Tankless Water Heater Installation in Smithville, ON — What It Takes to Fit One

Most people in Smithville think about a tankless water heater for the first time when their old tank fails and they have to decide what to put in its place. A tankless unit is a real alternative to another tank, but it is not a straight swap. The gas line, the venting and the yearly cleaning all change, and this page goes through each of them, along with what the rebates in Ontario actually pay for.

When a Tankless Water Heater Suits a Smithville Home

A tankless unit is sized by flow rate, not by the size of the tank it replaces. Canada’s efficiency regulation splits household gas tankless units into two classes at 6.4 litres per minute. (1)

• For units built since 1 January 2020, the class above that line must reach a uniform energy factor of 0.87. (1)
• The class below it must reach 0.86. (1)
• Uniform energy factor is the share of the gas that ends up in your hot water rather than going out of the vent.

The gap between 0.86 and 0.87 is small. Two people who each shower once a day will never notice the difference between 0.86 and 0.87. A household of five running laundry most nights will notice it on the bill.

The two appliances work in different ways. A tank keeps its whole volume hot all the time, so the hot water is ready the moment somebody opens a tap. A tankless unit holds no water at all. It lights when it senses flow and heats the water on its way past, so the gas only burns while a tap is running. That is where the saving comes from, and it is also why flow rate is the number that counts: a tankless unit can only heat the water moving through it at that moment.

So how your household uses hot water matters more than the size of the house. These units suit a home that draws hot water in long stretches. We size one against the bathrooms and the laundry, not against the floor area.

What Fitting a Tankless Unit Involves in a Smithville House

Your water pipes stay where they are. Three other things have to change.

The gas pipe. These units burn far more gas at once than the tank they replace, because the heat is made on demand instead of over an hour. The existing line is often too small for that, so we resize it back toward the meter.

The exhaust. A tank vents straight up a metal flue. A tankless unit vents out through the side wall in plastic pipe, so the wall needs a new hole and we have to agree with you where it goes.

The condensate. A condensing model takes so much heat back off the exhaust that the exhaust gives up water, and that water is acidic. So the unit needs a drain, and in most installations a filter that neutralizes the acid before the water reaches the plumbing.

All of it is fuels work. TSSA’s position is that every fuel-fired appliance should be installed, serviced and inspected by a registered contractor, and it prosecutes. In January 2023 it fined an individual for installing a natural gas furnace without TSSA authorization. (2) Mike Peddle holds a TSSA Gas Technician certificate and a TSSA Heating Contractor registration, and Environmental Heating & Cooling has been family-owned in Smithville since 2014.

Snow is the reason that hole cannot go just anywhere. TSSA warns that vent outlets can sit as low as a foot above the ground, and that a blocked vent raises the carbon monoxide risk inside the house. (3) So we put the outlet clear of the roofline, and clear of where the plow pushes the snow.

Hard Water in Smithville and the Yearly Descale

Health Canada puts it plainly: the calcium and magnesium dissolved in hard water settle out and form scale inside hot water pipes and water heating appliances. (4)

That matters more to a tankless unit than to a tank. A tank has a floor for the sediment to settle on, well away from the hottest part of the tank. A tankless heat exchanger is a set of narrow passages, and it is the hottest metal the water touches anywhere in the unit. Scale forms fastest exactly where the water is hottest, which is inside those passages.

Health Canada calls water between 75 and 150 mg/L moderately hard, and water between 150 and 300 hard. It calls anything over 200 poor, though most households live with it. (4) Treated Niagara water measures in the moderately hard range. Untreated well water, out toward Caledonia and the rural edge of West Lincoln, runs harder than the treated supply.

Missing the yearly descale will not kill a tankless unit. It keeps running, but at reduced flow, so the first thing you notice is the shower going cold the moment somebody opens the kitchen tap.

What Ontario Rebates Cover, and What They Do Not

There is no Ontario rebate for a tankless water heater, gas or electric. (5) The only water heater on that program’s list is the heat pump kind, and a tankless unit does not qualify as one. (5)

Worth knowing before a quote arrives. A contractor advertising a tankless rebate in Ontario is pointing at either a manufacturer promotion or a closed program, and the right question is which.

So the decision comes down to the equipment and the gas bill rather than to a rebate. A tankless unit costs more to buy and more to fit, and what you get back is the gas a tank would have burned keeping water hot while nobody was home. Whether that adds up is a question about how long you are staying. Three or four years in a quiet house will not recover the extra cost. Fifteen years in a busy household can.

Environmental Heating & Cooling has claimed over $2 million in rebates for customers. That is exactly why we say plainly when a rebate does not exist.

What Affects Tankless Water Heater Installation Cost in Smithville

Five conditions of the job move the quote:

• how far the unit sits from the gas meter, and how much of the line needs resizing
• whether the wall where you want the vent can take one, and how long that run of pipe has to be
• whether the model is condensing, which adds the drain and the acid filter
• whether the tank coming out is rented, which you have to settle with the rental company first
• whether the house is on well water, which means descaling more often

Two houses on the same Smithville street can differ on the gas line alone, which is why a real number only comes after someone has seen your basement.

Tankless Water Heater Questions From Smithville Homeowners

Does a tankless water heater work during a power outage?

No. The controls, the fan and the ignition all need electricity, so a gas tankless unit stops when the power goes out.

How often does a tankless water heater need descaling?

Once a year in this area. Scale forms wherever the water is hottest, and in a tankless unit that is the heat exchanger itself. (4)

Is there a rebate for a tankless water heater in Ontario?

No. Home Renovation Savings lists heat pump water heaters and not tankless units, gas or electric. (5)

Can I replace a 50 gallon tank with a tankless unit?

In most Smithville houses yes, but the swap is not like for like. The gas line, the venting and the condensate drain are the three things that decide whether it is straightforward.

Do I have to clear snow off the vent in winter?

Yes. TSSA warns that a vent outlet can sit as low as a foot above the ground, and a blocked one raises the carbon monoxide risk inside the house. (3)

Book a Tankless Water Heater Quote in Smithville

Call the office with three things: how old the current tank is, what it burns, and the number of bathrooms drawing off it. We work across Smithville, Grimsby, Beamsville, Caledonia and West Lincoln.

If you have not ruled out the other options yet, the water heaters page sets out the other ways to heat water in a Smithville house.

References

1. Government of Canada, Regulations Amending the Energy Efficiency Regulations, 2016, (SOR/2019-164), Canada Gazette Part II, gazette.gc.ca
2. Technical Standards and Safety Authority, Individual Fined for Installing Natural Gas Furnace without TSSA Authorization, tssa.org
3. Technical Standards and Safety Authority, TSSA Urges Ontarians to Keep Gas Meters and Fuel-Burning Appliance Vents Free from Snow and Ice, tssa.org
4. Health Canada, Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality: Operational Parameters, canada.ca
5. Save on Energy, Home Renovation Savings, homerenovationsavings.ca