# Forum Home Renovation Plumbing  Rinnai 26 Infinity or Rheem 27 Integrity Continous Gas Water Heater?

## sasha1

Hi  
I am getting gas from the street connected and would like to replace my existing electric water heater. Looked at the Rinnai 26 and Rheem 27. Would prefer to buy these brands only.Both brands seems similar to me when reviewing the website specs, except the extra 1 litre on the Rheem. I am keen to know what others think. Planning to get a controller installed as well. Proposed location will be close to the bathroom. Would prefer a 55 degree model. Installation will have a a 25mm main gas line with 20mm t junction to the water unit. Rinnai seems to be more popular when I go walking around my suburb and wonder if they have better marketing. While the Rheem 27 is about $100 cheaper than the Rinnai - I am not too worried about price but want a good unit that does not have fluctuations in temp when having a shower. I am aware that a tempering valve is required for any water to the bathroom. I like the flexibility of using the controller to adjust temperatures while still having the option of a slightly higher temp in the kitchen for washing up.
I have been told by Rheem that their unit have a LCD screen for easy fault diagnosis and it is a later model in terms of technology.  
Thanks in advance and really looking forward to comment from others who may have them currently or installers.

----------


## johnc

We have the Rinnai 26, no complaints and no trouble from new. On start up it tends to cool off after a few seconds then settle back right at the start of the shower but remain constant after that, not enough to bother us. It is linked to a Solar HWS but I have no idea what difference that makes.

----------


## Peeeeda

Query Rinnai as they often have promotions with free controllers etc and I'm pretty sure they now supply the units at 53'C instead of 50.  I always put in Bosch 26 as it was $200 less than Rinnai 26.  All units come with a three year warranty.   The Rheem 27 isn't any more advanced than the Rinnai 26 in my opinion.  The more gadgets and electrickery on a unit the more to go wrong.  Having said that, all instantaneous units are usually very reliable with most problems being down to installer error or clogged up water filter.

----------


## VinceS

I bought my natural gas powered Rheem 26 3 years ago, so immediately my experience is somewhat dated. It does work well and we bought all the controllers (ie a main plus 2 bathroom ones). It is really cool being able to fill a bath to a set temperature and have it turn off and beep when ready! We got the "unrestricted" model which goes to 60 degrees rather than the 50 degree limited version, my logic for this was that sometimes you want really hot water, plus I figured you can get higher flow rates when needed as you can blend more cold in for the same temp. We have tried both 50 and 60 settings and there is a difference, but it is small. Of course the controllers allow you to set whatever temp you want so the only logic to get the restricted one is that a child COULD turn the temp up then go scald themselves. Not an issue for us but I mounted the controllers fairly high up so any future resident's children at least need to be school age to get at them! 
My research at the time found out that these are the SAME heater by the way and only the controllers varied. As in they come from the same factory! So you can't actually make a mistake here. I had INTENDED to buy the Rinnai unit because the controller was slightly better then the Rheem unit but, with the very similar names and 3 month gap between decision and purchase I accidentally bought the Rheem unit. It wasn't something I felt strongly about, it was just one of many decisions in owner building the place so an easy stuff-up to make and anyway I got it at a good price - plus, as I said, you can't make a mistake here. So decide based on controller features and price and get on to the next thing.......! 
In operation it is annoying to discover that a black-out results in a "stays off" condition which you typically discover while standing in the shower waiting for the hot which never comes. The first time was quite funny as I pulled the cover off the main unit and found the detailed schematic and trouble shooting info and, after I had gone to some effort to understand the detail of how it all worked finally looked at the troubleshooting stuff, first step was to check if the unit was turned on. Oh Doh!!! 
Another aspect is that there is a minimum flow condition at which it turns off, this seems slightly higher than I would like it and I think it is worth getting the plumber to check and adjust for this on installation. It kicks in at about half of full bore in a typical water miser type shower which from memory is 9l/min so hot water drops out around 4l/min. I know it is adjustable as it is on the schematic somewhere but have never bothered to go back in the box again for a fiddle, and anyway from what I remember it is NOT something your average person would figure out - get the installer to check and adjust it as needed. If it is allowed by the manufacturer I would go for about 2l/min minimum before it drops out. But of course if you "do nothing" you will still be happy with the unit! 
Edit: I would just add that, when I did my original comparo they were both "26" units. If Rheem are now calling theirs "27" that could be that they have measured / adjusted it slightly and realise they can now claim 27 to get a point of differentiation to Rinnai, or something else could be going on. This above is my experience, whether it is still relevant is another q....?

----------

