Tankless water heaters

[SecondAttempt]

Any thoughts on tankless water heaters? My water heater needs to be replaced. It is old and has issues. I'm trying to decide between tanked and tankless. I have mostly had tanked heaters. I'm talking to a contractor about replacing (he's doing some other work for me) and he is pitching tankless. He would only do the install, I'd buy the appliance itself. Install would probably be a little more expensive than just replacing the existing tank heater but not enough that I think it would influence his advice. The heater itself is cheaper than a tank model and probably covers any extra installation cost. But my goal is a good solution, not to save money.

Any serious drawbacks to a tankless heater?

 

[2HOTinPHX]

The first home we purchased back in 1994 was a two bedroom one bathroom older home that previous owner had converted the garage to expand the kitchen and add a small rec room. There was a small closet area for the washer and dryer. Above the dryer there was a gas tankless water heater. There was no space for a regular one. It was in an inconvenient location for service but we loved the endless supply of hot water. It only started acting up once in the ten years we owned the house. It would shut down and stop heating water occasionally while in the shower. Once we got it fixed it ran perfectly again.
Love the fact you don't have 50 gallons of water sitting in a tank all day being kept on the ready.
Our current house had a standard water heater and it was installed on a small raised platform in the garage without a 10 dollar catch pan underneath it. I guess code did not require one at the time. When it failed it damaged the Sheetrock covering the platform and surrounding walls. Cost almost as much to repair the water damage as replacing the heater and delayed new water heater install by a week...Arrrgg

I would just make sure the tankless water heater is installed where it's easy to access for service and whoever installs it can service it if needed. They are a little more specialized. Ask about some sort of catch pan underneath it in case of a leak. Make sure it's sized right for your home and needs. We loved ours.

 

[JoeWras]

Common topic here. Been discussed in multiple threads.

Here's a recent thread (few months ago) with 3 pages of discussion:

https://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/tankless-water-heater-117687.html

 

[old medic]

1st question is your old one gas or electric? if gas no problem and go tankless. if electric you may need to add additional lines and breakers.

 

[ncbill]

To summarize all the threads:

Tank water heaters are cheaper to install & maintain than tankless.

 

[FLSUnFIRE]

To summarize all the threads:

Tank water heaters are cheaper to install & maintain than tankless.

I agree with that based off my experience (electric). Instant hot water also means instant cold water and it's not fun running through the house wet and nekkid to reset the damn thing. If you have hard water scaling is likely to be a big problem.. tank get scale but still work, tankless (at least electric) don't do well IME. They also are more prone to leaks with more connections and hot/cold cycling. YMMV but I'm a nope for electric. I bought a house with a relatively new unit. Had to replace it once in 10 years of ownership and had enough issues that I did not trust it... unfortunately, the previous owners used it to free up space for W/D so a quick swap in of a tank was not an easy option for me at that house.



My next will probably be a heatpump model..I just hope they prove reliable (as in 30 year old chest freezer reliable).

 

[pb4uski]

Our 12 year old Takagi tankless water heater is still going strong. I'm a fan based on our experience.

 

[folivier]

How easy is it to winterize a tankless water heater when you leave in subzero temperatures?

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Our 12 year old Takagi tankless water heater is still going strong. I'm a fan based on our experience.

So is ours, very little maintenance other than annual flush. VERY economical, costs 1/3rd. to run than our previous Tank Heater. Gas, in our case Propane. Way easier to replace also (3 Union Connections, all easy to access), if it goes bad. It is also very light in comparison to a Tanked heater and takes up way less space.

 

[COcheesehead]

We’ve had two Rinnai tankless heaters. One with a recirculation pump and one without.
Both give you an endless supply of hot water, but the recirculation pump gives you instant hot water. The one without can take a bit until the hot water kicks in.
The one we have now comes with an app so you can program it to save energy - turn it off when you sleep.
We pay about $90 to have it flushed once a year. That service also maintains the warranty.
My wife loves the endless hot water in the shower.

 

[Music Lover]

Love the fact you don't have 50 gallons of water sitting in a tank all day being kept on the ready.

That's one of the drawbacks frequently brought up by tankless proponents. However, we used to turn the HW tank off at our cabin and when returning 2 days later the water was still warm.

The heat losses are minimal and overexaggerated.

One of the reason I won't get tankless is that I can replace the HW tank myself in less than hour. $500 instead of $1200. PEX is wonderful.

