tankless

Somewhere 37,000 feet above the Pacific Ocean, Eric Silva texted me that he had embarked on a journey of a lifetime. Chosen among a select group of contractors to accompany Navien execs to the company’s headquarters and production facilities in South Korea, Silva was excited, yet humbled, to visit the global HQ, take in some sights and attend the 2018 Winter Olympics. “Who would have ever thought plumbing would take you to something like this?” asked Silva. “Why me? This is a very unique and humbling opportunity.”

At the age of 17, Silva initially got into plumbing by digging basements for his uncle, who was a union residential contractor. A few months later—at the age of 18—Silva decided to apply to the local plumber’s union, at which he was initially rejected for what he says as being too “high profile.” Silva, outspoken on many topics in the trade, and rightfully so, indicated that union officials weren’t too elated with his “cockiness” when he responded, “in one of your chairs” when asked where he saw himself in 10 years.

Yet, Silva was just being forthright in his response. To be fair, Silva saw big picture: he also wanted his journeyman’s card and he wanted to own his own business one day. Realistically, Silva was confident and measured in his approach, and he was being honest, traits that he has carried with him to this day.

In 2000, Silva ultimately was accepted into the UA Local 98 Plumbers & Pipefitters, Madison Heights, Mich., to which he is eternally grateful for the education he received there. By 2005, Silva was running neighborhood service north of Detroit as a foreman for a large residential contractor, focusing on residential water heaters and boilers, hydronic and gas piping.

Fast forward to 2010—during the country’s economic downturn, Silva decided to go on his own to start Silva Mechanical LLC, Walled Lake, Mich., a one-man shop that specializes in tankless water heaters, hydronic heating, on-demand boilers and backflow testing. A difficult decision for sure, but one Silva may have been forced to make.

“When the economy went down, much like a lot of other guys, you didn’t have anything to fall back on but plumbing,” says Silva. “It was a sink- or swim-type deal. You never know what you are able to accomplish until your back is pushed up against the wall. We are all faced with adversity everyday; life obviously gives us a number of decisions,” says Silva.

Fortunately, in 2011, there was a resurgence in new residential construction, which gave him enough work to propel him forward, and Silva has not looked back since. “As workplaces continue to shrink, more and more people are starting on their own,” says Silva. “For those just getting into the trade, you have the ability to make it what you want it to be.”

A self-proclaimed enthusiast and believer in everything he sets out to do, Silva puts his best foot forward in servicing on-demand water heaters and boilers. In fact, a recent customer review of his work said, “We chose Silva Mechanical and its Navien package because of the company’s product knowledge, enthusiasm, and peace of mind knowing that the installer is the master plumber and mechanical contractor who’s doing the install, and it’s the most inclusive installation package.”

That is saying something, especially in a time when the plumbing industry faces a number of obstacles: DIYers, big box store renegades, bad installs and guys competing for work against those less experienced, or those not even licensed. According to Silva, bad installs and installers are the death sentence of the trade. In Michigan, says Silva, only one member of a plumbing shop needs to be licensed. “Wrong installations are killing the trades.” The concern then becomes underqualified workers overcharging customers. “I’m not going to sell you a high-dollar product and hope that it works,” says Silva. “Some companies are motivated by sales; I sell product lines at an affordable price.”

Everyday Silva crosses paths with somebody who knows someone who has had what Silva calls a “junk unit,” and his goal it to take that skeptic and make them a believer. “Every company believes they deserve the highest premium because of their ‘extensive training,’ yet we’re providing customers the highest quality materials, and still matching or beating our competitor’s price with a more inclusive package,” says Silva.

In a day and age when contractors look to diversify their business to increase income streams, Silva is doing just the opposite. As a licensed and insured master plumber and mechanical contractor, Silva has relied on his core competencies. “I’ve been installing on-demand water heaters for 12 years and never thought I could make it 100% a staple of my business, and realized that maybe I was too diverse,” says Silva.

In the end, it’s still comes down to relationships. For Silva, it’s the relationships he’s built, not only with Navien, but Rinnai, Nortiz, A.O. Smith and Triangle Tube that has allowed Silva Mechanical to stay ahead of the pack. In fact, the company is the first company in the U.S. as A.O. Smith approved for tankless products, says Silva.

Meanwhile, while other companies claim to be experts, Silva continues to accumulate the accolades. The local area rep, says Silva, coined the company as one of the “premier installers of our state.” A Navien engineer refers to Silva Mechanical as “premium installation, premium service,” and a Navien senior tech nominated him for the contractor of the year in 2017. “An expert is someone that excels in what they know. The only thing the folks in metro Detroit need to know is, ‘Silva Knows Tankless,’” says a confident Silva.

