Found out during our Home Performance Test that the venting for our regular hot water heater was not working because the house is too tight to propoerly vent the CO2 out the B-vent. Power venting really wasn't an option because again there is not enough make-up air in the house.

We recruited the help of my favorite plumber (and nephew), Bob Belair. I didn't do a post of his other work, but after seeing the magic he worked with the copper this time, I couldn't resist.

As you can see - it is more involved than a standard hot water heater. Anyone that knows me knows I don't do anything the standard way... The blue tank on the left is a 51 gallon hot water storage tank for the upcoming solar hot water project. The grey unit on the right is the Eternal GU32DV. This hot water heater cures our issue of having a house that is too tight. It has a sealed combustion unit like the furnace. The intake and exhaust are both vented outdoors (the two 4" PVC pipes you see.)

The small black pump you see inline with the copper piping in the upper right is the hot water recirculation pump. When Bob plumbed the master bath shower, we had him pipe in recirculation lines so we didn't have to wait for hot water at the distant fixtures. We love that feature now! But it caused an issue with a standard on-demand hot water heater like a Rinnai. They don't work well with recirc systems. The Eternal has a 6 gallon tank which works perfectly with recirculating hot water. As the name states - Hybrid. Best of both worlds - endless hot water like an on-demand with the benefits of a tank hot water system.

Little wider shot above to let you get the full view. Although we have only had it for a few hours - we are loving it. The placement gave us more room in the utility area and it is nice and quite and will provide years of troublefee service. The Eternal has a 20 year warranty on it and the holding tank has a lifetime warranty.

I have to note that the picture doesn't do the copper work 100% justice. The room is actually angles about 30 60 degrees in the corner and Bob managed to make all the plumbing look awesome. Can't believe it is a retrofit. Worked around the duct work and made it look awesome!

 Thanks to both Bob and Rob for a great job!