Heaters Buying Guide
Our buying guide will explain which type of heater would suit you most, how much you can expect to pay for one, and which features are worth looking out for.
Reviewer Photos & Videos
I can live without it, but it's much better with it. and I can't rate it against a heatpump or anoth
I have nothing to compare it against other than electric fires, open fire, or small log burner, that we used previously, We use the Rinnai to heat an area of 10 x 4.5 metres plus a small sun room and kitchen, while leaving the doors open to the hallway and 2 bedrooms and kitchen. The 10 x 4.5 area gets nice and cosy very quickly, without the heater being on anything like full power. The bedrooms and sun room much less so, but you can feel the difference, it takes the chill of the air.
We haven't had really cold weather so far this wi...Read more
nter so haven't needed to use it on anything like full power, but I get the feeling it will cope fine, and much better than the open fire or log burner, (which was enclosed in the fireplace) both for heat and convenience. There has been someone in the house most of the time using the heater since we had it installed, and so far without worrying at all about economising, and using it every day and evening, but not over night, in a month over May and June in Auckland, it has used a 45kg bottle of lpg, Which cost, $100, We are happy that we bought this heater,1 comment
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JudeAU
- 4 reviews
Quiet and efficient
We just upgraded our old Rinnai for this one after buying a Paloma heater which was so loud we couldn't hear the TV. Thank God for the Good Guys who exchanged the dud Paloma heater for a Rinnai for only $200 installation. Stick with the Rinnai. Reliable and efficient. Warms a huge room.
1 comment
Rinnai A.Rinnai
Thanks for your review Jude, it's nice to hear the heater has lived up to expectations. We wish you many more years of warmth to come.
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Other Gas Heaters
Rinnai Avenger 25 / 25Plus
4.1(127)Rinnai Dynamo 15
4.3(23)Rinnai Granada 252
4.3(17)Rinnai Econoheat 850
4.7(3)Brian JamesWellington, New Zealand
very disappointed
We purchased a R E S 559FT on supposedly good advice but found that the appliance was not as good as we thought. It failed to heat or warm our lounge /dining room 10m x 5m but then found out that on turning it on after purchase only 46 m/m of the total frontage of 76m/m is available for the heat to reach the room. What the other space is used for I don't know. I certainly would not recommend the purchase of this appliance for home heating. My advice would be to spend the extra money and purchase a gas log fire and get advice from a expert gas fitter who has been in the trade for a long time and not the agents.
2 comments
Rinnai A.Rinnai
Thanks for your review Brian. The 559FT heater can heat an area up to 77 m² depending on where you live. We would recommend contacting your installing plumber to check the suitability of the unit fo... Read more
r your area and to confirm the installation has been completed correctly. If you still have issues I would recommend contacting Rinnai NZ (I notice you are from Wellington) via their website http://rinnai.co.nz/Where you Live ? I thought that cold temperatures were cold where ever you live. The temperature gauge on the appliance gives you the temperature of the room when you turn the heater on. In the test... Read more
that I ran with curtains Drawn I set the temperature at 20 degrees as advised by the installing plumber and the area above did not reach higher than 17 degrees over the three hours that I had the appliance on. I brought the heater from the local Zip Agency and they or the installer did not mention or ask where we lived and I did contact Rinnai by e/mail but to no avail. Not even an acknowledgement of receipt of the e/mailSimilar opinion? Write a review on ieatwords.com.au!
Find out how Rinnai Energysaver FT Series compares to other Gas Heaters
Know better, choose better.
KoboMelbourne
Please read before buying
We got 559FT from Harvey $1700.00 in late June 2014, was told have to buy the fitting kit because i had it installed from internal wall, went and ordered the kit $894.00. Installation fee about $300-400. Ended up nearly $ 3 grand, very pricey. With this money i could have small ducted-gas heater to everyroom not just living room like 559FT (console, flued). So before buying this heater, watch out for optional installation kit, need to carefully ask seller what fitting kit suitable for your house, otherwise price will go through the roof.
It is Rinnai, japan made supposed to be good quality
Cost an arm and a leg for installation
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Dee83Victoria
- 6 reviews
Parents of young children steer clear of this one.
This heater works fine but it has one major design flaw. The child lock does not prevent young children from switching the heater off. I have twin toddlers and they switch it off constantly so essentially I have wasted a couple of grand on a heater that I won't be able to use for the next couple of winters until my boys learn not to touch, longer if I decide to have a third child. When I contacted Rinnai about this they said it was a government required safety feature. I suggested that the off button should be placed behind a panel like on thei...Read more
r larger heaters as I feel this is a design flaw. What good is the heater if I can't use it? If Rinnai are going to sell a product with a child lock on it it should lock children out. If it doesn't there should be an optional cage feature to keep kids away from the heater. Rinnai don't have anything like this so the problem is thrown back on me. Now I will have to spend hundreds extra on electricity running my split system this winter instead of being able to use natural gas like I planned in the first place. I would not have bought this product if I had've known what I know now. I'm sure there are more child-friendly products out there. Natural gas, cheaper to run than electric, quiet, constant flow of warm air Child lock doesn't prevent the heater being turned off which renders it useless when you have young children who love to press buttons.Similar opinion? Write a review on ieatwords.com.au!