 

[Dash man]

We have Rinnai gas tankless water heaters in four of five properties and love them. Never had a problem with any of them. We got the first one about seven years ago.

 

[Keim]

That's one of the drawbacks frequently brought up by tankless proponents. However, we used to turn the HW tank off at our cabin and when returning 2 days later the water was still warm.

The heat losses are minimal and overexaggerated.

One of the reason I won't get tankless is that I can replace the HW tank myself in less than hour. $500 instead of $1200. PEX is wonderful.

Mine went a week and water still warm.

 

[ncbill]

How easy is it to winterize a tankless water heater when you leave in subzero temperatures?

If you're worried about that tankless is not for you.

At a local campground tankless were installed at camp bathrooms (no electricity, piezo igniter powered by water flow) & are removed for winter storage.

 

[Affinity4Investing]

+1 for good ole reliable electric tank water heaters. Properly sized, they are the best bang for your buck, IME. Most complaints come from ppl who have tanks that are too small or improperly maintained.

 

[Breedlove]

Went to Home Depot bought an electric tankless water heater . I think it cost 300.00 About the size of a thick book it was a Ruud . Took less than an hour to install . So far no problem

 

[Out-to-Lunch]

I don't think that, any longer, one can just say that tanks are less expensive than tankless. (The OP said just the opposite, for example.) IME, it depends on whether the tanked heater is power vented or not. I recently replaced my own tankless heater, which cost $1100, and my sister-in-law's power-vented tanked heater. The cheapest I could find was $1450.

 

[FIREd_2015]

Two reasons for not switching to tankless are one I can still take a hot shower if the power goes out. Second, in a natural disaster (ie. earthquake) I have a 50 gal. emergency supply of drinking water.

 

[Sunset]

Two reasons for not switching to tankless are one I can still take a hot shower if the power goes out. Second, in a natural disaster (ie. earthquake) I have a 50 gal. emergency supply of drinking water.

Is your tank strapped to the wall ?

Otherwise it will quite possibly fall over and probably leak out.

 

[SecondAttempt]

1st question is your old one gas or electric? if gas no problem and go tankless. if electric you may need to add additional lines and breakers.

Old is electric. I'd need two 40 amp 2-pole breakers in place of the one I currently have. Electrician does not think it should be a problem but will look at existing setup (load center) tomorrow. Most of the additional cost is running the additional wires from the panel to the heater about 5 feet away.

My biggest concern is that I have 100 amp service. 2x40 means the water heater would use 80 meaning anytime I use the stove and the water heater kicks on I could be tripping the main. I know there are solutions but they could start getting expensive. We'll see what the electrician says tomorrow.

 

[SecondAttempt]

How easy is it to winterize a tankless water heater when you leave in subzero temperatures?

I'm in Hawaii. I guess winterizing to withstand 68 degrees rather than 72 might be something I should ask about. (removing tongue from cheek now)

 

[Dash man]

I'm in Hawaii. I guess winterizing to withstand 68 degrees rather than 72 might be something I should ask about. (removing tongue from cheek now)

Our beach home in New Jersey has a bit more of a temperature drop than Hawaii has. The tankless gas water heater is in an unheated basement/crawlspace and the home is unused during the winter months. We turn off the water and power down the water heater when we winterize the home. We’ve never had a problem.

 

[Flyfish1]

Take a look at hybrid water heaters ...basically a heat pump approach. We no longer use propane to heat our water.

 

[old medic]

Old is electric. I'd need two 40 amp
My biggest concern is that I have 100 amp service.

And being in Hawaii, I would defiantly consider the idea of solar... But with just a 100 amp service, I would go back with the tanked heater.
Consider your now using just 30 amps on occation, and going to 80 amps every time you turn on the water.

 

[euro]

Old is electric. I'd need two 40 amp 2-pole breakers in place of the one I currently have. Electrician does not think it should be a problem but will look at existing setup (load center) tomorrow. Most of the additional cost is running the additional wires from the panel to the heater about 5 feet away.

My biggest concern is that I have 100 amp service. 2x40 means the water heater would use 80 meaning anytime I use the stove and the water heater kicks on I could be tripping the main. I know there are solutions but they could start getting expensive. We'll see what the electrician says tomorrow.

Yes, that would concerne me too. 100 amp is very snall for a modern house. I generally like tankless heaters, but I don;'t think this will work out well for you unless you upgrade your panel to 150 or 200 amp