The Rinnai RC98HPe Tankless Exterior Water Heater is the latest design of high efficiency condensing units and will soon be available in the US. The condensing boiler design uses an additional stage of the heat exchanger to preheat the incoming water using the heat in the flue gases that previously would have been exhausted. The condensing design uses so much of the heat out of the flue gases that water vapor in the flue gases condense to water. This condensing feature of the Rinnai RC98HPe gives it an efficiency of up to 95%, which makes it eligible for many Grants, Rebates, and Income Tax Credits under the guidelines of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act which is promoting high efficiency appliance designs that decrease our energy usage, have low emissions, and help to stimulate our economy.
Rinnai is a Japanese based corporation that that was started in the 1920’s selling pressurized oil cooking stoves and expanded into many other products including water heaters by the 1930’s. Rinnai entered the US market in 1974 selling spa heaters and today the company has a state of the art research, training, and distribution center in Peachtree, Georgia along with branch offices and training facilities in Texas, Florida, and California. Rinnai is recognized as one of the leading companies manufacturing tankless water heaters worldwide.
The Rinnai RC98HPe Tankless Exterior Water Heater has a modulating burner that fires between 9,500 – 199,000 BTU/h as needed for any flow of hot water from 0.4 – 9.8 gallons per minute. The Rinnai RC98HPe can be ordered to fire on either Natural Gas or, LP Gas and is designed to be mounted outside on a wall and has anti-frost protection built in. Tankless water heating offers the ability to supply continuous hot water to multiple demands without running out of hot water, tankless water heaters are much smaller than tank type water heaters, and they do not have the risk of flooding like a tank water heater and are expected to have a longer service life. The Rinnai RC98HPe comes set at 120 Degrees F but with the optional remote control panel may be adjusted from 98 – 120 Degrees F and the maximum can be set to 140 Degrees F. With the MCC-91 controller for commercial and hydronic applications the temperature is adjustable from 98 – 185 Degrees F. Safety devices installed on the Rinnai RC98HPe Tankless Water Heater includes flame failure sensor, boiling protection, rpm check on the combustion fan, remaining flame sensing, a thermal fuse for overheat protection, frost protection, and fused protection for over current protection. The RC98HPe meets the Low NOx requirements of SCAQMD in California and the emission requirements of Texas as well. The Rinnai RC98HPe has a 12-Year Warranty on the Heat Exchanger, a 5-Year Parts, and1-Year Labor Warranty on residential water heating applications.