Tankless Water Heaters

[squeaky_penguin]

Anyone have any experience with one? We are looking at replacing our water heater soon and wanted to know if a tankless one is the way to go.

TIA!

 

[ceecee]

We just had one installed a month ago. The positive is you don't run out of hot water! They also take up less room and are supposed to be more energy efficient. There was a rebate from our gas supplier and a tax credit as well.

 

[twinklebug]

My parents have had one built onto their Natural gas furnace since 1971. It's never given them an ounce of trouble. Like ceecee said, we never ran out of hot water (and water pressure was never an issue either). I'd love to have one again.

 

[dex08]

We're renovating our house and looked into a tankless water heater but our contractor said that our gas line size was not the right one and we'd have to have our gas lines re-done in order to support a tankless one. We opted not to do this due to the additional cost.

 

[Muushka]

We have gas for hot water and fireplace and heat in the winter time. In the summer we shut off the fireplace, but the gas company charges a minimum regardless of whether you use gas or not. Prior to the new gas hot water heater, in the summer, our bill was $15 a month. Now with the gas water heater, in the summer, it is just about $3 a month more. Bottom line, I am paying $3 month for hot water (this is where we live, YMMV). No, I will not convert to tankless.

 

[*Flower*]

Do you have to have Gas in order to get a Tankless water heater?

DH is considering one if/when our current one bites the dust- but we don't have gas.

TIA...

 

[gunnert]

I have installed Rinnai, you need a 3/4" gas line. Electric aren't very good as you need I think 125 amps to run them.

 

[kandeebunny]

we have an electric tankless and LOVE it!!!

Amps depends on how big your house is, how many washrooms you have and how many appliances you need to run at one time. Ours is a 100amp we could have gone with smaller, but this way the shower, dishwasher and washing machine can all run at once.

Biggest plus for us...doesn't rot out like a tanked heater.

 

[wmharley]

Do you have to have Gas in order to get a Tankless water heater?

DH is considering one if/when our current one bites the dust- but we don't have gas.

TIA...

no, you can get the elctric ones.

I know some plumbers who recommend them.

You use less energy as its an instant on thing. When its time for hot water, the elements heat up fairly quickly and heat the water passing through. There is no tank of 40, 60, 80 gallons to continuously keep at 100 degrees or so.

The only knock is that you have to get one matched to the size of the home and users. Too small and you won't be able to have multiple people taking showers.

I'd like to get one. Its more because I want to reclaim the space in the garage that the tankk is currently occupying now.

 

[RNMOM]

I have been wanting to convert to this as we have had to replace our water heater 3 times in 12 years. Thankfully it has been under warrenty for the last two but it still costs a couple hundred for the plumber.

Our plumber doesn't like them. I guess they don't give him enough repeat business. We are on a slab and had a hot water line leak. We had to route the new pipes through the walls which then involved getting the walls patches. What a pain. I really tried to get DH to just install a tankless in the laundry room and the pipes were already in place. We have a bathroom and half bath back to back and then the kitchen/laundry room. I have the idea of putting two smaller units in instead of one large. There are places they can be put with no problem and I would use electric. I don't think the electric have to be vented to the outside, either. Anyone know if I am right about that? I do know the gas ones have to be vented.

 

[seashoreCM]

Electric tanklesses draw tremendous amounts of power on short notice and it is possible you will need to upgrade your electrical service.

One hundred amperes at 240 volts (split up into 120 volt and 240 volt branch circuits as needed) is a common household electrical service "size". It is quite common for an electric tankless to draw 80 to 120 amps at 240 volts depending on how much water draw (gallons per minute) it is designed for. Larger modern homes often have 200 amp service or sometimes more.

Electric water heaters, tank or tankless, do not need venting.

Gas tanklesses also draw more energy on short notice compared with tank heaters, thus the larger gas line requirement mentioned earlier.

 

[msmayor]

Looked in to it over last winter as it was time to replace our tank heater...there was no way we could justify the cost difference.

Because of the location of the existing HWH (which is where the gas line and water lines were to connect) it would have required a SIGNIFICANT run of new vent line. The gas line itself was not large enough, so a new run of gas piping would have been required. Final estimate was in the $5,000 range.

New tank heater installed? $1300. 10 year warranty.

Monthly savings on my gas bill with a tankless would have only amounted to about $10-20/month. That's a very long payback period to cover $3700 in price difference.

We stuck with the tank.