Does anyone have/use a tankless water heater?

self | December 11, 2013 | knarf

[knarf]

I'm electric tank now and am considering electric trankless, but gas is a possibility

[Mashood]

Depending upon the number of use points within the house, you may have to replumb your water lines... smaller ID.

[Rannug]

I have an electrically heated tank, 105 gallons, rented thru AEP/Ohio Power. Love it. Heats at night plus all weekend. Special electric rate. MT nest now but when there were five living here, we never ran out of hot water.
Installation is free. Repairs, only needed one time, are free. Replacement water heater, needed once, free. And removal of old heater is free.
This plan works perfectly for us.

[ArtDodger]

Have used them extensively. In Japan they are real work horses and very reliable. By (Japanese) law you have to shut them off and turn off the pilot light when leaving the house, in case of earthquakes. They will save money, even the electric ones are cheaper than the cost of keeping a hot water tank running all the time. In England, the hot water tanks are on times so they come on in the morning when you get up and shut off until just before you come home in the evening.
By far tankless gas heaters are better than electric tankless. Keep your water filtered! Corrosion will destroy the elements and force an early replacement of the entire unit! If going electric tankless, have an electrician check out the condition of your wiring! I have seen the lights dim in the neighbors house when I turned on a tankless electric! The condition of the electric company's transformer is a factor, too.
You can get small ones for ‘point of use’, quick heating. For under the sink or in the remote bathroom. Generally, if it takes a while for the hot water to reach the far tap, it would have been the same with a hot water heater, too.

[Lurkina.n.Learnin]

BFL

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

I guess you do all the cooking?

[MinuteGal]

I love mine, also. I'm in a condo and my electric water heater fits so nicely in a small broom closet.

My water can get too hot if I don't adjust the faucets properly, but my plumber said not to worry and that the units are very energy efficient. My bills reflect his statement.

Leni

[Racer1]

Go with gas if you can. Their much more efficient than electric and cheaper to run. Consider the outside models if you can. Keeps all the fumes outside. They make a kit for them for colder climates depending on how cold it gets at your location. Rinnai seems to make good stuff with a good warranty. Its been a while since I researched this stuff but search around the net and educate yourself about tank less water heaters. http://www.rinnai.us/water-heater/products

[knarf]

I bake the best loaf of bread on the planet.

[taxcontrol]

Some things to consider:

1) only get the kind that run on natural gas. Electrical ones just dont do the job.
2) they really need to be within 30’ of where they are going to be used. Otherwise it can take a while before the hot water shows up
3) There really is no such thing as a whole house tankless despite what the manufactures say
4) Think of a smaller one to support at most 2 showers. Plus one for the kitchen (diswasher) and one for the the laundry. 3 for the typical home. Luxury homes may require 4 units
5) If your incoming water is really cold, you may even want a larger “whole house” to pre-heat the water. Most tankless will raise the water temp at least 30 degrees at full flow. So the series approach will raise the incomming from about 55 degrees to 85 degrees. The final will then raise the 85 up to something close to or over 120 degrees which is approaching a burn if left too long.

Now, if you build them that way, you will have lots of never ending REALLY hot water that may be less expensive than a conventional. The trade off is obviously more equipment, installation costs (running the gas lines and vents), and loss of space.

Is it WORTH it? Depends.
If the question is more of a technical, will it pay for itself in cost savings over it’s life time. Possibly.
If you factor in the additional convenience ... probably.

Does it compare to other systems? That gets harder to say. I know one guy who pulled out his gas / force air furnace and went to a wood pellet boiler. He has his boiler piped so that some of the boiler water heats his hot water tank. His hot water in the winter time is essentially free. Now understand he lives up on a mountain in Colorado where nightly winter temps are often below 0. He also gets pellets at around $210 per ton.

I know another guy who installed two additional 40 gallon tanks (total of 120 gallons), added an water heater blanket to each, then did a solar assist to preheat the water coming in. That to was a lot of installation and work, but most of which he could do himself. He lived out on the eastern plains of Colorado and got lots of sun daily.

Your mileage may (likely) will vary

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

Fresh baked bread is God’s little gift to mankind.

[meowmeow]

I haven't read all the replies yet but here's our experience:
--Definitely go with gas
--If you have a large house, get more than one and distribute them
--Make sure the person who installs them actually has experience with the brand (if not, find someone who does)
--Go to each of your faucets, take them off, peer inside the fixture and find the water regulator (all new faucets have them to "save" water), take a pair of needle-nose pliers and rip the damn thing out of there (be careful not to damage the washer). Otherwise you may not have enough water flow to alert the heater of your need for hot water!

I had one in Europe that was awesome. But these days, everything in this country is made so "energy efficient" that it barely works for the intended purpose.

[knarf]

Whew ... what a terrific thread .. (if I DO say so, myself ... )

While all this thread has been happening, I've been researching and making some calls and ...

I use LPG for cooking and I have a 100 gal tank that lasts me at least 3 years ... but that's only doing the cooking.

Does ANYone know about gas usage with an LPG tankless?

I DO understand differences in home sizes and people, etc.

We are two empty nesters in a mobile home

[MrB]

Mobile home?
Then space is an issue. Go tankless gas.

[knarf]

See my #92

[knarf]

Yeah, I've pretty much decided on the gas part

Now all I need is a little cost analysis.

At 3.87 a gal around here ... it may or may not be a necesarry cost saver but a break even ... which, if I can get a little hotter at the same cost, I might consider the extra investment.

[IYAS9YAS]

Evidentally I have neighbors that don’t even have a fan or refrigerator.

Or they're stealing yours while you're out of the house for days...

[OldMagazine]

Natural gas units are far better than electric. Some gas units require electricity to operate the flame igniter.
No electricity = no hot water. You can plug the gas water heater into a UPS like used for computers.

[Organic Panic]

If you live anywhere with winter you will have to use two inline. If you live anywhere north of the Mexico I wouldn’t waste the money.

[djf]

One thing, though, the new appliances/equipment are vastly, vastly more energy efficient than previous generations.

My local power company is giving away new fridges and washing machines to people who have older models. I got a fridge, and am soon due to get a washer.

My power meter on the fridge showed it went from using about 1.7 KWH/day down to .7 KWH day, thats like a 65% reduction in power used.

I was quite impressed.

[Nonsense Unlimited]

>> If you live anywhere with winter you will have to use two inline. If you live anywhere north of the Mexico I wouldn’t waste the money. <<

We live in south central WI and have never had a problem.
We pull water out of an 88 ft well next to the house.

A single unit works fine for the whole house.