Noritz vs Rinnai

There is no doubt that the water heater market will continue growing even in 2024. Even the U.S. Department of energy prepared a long-term strategy for reducing energy and water bills. But what does this mean to the average user? Which brand should be your pick? Let’s elaborate Noritz vs Rinnai water heater comparison.

Both Noritz and Rinnai offer different types of residential water heaters. However, Noritz is focused only on tankless water heaters, while Rinnai offers a variety of different products in the heating space.

Rinnai offers a range sort of different products in the heating space, while Noritz is focused only on tankless water heaters.

Noritz vs Rinnai Comparison

Some of the key differences between these brands are materials used for heat exchanger, warranty differences, and type of support they provide. Rinnai comes with mobile app that may help you to optimise and control your heating unit. My personal opinion is that Rinnai beats Noritz without any doubts.

Who makes the Noritz water heaters?

Well, it’s Noritz America if you are a North American consumer. The company is a subsidiary of the Japanese Noritz Company but it provides the same level of quality its parent company promises.

That way, you can rest easy knowing your tankless water heater will be just as good as any Noritz-made product.

Noritz is making only tankless water heaters which makes them interesting for potential buyers even more. Their support consists of certified water heater specialists ready to answer you every technical question that may have. They make all the parts themselves and they give 12 years warranty on tankless water heaters.

Noritz has a stainless steel exchanger that could last longer than copper ones built in Rinnai water heaters.

What about Rinnai?

Rinnai is an even older company with over 100 years of experience under its belt. Their focus lies on saving you money and reducing the overall energy use as much as possible. This results in Rinnai heaters being cheap to run, eco-friendly, and reliable. 

Rinnai also has their subsidiaries in America which are most likely going to be the ones providing you with tankless water heaters directly.

Considering their commitment to expanding and enhancing the user experience there’s no doubt these tankless water heaters maintain the same level of excellence as their Japan-made ones or those of their competitors.

Of course, it’s good to check out specific items themselves to really feel the difference.

Noritz vs Rinnai Tankless Water Heaters

The overall comparison comes first. It will give us a better grasp of the strengths and weaknesses of the items they have on offer. 

• Power

For Noritz, power is definitely something they have no problem showcasing. Even when the best of Rinnai’s models are paired up against Noritz they fall behind in sheer power.

Even in terms of natural gas tankless water heaters, which are the prime focus for Rinnai, Noritz easily takes the cake in terms of performance.

While this isn’t the only factor when purchasing a water heater, it can be a rather important one if your household is in a constant and quick need for hot water.

• Reliability 

In terms of reliability, both of these brands are similar. Obviously, the long history they have helped them iron out some of the more common issues that cropped up in previous models.

However, buying a Noritz tankless water heater does come with some issues. Namely, they are known to get plugged up after 8 years of use or so. This means additional repairs to worry about but it does come in later in the overall lifespan of the tankless water heater.

With Rinnai, you don’t have to worry about any bigger problems cropping up during their lifetime. They are exceptionally reliable with only minor hiccups present, although said hiccups are pretty common problems that show up on basically any tankless water heater so the Rinnai brand is as reliable as it gets.  

In the case of both brands, you’ll get 12 years of warranty that will make sure your investment pays out. The water heaters themselves usually last even longer than that, it’s not rare to see them reach the age of 15 with proper care given to them.

• Energy efficiency

Energy efficiency is another important category. [1]

After all, it doesn’t matter how much energy our item uses if it cannot properly turn it into heating power. Without that energy being properly used, we are expending more energy than we are saving by the lower consumption methods.

This category is something Rinnai definitely beats its competitor in. It can achieve over 90% efficiency of used energy while Noritz isn’t capable of reaching those numbers.

Noritz vs Rinnai vs Navien

When it comes to tankless water heaters, the most common competitor to these two brands is Navien. It’s yet another highly experienced brand that has been providing great service for over half a century now.

Although we should look into what really makes them special and how they compare to our other two entrants.

• Energy efficiency

Navien water heaters have their own unique advantage on the this growing market. This advantage being excellent energy efficiency. Even the best Rinnai heaters fall short by a bit when trying to challenge them in this department. [2]

Needless to say, the energy efficiency of Navien surpasses Noritz with no issues too. In some cases, the energy efficiency goes up by a whole 15%, which is quite a big change.

• Reliability

The subject of reliability still remains important for any of these three brands. After all, the less money we spend on repairs the more fruitful the investment is. 

When it comes to reliability, Rinnai is probably the most impressive tankless water heater. The majority of issues Rinnai tankless water heaters do encounter during their lifespan are rather minor and can be resolved quickly.

If anything, these problems are more of an annoyance than a big drain on our funds.

Noritz has already been covered too, with its plugging issues coming at the mid-point of the tankless water heater’s life. However, Noritz water heaters have very few other problems specific to them.

While Noritz starts experiencing its more damaging issues 8 years into its lifespan, Navien encounters serious mechanical issues during the first 10 years. The statistics show that 1/5 Navien tankless water heaters will face significant problems during this period of time which affects the item’s lifespan as well. [3]

• Installation process

The installation process can be a cumbersome affair for some tankless water heaters, taking too much time out of our day when we have other obligations to worry about.

For Noritz, this is no issue as the tankless water heaters from this company employ simple installation procedures. It gets even better with their EZ series which allows for an even faster and easier installation process.

Rinnai isn’t doing too hot during the installation process, requiring some additional setup and tools for proper installation. [4]

The requirement isn’t too demanding but it still pales in comparison to Noritz.

On the other hand, Navien provides a similar amount of convenience as Noritz. Their tankless water heaters come with mounting equipment that helps you set up the heater quickly.

The additional tools required for this setup are very few and standard so you needn’t worry about sudden trips to the hardware store before the installation.

Read Also: Bradford White vs Navien

The Verdict

For those who wish to buy an overall good water heater, we recommend Rinnai. While their models do not boast as much power as some of the Noritz ones, they make it up in many other aspects.

Reliability is robust, the efficiency is good, and they are exceptionally eco-friendly. While Navien models do edge them out, Noritz ones have a harder time keeping up.

Rinnai tankless water heaters are an especially fruitful purchase for those who wish to save money in the long run as the lower bills and repair costs maintain the cost of keeping this water heater low.

On the other hand, Noritz is better for those who want a quick surge of hot water with little waiting time. They can be installed fast as well as heat up water faster. Of course, the drawbacks are higher cost of maintenance and use, causing the overall expenses to rise.

Knowing your price point and consumption is key when picking between the two but we hope this comparison has given you better insight into these brands. 

Read Also: Rinnai Tankless Water Heater with No Hot Water