If your motivation is fewer leaks then I can tell you that the tankless also leaks about the same time. Our tankless leaked after about 8 years which is typical leak period for conventional tank unit in our area.
Interesting topic!
So, I have a question, how long of wait do you have to wait between showers? If you did laundry how long to recover hot water to shower for example?
I hope this is fine with Ronstar for asking. I'm interested in one too in the near future.
Another thing to keep in mind, depending on your water chemistry you will need to de scale it regularly. I suspect if your tank heaters are not lasting long you would likely need to descale at least once a year. It's like everything else if you know how to do it, it is not difficult. IF you pay to have it done it will likely cost a couple hundred bucks.. I have two and I just descaled for the first time. If I can do it anyone can..
If your motivation is fewer leaks then I can tell you that the tankless also leaks about the same time. Our tankless leaked after about 8 years which is typical leak period for conventional tank unit in our area.
Intersting. I never thought about pressure. We are on a well with a pressure tank, followed by an iron filter. We replaced the iron filer a few years ago and pressure increased.
We have bad water (iron). Neighbor friend only gets about 2 years out his water heaters also.
Interesting topic!
So, I have a question, how long of wait do you have to wait between showers? If you did laundry how long to recover hot water to shower for example?
I hope this is fine with Ronstar for asking. I'm interested in one too in the near future.
If you get tank leaks because of your water what makes you think you will not get leaks using a tankless? There are still metal parts to them that I would guess will have the same problem.
What pipes do you have and does the water affect them?
What is a problem is if multiple showers and laundry are going at the same time. The amount of flow required all at once stretches the limits of the tankless heater.
I have a dilemma. We have a full time 16000 watt back up generator - not a whole house generator - but one that powers 16 selected circuits during a power outage.
Our 30 amp current tank water heater is wired to our back up generator panel, so that we get hot water during power outages. Under normal conditions, the generator panel is just a sub panel to our main electric panel. During a power outage, the system switches the circuits on the generator panel to natural gas powered generator.
Th back up generator sub panel is fed by a 70 amp breaker from the main panel. The electric tankless water heaters I've researched require 2 and sometimes 3 - 40 amp breakers. A tankless water heater alone would exceed the breaker and wiring capacity of the entire generator sub panel.
So - unless I'm not understanding this correctly, if I got a tankless water heater, I'd have to wire it to the main panel and then not have hot water during power outages.
Or I could go totally crazy and have both tank and tankless. Tankless for everyday use. Then a tanked water heater for power outages.
Not sure how it works - I'm just looking at the specs - this one requires 4 -40 amp breakers
I got over this issue with a recirculating pump, that has worked great for us. It is an on demand pump. I still have the DW problem though, no matter how much "reminding" I do.
My gut feeling is that the conventional tank fills with sediment and /or corrodes over time. And I thought that maybe a tankless would be less apt to do so.
But my main reason for considering tankless is the smaller size when I do need to replace a water heater.
I have cpvc water supply lines, and the water doesn't affect the piping.
We do have an iron filter that precedes the water heater.
We also have a Navien tankless (propane). Endless hot water on demand. Also have a separate hot water recirculating line to every tap in the house, so hot water is there in about 2 seconds.We have a Navian tankless and love it. It's gas and supplies our heat as well as hot water. Never a problem running everything at once. (2 showers, washing machine etc...)
We also have a Navien tankless (propane). Endless hot water on demand. Also have a separate hot water recirculating line to every tap in the house, so hot water is there in about 2 seconds.
Just curious how you get recirculation on a tankless... to me that would mean it was on all the time... sounds like a waste...
With a tank you are moving hot water from the tank to your faucets and back to the tank with hot water... you only have to replace the heat lost on the round trip...
Just curious how you get recirculation on a tankless... to me that would mean it was on all the time... sounds like a waste...
With a tank you are moving hot water from the tank to your faucets and back to the tank with hot water... you only have to replace the heat lost on the round trip...
Same with a tankless. The hot water in the hot water pipes is circulating. The tankless is the same. If the water temp falls below a certain level, the heater fires up briefly.
We have the recirc pump turn off at night. Also, the recirc lines are insulated, so heat loss isn’t all that much. Also, when we leave the house the system turns off the recirc pump automatically and it turns back on when we return. Also off when travel.
As I said, instant hot water via a recirc pump is a BTD item - with or without a tank. You’d never do it is you are trying to eke out savings on your hot water bill.
We have the tankless for the endless supply of hot water. We have the recirc pump so there’s hot water at each tap. We love it (esp. DW).
I'll consider a heat pump model when I replace (especially if I could duct the cool air into the house)
So basically you are saying that your pipes are the 'tank'...
Do you have a manifold that goes to each faucet? I am wondering how it is able to get to all faucets... you need a line to and from each faucet in my thinking so there has to be a common point for the pump...