Tankless Water Heater Installation in Scottsdale, AZ
Two Scottsdale houses can buy the same tankless heater and need it set up two different ways. The choice in front of you here is less about which model than about which side of the 2,000-foot line your address sits on, because that line is where a tankless heater's altitude setup and its output change.
Above 2,000 feet, the altitude setting is part of a Scottsdale tankless install, entered in the maker's manual alongside the gas line sizing for the heater. Navien is Pavel Farcas (Paul)'s pick for new work, and other major brands go in when a customer prefers one.
AZ ROC #150707
Licensed, Bonded & Insured
Navien Preferred
Rinnai, Rheem, Noritz & Bosch Installed
1-Year Workmanship Warranty
Christian, Family-Owned
10% Off Water Heater Installs
Six-Day Schedule
Installs and calls run Monday through Saturday, 7 to 7.Veterans and 55+
Take 15% off. Seniors, service members, and first responders take 10%.Payment Without Cards
Check, cash, or Zelle settles the invoice.Descaling, Priced
The yearly tankless descale runs about $250.Holiday Calls
Work on a holiday is billed at the 25% holiday rate.Missed Call?
Missed a call from us? Expect it back, usually within 10 to 15 minutes.AZ ROC #150707
Licensed, Bonded & Insured
Navien Preferred
Rinnai, Rheem, Noritz & Bosch Installed
1-Year Workmanship Warranty
Christian, Family-Owned
10% Off Water Heater Installs
Six-Day Schedule
Installs and calls run Monday through Saturday, 7 to 7.Veterans and 55+
Take 15% off. Seniors, service members, and first responders take 10%.Payment Without Cards
Check, cash, or Zelle settles the invoice.Descaling, Priced
The yearly tankless descale runs about $250.Holiday Calls
Work on a holiday is billed at the 25% holiday rate.Missed Call?
Missed a call from us? Expect it back, usually within 10 to 15 minutes.What a Tankless Install Covers in Scottsdale
Conversions, replacements, and new foothills builds come down to four pieces of work, with the altitude setup covered in the next section.
Gas supply
A tankless burner draws far more gas at full fire than a tank does. The existing line is measured against the heater's demand and everything else on the same pipe, and it is resized only when the numbers say it has to be. Plenty of homes can keep their lines.
Venting and condensate
Condensing units vent through plastic pipe and produce acidic condensate that needs a code-compliant drain route. Placement follows the vent path and the clearances required by the maker.
Recirculation, priced as an option
A recirculation pump does not come standard. On a long run to a far bathroom, it can be added, and we price it as its own line so you can decide.
Where the old tank stood
A conversion frees up the closet or garage corner the tank used. The old gas stub, water lines, and flue can be capped or removed to suit the new layout, and that work is priced with the install.
Scottsdale Crosses the 2,000-Foot Line
Navien draws its first altitude line at 2,000 feet, and Scottsdale climbs through that mark inside its own limits. Two homes in the same city can need the same heater set up two different ways.
From the airport to the foothills
Scottsdale Airport's surveyed field elevation is about 1,510 feet. The City lists the Pinnacle Peak Park trailhead at 2,570 feet, and Desert Mountain puts its Chiricahua clubhouse on a hillside at 3,300 feet.
What Navien says happens above 2,000 feet
Navien's installation manual for its NPE-2 series states that above 2,000 feet the unit de-rates by 3% on natural gas for every 1,000 feet of altitude gain. The same manual warns that failing to use the appropriate altitude settings could cause carbon monoxide poisoning. On a foothills install, the altitude setting is part of the job, set before the heater goes into service.
Sizing for the elevation you actually live at
A heater chosen from a flow chart drawn for low ground can come up short at a higher address, most noticeably when two showers run in winter. For a Scottsdale home above the line, we size with the de-rate in mind. Whichever brand goes on the wall gets set to its own manual.
A ceiling the city stays under
Navien calls for a different gas orifice on natural gas installs above 5,400 feet. Scottsdale's highest point, Butte Peak, stands at 4,890 feet, so no natural gas installation inside the city reaches that elevation; the altitude setting is the adjustment that applies here.
