Tankless Water Heater Installation in Ahwatukee Foothills, Phoenix

A range proves there's a meter. The route is the next question.

Gas at the kitchen means service reaches the house. What it does not show is where the nearest gas pipe runs compared with where the electric tank stands, and that stretch of new pipe, from the meter or the existing piping to the unit's spot, becomes part of the job.

Yes, and it is the one question worth answering before anyone drives anywhere.

Southwest Gas's Energy Specialists can tell you whether the address has a natural gas connection, and that call takes minutes. Until service is confirmed, a gas unit cannot be scheduled, so confirming it is the first hour worth spending on this job.

On a zero-lot-line home, that wall may not be yours alone to change.

Mountain Park Ranch explains that the side of a zero-lot-line home facing the neighbor is reached across the neighbor's lot, and its rules allow no change in that easement area without the association's review committee and both owners agreeing. A garage wall, a closet, or another side of the house is usually the simpler place to start.

Venting and power join the gas question.

A gas tankless unit needs a vent path to the outside and, on a Navien model like the NPE-240S2, a 120-volt supply. The closet that suited an electric tank may not offer either, so the unit's spot is chosen where gas, vent, and power can all reach it. Any change to the old tank's circuit is work for an electrician.

Southwest Gas tells customers who use electricity and want to convert to call its Energy Specialists at 800-654-2765, and says they “can let you know if you have a natural gas connection.”

The work stays downstream of the meter. A new branch runs to the unit's spot, tapped from the meter or off the gas pipe already in the house, and the City of Phoenix's residential permit page lists projects that change gas lines as needing a permit.

Southwest Gas sets the steps and the date for a new meter; ask its Energy Specialists when you call. A gas unit waits until service is in place.

Much of Ahwatukee Foothills is master-planned, and the associations' written rules reach an outside-wall unit. The Ahwatukee Board of Management's guidelines cover any exterior change “which may be visible from the street or neighboring properties,” and say submission to its review committee “is always required before any work may commence.” A tankless heater is not one of the items those guidelines list, and for unlisted projects “the Committee will determine what criteria and/or documentation is required for approval.” The most similar equipment rule among them for mini-split air conditioners requires a ground-mounted, screened unit with “All conduit ... painted to match the surrounding paint colors.” Lots with their own sub-association follow that association's guidelines instead.

That is why the wall is chosen before the unit. A garage or closet spot keeps the heater inside, with only its vent showing; an outside wall can bring the association's rules into the plan, and a zero-lot-line side can bring the neighbor into it as well.

Navien lists vent and intake pipe of 2- or 3-inch PVC or other approved materials and a 120-volt supply for the NPE-240S2. Where both can reach decides where the unit can hang, and the distance from the meter to that spot sets the length of new gas pipe.

The electric tank's own circuit is left behind. Whether it is reused, changed or capped is decided by an electrician, and the quote names it as such.