Tankless Water heater

[Ronstar]

Who has a tankless water heater? Gas or electric? How do you like it?

Our current Rheem water heater (tank) sprung a leak today. 20 months after it was installed as a warranty replacement of the previous tank water heater that lasted 20 months. We've had around 8 water heaters in 28 years.

I think I want to go electric tankless. Only issue is that the tankless has a larger electric need, and right now my current water heater is wired to my generator panel, which is full. I'd have to move a couple circuits from my generator panel back to my main panel, making those circuits dark when the power goes out. Oh well, seems to me a few hours of electrical work now would make sense to avoid future tank leaks.


And of course I'd like the tankless to be a warranty replacement, installed by Rheem's plumber. I would supply the upsized electric.

 

[audreyh1]

I like it because it saves space and gave our small house an extra closet (no tank), but it takes a while for the hot water to arrive. Gas, DH wishes we had electric.

 

[COcheesehead]

We have a Rinnai. We love it. Endless hot water. If you get a recirculating unit, the hot water is delivered almost immediately. You can program it via an app so that you can cut the recirculation during off hours - nighttime - to save energy. You will need to flush the system due to scaling once every year or two. We never run out of hot water and we feel it costs less overall with the programmablity.

 

[Freedom56]

Who has a tankless water heater? Gas or electric? How do you like it?

Our current Rheem water heater (tank) sprung a leak today. 20 months after it was installed as a warranty replacement of the previous tank water heater that lasted 20 months. We've had around 8 water heaters in 28 years.

I think I want to go electric tankless. Only issue is that the tankless has a larger electric need, and right now my current water heater is wired to my generator panel, which is full. I'd have to move a couple circuits from my generator panel back to my main panel, making those circuits dark when the power goes out. Oh well, seems to me a few hours of electrical work now would make sense to avoid future tank leaks.


And of course I'd like the tankless to be a warranty replacement, installed by Rheem's plumber. I would supply the upsized electric.

I would check water pressure entering the house. You may have a faulty pressure reducer. A tank heater should last much longer.

 

[Montecfo]

Our only experiences with folks with tankless heaters says they have not been an improvement over conventional.

We have only replaced one in 23 years so we would stick with the conventional gas unit we have.

 

[Ronstar]

I would check water pressure entering the house. You may have a faulty pressure reducer. A tank heater should last much longer.

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.

 

[Ronstar]

Our only experiences with folks with tankless heaters says they have not been an improvement over conventional.

We have only replaced one in 23 years so we would stick with the conventional gas unit we have.

Really all I'm trying to do is eliminate future tank leaks. It's a PITA changing water heaters every couple of years

 

[Freedom56]

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.

We had a tank leak and before they installed a new one, they checked the pressure and found that it was too high and the pressure reducer into the house was faulty. We replaced it and our tank has been okay for 8 years now. It should be no more than 60 PSI inside the house.

 

[Ronstar]

We had a tank leak and before they installed a new one, they checked the pressure and found that it was too high and the pressure reducer into the house was faulty. We replaced it and our tank has been okay for 8 years now. It should be no more than 60 PSI inside the house.

Makes sense. The gauge at my pressure tank is reading 55 psi, so I should be ok there.


During one of my replacements, the water heater was so filled with sediment that I could hardly get it out of the house. This may not be a sediment problem since the leak is coming out of a panel near the top.

 

[SecondAttempt]

Who has a tankless water heater? Gas or electric? How do you like it?

Our current Rheem water heater (tank) sprung a leak today. 20 months after it was installed as a warranty replacement of the previous tank water heater that lasted 20 months. We've had around 8 water heaters in 28 years.

I think I want to go electric tankless. Only issue is that the tankless has a larger electric need, and right now my current water heater is wired to my generator panel, which is full. I'd have to move a couple circuits from my generator panel back to my main panel, making those circuits dark when the power goes out. Oh well, seems to me a few hours of electrical work now would make sense to avoid future tank leaks.


And of course I'd like the tankless to be a warranty replacement, installed by Rheem's plumber. I would supply the upsized electric.

I need a new water heater and was considering a tankless. Then I saw it would require 3x40 amp double breakers. I'm doubtful my panel can handle that in terms of ampacity and am certain it can't in terms of being physically full so I've veered off.

 

[freedomatlast]

Get a commercial water heater that has a lifetime warranty.

https://www.sarasotawaterheaterguy.com/lifetime-water-heater-warranty.php

We recently installed one in my SIL's house. We bought it from a local distributor and installed it ourselves. It wasn't that much more expensive than a typical unit.

Also consider treating your water for PH if its acidic.

 

[finnski1]

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.

We are on a well and also have an iron filter. Our pressure is around 45-50.
We are on the same water heater we installed in 2003. Still going strong 20 years later. It is a PEX lined indirect. It is a separate zone off the boiler.
Plenty of hot water (it's a 40 gallon) for 2 of us.

 

[lauradrops]

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...)

 

[Ronstar]

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.

 

[Time2]

The electric tankless water heaters I've researched require 2 and sometimes 3 - 40 amp breakers.

I have not seen this. Do these tankless water heaters have 2 or 3 separate heating coils? For as an example, two showers running with higher water flow, a second heating coil is energized, and if even higher flow, a third heating coil is energized?
That is the only way I can understand using the extra circuit breakers.
But again, I have not seen a tankless heater like that, but, very possible.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

We have one, a Renai, 12 years old and still going strong. Ours is propane as there is no natural gas, I would not have electric as a tankless would be a big consumer.