Gas pipe sized from the City's adopted tables
When the City adopted the 2021 fuel gas code, it kept Appendix A, the tables for sizing gas piping by capacity and length. A tankless conversion is where those tables matter most, because the new burner joins the range, dryer, and any outdoor appliances already on the line.
Three Steps to Hot Water That Keeps Up
The site visit
Call (602) 883-2787. We look at where the heater can be mounted and vented, measure the gas line from the meter to the appliance, count the fixtures that will run at once, and note whether the address is above 2,000 feet.
One price, every line item shown
Heater, gas work, venting, condensate, any treatment, and optional recirculation each get their own line, so you can see where the money goes.
Install and configure
Swapping the heater takes most of a day. Entering the altitude and temperature settings takes two minutes and determines what the unit will actually deliver here, so the settings screen is turned around and shown to you with your elevation figure on it.
Serving Scottsdale From Our Phoenix Base
American Discount Plumbing is based in Phoenix and serves all of Scottsdale.
Tankless Calls From the Foothills to Old Town
“Our tankless can't keep up when two showers run.”
Undersized for the house, or set up for the wrong altitude.
A unit sized from a low-elevation chart, or left on its factory setting at a higher address, delivers less than its label rating. Checking the altitude setting and the gas supply comes before any talk of a bigger heater.
“Is the tankless heater in the house we just bought set up for this elevation?”
A configuration answer usually comes out of that, and it costs nothing to check.
The maker's manual shows where the altitude setting lives on each model. A unit that is still on its factory settings at a higher address can be reset without replacing anything.
“The builder left a spot for a water heater, but nothing is decided.”
New-build and remodel installs, planned from the gas side first.
For a new foothills home, the heater location, vent path, and gas run are easiest to get right before walls and landscaping are finished. Bring the plans or the builder's contact, and we will work from the gas meter's location forward.
“The hot water goes lukewarm when the cooktop and the fire pit are on.”
A gas line shared by more burners than it was sized for.
Every gas appliance added since the house was built shares the same pipe. When the tankless burner asks for its full rate at the same moment, the pipe cannot deliver it and the water temperature sags. The fix is a pipe sized for the whole load, with the heater's altitude setting checked on the same visit.
Altitude, Sizing and Setup: Tankless FAQs
Still have a question? Call Pavel (Paul) directly and get a straight answer, no phone tree.
A phone's compass or map app shows it, and so does any topographic map. Give us the number when you call; it tells us whether the high-altitude setup applies.
It can. The City notes that subdivision CC&Rs may govern items that it does not regulate, so check with your HOA before planning an outdoor unit. An indoor spot with the vent run through a wall or the roof is the usual alternative.
A tankless unit can be reinstalled, but its altitude setting has to match the new address, and above the line it will deliver somewhat less than it did below it. Whether that is enough depends on the new home's fixtures.
Colder water arrives at the heater in winter, so the burner has to add more heat to reach the same temperature, and the flow it can deliver drops. At a higher altitude, that winter drop sits on top of the altitude de-rate.
Yes. A casita unit is sized for its own fixtures and fed by a gas branch sized for it; at a foothills address, the same altitude setting applies.
It helps. The gas line is sized from the meter to the heater, counting everything else on the same pipe, so where the meter sits and what it already feeds are the starting point.
Why a Foothills Tankless Job Goes to Pavel (Paul)
Every Service in Scottsdale
Other Scottsdale pages, and the main service pages they build on:
Tankless and Water Heater Reviews on Google
One homeowner's tank-to-tankless switch is among the jobs our customers have written up on Google.
Above or Below 2,000 Feet in Scottsdale? Call American Discount Plumbing
The elevation of your lot, the size of your gas line, and the showers you run at once decide which heater fits. Tell us the address, and we will start there.
You watch the elevation of your own lot go into the heater's settings. That is the American Discount Plumbing difference.
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