So to answer the original question, “Why Silva?” I have to believe it’s excelling at his job, confident and measured in his everyday approach to the trade, and being a loyal Navien enthusiast who promotes a good product at an affordable price. It’s also the dedication to the product line by continuing education and attending intensive training courses.

Ultimately, it is being damn good at what you do, would be my answer. Yet, perhaps it’s in the simplicity of Silva’s overall message to service contracting, “Give the customer a greater service than what they originally had.”

For more information on Silva Mechanical, www.silvamechanical.com.

Navien tankless water heaters have been in the US market for quite some time, I recently installed the latest model in my own home. I live in central Minnesota, in a rural area where until this summer I had not had access to Natural Gas. Two Navien NPE-240A condensing tankless water heaters have now replaced existing, 13 year old, tank water heaters. Here’s my take on the build, installation and overall performance.

First off, as with all tankless water heaters careful consideration must be taken to calculate needed performance values such as total flow rate needed, gas supply available, venting options, recirculation requirements and water temperature   delta-t.

The Navien NPE-240A has a minimum input of 19,900 Btu/h with its maximum topping off at 199K. The negative pressure gas valve and fan with dual venturi operation allows for better adaptability to low gas pressure applications. Operating gas pressures of 3.5” w.c. – 10.5” w.c. are required. The dual stainless steel heat exchangers are an industry exclusive [at time of posting this review].

2” & 3” 2 in or 3 in PVC, CPVC, Polypropylene
 & Special Gas Vent Type BH (Class II, A/B/C) are listed as optional venting sizes and materials for both the intake and exhaust.

The NPE-A models features the “Comfort Flow” built-in recirculation system that monitor use patterns and closely match the hot water needs of the home or commercial building in an effort to eliminate the “cold water sandwich” that plagued the early tankless installs for so long. A built-in buffer tank and recirc pump are included.

The NPE-240A model has ¾” water, recirculation and gas connections. The unit comes equipped with a standard 120V appliance cord [installed] and operates between 200 and 300 watts (max 3 A with external pump connected).

The typical safety devices included are a flame rod sensor, ignition operation detector, water temp high limit switch, power surge fuse and an exhaust temp high limit sensor.

I have to point out that the overall size of the NPE-240 is rather large when compared to other top brands on the market. To be honest, this is a positive in my opinion. The larger cabinet affords more room inside. Where other tankless models are ultra cramped, this one is slightly less cramped. A little larger cabinet and heat exchanger adds to the total weight, the NPE-240A (w/ hot water circ pump & buffer tank) tips the scale at 82lbs. The cabinet measurements are as follows: 29” tall, 17” wide, 13” deep.

I have been installing and servicing tankless water heaters for a little over fifteen years. In that time dozens of models have came and went, none of them had the built-in features that the NPE has. The ability to operate under such low gas supply pressure, link up to 16 units in one group easily with a simple cable and control configuration. Common venting is a breeze too, though standard individual venting in 2” PVC/CPVC/PP can go as long as 60’. The 0.01 minimum flow rate for the “A” model is outrageously low when compared to the units we were installing as recent as 5 years ago.

In summary:

My family hasn’t noticed any changes since I made the switch to tankless. The installation was extremely simple, more so than other models I have installed in the past. I’m impressed by the easy to read and access front control and just how quiet the NPE model is; it’s nearly silent.

I’ll update this review if any issues arise over the next year. Thanks for your time, I hope you found this useful.

Eric Aune

Aune Plumbing, LLC

A. O. Smith launches the Simplicity Series of concentric venting, non-condensing tankless water heaters — designed to make installations simple and flexible through a new gas convertible combustion system.

Alongside the energy-efficient technology built into every A. O. Smith tankless product, this newline will please installers and distributors alike, according to David Chisolm, vice president of marketing for A. O. Smith.

“These units were built using a concentric vent design, which allows for simpler and more flexible installations with commercially available venting,” said Chisolm.

The Simplicity Series models come in three sizes and are designed to easily convert from naturalgas to propane – with all necessary components already in the box. This new line will assist distributors in managing their inventories by reducing the number of product variations needed,which ensures product availability as well.

“By incorporating a gas convertible combustion system into the design, we’ve eliminated theneed for our distributors to stock all the typical designs to meet field demand, effectively cuttingtheir product variations in half,” said Chisolm.

Available in 140K, 190K and 199K BTU versions and ULN-certified, the Simplicity Seriesscores a 0.82 EF rating. These new models also come equipped with integrated controls that make temperature adjustment and diagnostic review easier.