We love it and it costs us $300 a year in Gas.

 

[Ronstar]

I have not seen this. Do these tankless water heaters have 2 or 3 separate heating coils? For as an example, two showers running with higher water flow, a second heating coil is energized, and if even higher flow, a third heating coil is energized?
That is the only way I can understand using the extra circuit breakers.
But again, I have not seen a tankless heater like that, but, very possible.

Not sure how it works - I'm just looking at the specs - this one requires 4 -40 amp breakers

 

[camfused]

We have had a tankless Rinnai for about 10 years or so. I would not recommend going tankless unless you can train your household on how to use one.

This what I mean: DW is constantly going to the sink, and turning on the hot water side for maybe 5-10 seconds. She does this expecting hot water to come out. This is not going to happen with a tankless. At least in my unit, a sensor detects when there is a 1.5 GPM flow occurring, fires up the burner, and begins heating the water. Because this is a tankless unit, there is no storage of hot water, and it produces hot water only when the above condition occurs.

So, a brief request for hot water does nothing, other than produce cold water on your hands, fires up the burner (what a waste of gas, and an environmental impact!), prematurely wears out the unit, and drive me nuts (optional).

 

[ShokWaveRider]

We have had a tankless Rinnai for about 10 years or so. I would not recommend going tankless unless you can train your household on how to use one.

This what I mean: DW is constantly going to the sink, and turning on the hot water side for maybe 5-10 seconds. She does this expecting hot water to come out. This is not going to happen with a tankless. At least in my unit, a sensor detects when there is a 1.5 GPM flow occurring, fires up the burner, and begins heating the water. Because this is a tankless unit, there is no storage of hot water, and it produces hot water only when the above condition occurs.

So, a brief request for hot water does nothing, other than produce cold water on your hands, fires up the burner (what a waste of gas, and an environmental impact!), prematurely wears out the unit, and drive me nuts (optional).

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.

 

[COcheesehead]

We have had a tankless Rinnai for about 10 years or so. I would not recommend going tankless unless you can train your household on how to use one.

This what I mean: DW is constantly going to the sink, and turning on the hot water side for maybe 5-10 seconds. She does this expecting hot water to come out. This is not going to happen with a tankless. At least in my unit, a sensor detects when there is a 1.5 GPM flow occurring, fires up the burner, and begins heating the water. Because this is a tankless unit, there is no storage of hot water, and it produces hot water only when the above condition occurs.

So, a brief request for hot water does nothing, other than produce cold water on your hands, fires up the burner (what a waste of gas, and an environmental impact!), prematurely wears out the unit, and drive me nuts (optional).

You need a recirculating pump for instant hot. Not all units have it. We had one with and one without. You really want one with it.

 

[Ronstar]

I would not recommend going tankless unless you can train your household on how to use one.
(optional).

Therein lies the problem. When DW wants hot water, she'll get it regardless of how much training she gets.

 

[lawman]

We have had a tankless Rinnai for about 10 years or so. I would not recommend going tankless unless you can train your household on how to use one.

This what I mean: DW is constantly going to the sink, and turning on the hot water side for maybe 5-10 seconds. She does this expecting hot water to come out. This is not going to happen with a tankless. At least in my unit, a sensor detects when there is a 1.5 GPM flow occurring, fires up the burner, and begins heating the water. Because this is a tankless unit, there is no storage of hot water, and it produces hot water only when the above condition occurs.

So, a brief request for hot water does nothing, other than produce cold water on your hands, fires up the burner (what a waste of gas, and an environmental impact!), prematurely wears out the unit, and drive me nuts (optional).

Ditto this..Double ditto "drives me nuts!"

 

[mpeirce]

We have had a tankless Rinnai for about 10 years or so. I would not recommend going tankless unless you can train your household on how to use one.

This what I mean: DW is constantly going to the sink, and turning on the hot water side for maybe 5-10 seconds. She does this expecting hot water to come out. This is not going to happen with a tankless. At least in my unit, a sensor detects when there is a 1.5 GPM flow occurring, fires up the burner, and begins heating the water. Because this is a tankless unit, there is no storage of hot water, and it produces hot water only when the above condition occurs.

So, a brief request for hot water does nothing, other than produce cold water on your hands, fires up the burner (what a waste of gas, and an environmental impact!), prematurely wears out the unit, and drive me nuts (optional).

There are a couple of solutions.

Our tankless system has a recirc pump moving hot water around the house. This means there IS hot water at the tap in the kitchen (and the laundry room and the ...). This is not specific to tankless systems, you’d have the same problem with a tank based water heater and a similar solution. NO training involved.

For remote sinks where people want fast hot water, I’ve seen people install a “turbo pump” with a button next to the sink. You press this button and to sends the hot water to the remote location very quickly. Again, not tankless specific. Great if you have a remote building (casita or guest house).

Some tankless systems include a “mini tank” built right in to remove any lag when the burners are spinning up.

I view all this a BTD territory though. It all costs money. And yes, you need to maintain it or it won’t last.

For us it’s worth it. Unlimited, virtually instant hot water all around the house. This is especially nice when we have a full house here at the lake and no one ever has to worry about running out of hot water.

 

[lawman]

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..

 

[street]

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.