EagleOneSt Albans Park, Geelong
- 3 reviews
Rinnai Energysaver 561FT and 559FT
This is an Amazing heater it blew my mind on how great this heater is, I had a 20 year old Vulcan Quazer with a broken fan and reviews here and around the net, all said bad news about getting a new Braemar Gas Wall Furnace or Bonaire Pyrox Deluxe Wall Furnace, even different retailers warned me off the Wall Furnace, saying just how bad they are and there problems, so I decided to look harder and found the Rinnai Energysaver 561FT. It was so simple to install does not need a big flue, it comes with a powered flue which pokes straight out the bac...Read more
k of the unit and they connected my gas pipe and it was installed. I have a 12 Square home and it heats my whole house in no time, l first set it to 23C then l had to lower it to 22C then 21C, it is so powerful for such a small unit, there is the Rinnai Energysaver 559FT which is the bigger unit they both put out exactly the same numbers but the Rinnai Energysaver 561FT is more Efficient. I was using my slit system Air con has cause my Electricity bill to go way up and I even have a 5KW system, this is why l went with the new Rinnai Energysaver 561FT. The other great thing is the Zero emissions do not have to worry about carbon monoxide poisoning, it also has an economy setting which l have not tried yet, its so easy to turn on all you have to do is press power button that's it, it has no pilot light so you save there to with its electronic ignition and has a Inbuilt humidifier tray and much more. I am so glad l bought this heater, its the best most efficient heater on the market at the moment. Also Rinnai has a Cash back of $200 saving you more until end of August [url removed] Price $ 1699.00 @ Harvey Norman. Rinnai Energysaver 561FT: Gas Input MU/h Low 9 High 23Similar opinion? Write a review on ieatwords.com.au!
A Heater that is a waste of money.
Purchased the heater 10/7/2013 and had it installed 15/7/2013. The heater only blows luke warm air out even when set on 26 degrees and takes 45 minutes to raise the temp 4 degrees in the room that has been correctly sized for the heater. A complete waste of money & after phoning Rinnai about the problem they just say get the installer to check. They do not want to know about it..Have reverted back to the split system even though it costs more to run.Do Not Buy.
Will not heat.
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KASYDNEY
FANTASTIC
This is a great and efficient heater, works consistently and perfectly, I would highly recommend. It is relly good with no emissions! Excellent for children particlarly for asthma sufferers. Timer works well - I love waking up to a warm house. Looks stylish and is able to quickly heat up the room.
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FlipstarVictoria
- 8 reviews
- 7 likes
Awesome
This heater has been the best thing since sliced bread for our family. Our model is actually Ebergysaver 557 FTR, a smaller version of the 556 FTR. We have had it for about 5 yrs now.
Instant heat, we have a small house and it heats most of the house, easy to regulate temperature, water basin to prevent air drying out, has lots of features but we don;t tend to use them, gas is cheap.
So far nothing.
7 comments
We'd really like one. Where did you buy it and how much did you pay (for installation and flu too if that wasn't included)?
Does anyone find these heaters noisy?..the fan works ok but is annoyingly noisy
How do I unlock my heater?
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Find out how Rinnai Energysaver FT Series compares to other Gas Heaters
Know better, choose better.
OK
going to pursue full repair from rinnaii, i have recommended and installed these heaters to a lot of people, now i have ended up with the crappy one,,
557 FTR,, mine fitted in a tight area that i had, i have installed many of these heaters, never heard a complaint until now
ours has ran great for 18 months, now vibrating badly and chirping like a angry canary, find the warranty is 2 years on fan but 1 year only on the labor, how does that work ?,no new fans available for a month also
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richandlou
- 2 reviews
- 1 like
Excellent
Our gas bill for the quarter went up about $100...pretty good value for three months and we are not skimpy with it's use. Heats up the back half of our house before we get up every morning using the timer. Heat not as intense as our old combustion heater but you can't beat that heat. Best thing is I don't have to cart in wood from the back of our property in the freezing cold and in rain!! :) Can't recommend this unit highly enough. Will cost a bit more than the old space heater design but so much more efficient.
Quiet, programmable, very...Read more
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Good
Produces a wonderful warm room really fast. If a heat pump is not your thing, then this is the next best thing. I installed one because I did not want another Heat pump compressor mounted outside the house. I have a heat pump in the upstairs part of the house. I rate the gas heater as being just as warm, fast, and as cheap to run as the heat pump.
