before hanging it.
Part 1: Installing the Pre-Cut Paneling System
Part 2: Space Savings and Increased Effeciency With a Tankless Hot Water Heater
Robert Kirkpatrick from Rinnai joins Bob to explain the tankless hot-water system being installed in the Manhattan Brownstone. Kirkpatrick explains that there are three key advantages to the tankless system. There's a huge space savings since the unit mounts on a wall, sparing the 12 to 16 square feet of floor space typically dedicated to the water tank. These tankless systems are also 70 percent more efficient than electric hot-water tanks. Most impressive of all, they provide an endless supply of hot water since the water is heated on demand rather than kept in storage. Kirkpatrick shows Bob the flow sensors that receive the water, generate the demand for heat, and gauge the amount of energy necessary to heat it to the desired temperature. The water is heated as it passes through the copper heat exchanger at the top of the unit. A double-wall pipe serves as the combustion air intake and the exhaust for the system, with a vent chamber up the middle surrounded by air intake along the perimeter of the pipe. This system is cost efficient as well, with payback of the initial investment in two to four years.
Part 3: Choosing a Historically Appropriate Door and Creating the Jambs and Hanging a Door
This project deals with two very different notions of home. Bob begins on New York City's Upper West Side, where an 1890s Brownstone is revitalized through high-quality craftsmanship and sensitive design. New York's past meets its present, as the entire floor is recaptured and refurbished to create a spacious urban apartment on the doorstep of Central Park.

At the same time, Bob works with a Cape Cod developer to apply Massachusetts land use statute 40B to create affordable housing, and a neighborhood of homes in Mashpee, MA. These Energy Star certified homes show how quality building practices and reasonable asking prices can work together to provide livable, affordable homes and neighborhoods to those who work in our communities.

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