Heats the room really fast. Safe, no chance of getting burnt with this. Comes with a timer allowing you to set on/off times for two periods of the day. Cheap to run. Comparable to the running costs of...Read more
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Excellent
The conversion from our old electric fan heater to this was the best investment we ever made. It doesn't seem to kick up the dust like our old one so good for asthma sufferers and it's very child friendly.
Energy efficient and doesn't cost much to run. It heats up quickly but doesn't get so hot that children can burn themselves. Thermostat works well. Child lock prevents curious fingers from changing settings. Timer is also handy. Fan doesn't seem to kick up much dust.
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Bad
For the first couple of years of operation the heater was fine, really good, so much so we decided to purchase another one for our family room in march this year, ironically before we noticed this erratic behaviour in this one, naturally we haven't used the heater much during the summer months so not observed the current problem.
The second heater is quite normal and not exhibiting any problems.
Having used up my warranty period for Heater, 2 years for the fan and 10 years pro rata for the heat exchanger all other parts 12 months I am now lef...Read more
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Mobbsie
- 37 reviews
- 1 like
Excellent
Although it does only heat up to certain areas, our Rinnai provide warmth throughout a large open plan lounge, kitchen and dining area. It is great in providing a steady warmth, rather than other type heaters that stop and start when the room temperature drops, the Rinnai provide a constant warmth to actually warm up the air in the room, rather than just blow around hot air. I find the Rinnai to be excellent for people who suffer from any allergies because it does not actually blow around hot air it does not cause allergies or germs to spread...Read more
throughout the home. The Rinaai heater is an extremely economical heater and provides a medium warmth throughout the room. The running cost of this heater is next to nothing, along with easy to use controls and a modern facade to any living space. Obviously unlike ducted heating it only heats up certain areas.Similar opinion? Write a review on ieatwords.com.au!
Find out how Rinnai Energysaver FT Series compares to other Gas Heaters
Know better, choose better.
PC541397
- 9 reviews
Excellent
A heater that performs to expectations and has handy timer options including timed turn on to preheat before you get home although I haven't that option yet, it heats the room pretty quickly anyway. It is fairly economical, quiet and isn't too ugly as it blends into plain decor. I have no reserves about recommending this heater to others and have already convinced a family friend who bought 2 and is also happy.
Looks good and is economical heating option. Heats the area that is suggested for the output no worries and the thermostat keeps the room at that temperature. It is so quite that you can forget to turn it off.
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Questions & Answers
alex chabanasked
Hi
i have 556 ftr when i put the temperature over 23c the heater tern off and indicate cod 14 what dos mean?
and how can i solve this problem
thanks
Alex
1 answer
Rinnai A.Rinnai
Hi, this sound like an error code which indicates there is a blockage in the filter or airintake. The heater will shut down as a safety mechanism. If cleaning the filter and check nothing is blocking the intake do not fix the issue, a service call will be required.
You can book a service call here:
https://www.rinnai.com.au/support-resources/online-service-booking/
Thanks
Rinnai Australia
Colin H.asked
what size room will it do
1 answer
Rinnai A.Rinnai
Hi Colin H.,
Thank you for reaching out to us.
The Rinnai Energysaver 561FT specifications can be found on our website: https://www.rinnai.com.au/online/heating/energysaver-heaters/561ft/
The heating capacity varies from 47m2 to 85m2 depending on the outside temperature.
You may also use our heater selector and include the dimensions of the room required to heat.
Thanks,
Rinnai Australia
Christopherasked
Hi
Can the filter on these units be replaced ?
1 answer
Rinnai A.Rinnai
Hi Christopher,
Thank you for the question.
I have checked with the technical help desk team and they have confirmed the filters can still be purchased through Tradelink or Reece stores.
I have also checked the manual and it states, filters should be cleaned every week during the winter season.
Thanks
Rinnai Australia
Other Gas Heaters
Rinnai Avenger 25 / 25Plus
4.1(127)Rinnai Dynamo 15
4.3(23)Rinnai Granada 252
4.3(17)Rinnai Econoheat 850
4.7(3)Paloma PJC-15FR
5.0(1)Rinnai Enduro 13
4.4(9)Regency FG39
4.9(9)Paloma PG-851S
4.7(3)Gasmate Deluxe Patio
4.0(1)Rinnai Cosyglow 650
3.8(4)Rinnai Capella 18Plus
5.0(5)Other Gas Heaters
Rinnai Avenger 25 / 25Plus
4.1(127)Rinnai Dynamo 15
4.3(23)Rinnai Granada 252
4.3(17)Rinnai Econoheat 850
4.7(3)Paloma PJC-15FR
5.0(1)
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Rinnai A.Rinnai
Thanks for the review Mike, we hope you continued warm and enjoyment from your 559FT heater.