Tankless water heaters

[7out]

Anybody know anything about them. I have 2 gas powered water heaters now and I am thinking of replacing them with tankless electric heaters, Any info will be appreciated.

 

[UTME]

Should save you money in the long run.

From what I understand, they are expensive because it's a new technology. You may need multiple units if you have a high rate of hot water consumption. Hope this helps.

 

[tropheus]

what I've heard, is they are not good with families or homes with high hot water use, especially in the winter when everybody wants to take a long hot shower.

 

[kevwun]

I've been told that they don't last very well compared to a regular water heater.

 

[GhostOfTomJoad]

I researched going tankless last spring when our water heater went out. Ended up just upgrading the 40 gal to a 50 gal and saved a few thousand bucks. The real issue w/ the tankless is that it would require a 4" vent pipe instead of the existing 3" that was in the house. The installation cost would've been huge to replace the pipe (2 story house).

The installer who put in our new tank also commented that he personally hadn't seen great savings w/ the tankless types. The benefit of not heating & reheating water sitting in a tank was nullified in his opinion by the extremely high gas output required to super heat the water as it comes through the tankless system.

If I were building a new home I'd seriously look into the tankless, but it didn't seem like a viable option as a replacement unit.

 

[blacklab]

I looked into them when my water heater went out but decided against it due to the high cost and low savings.

My gas bills in the summer are around $10 a month so even if it cut my gas usage in half, saving $5 a month it would take about 5 years to pay back the difference. Also installation of the new water heater was a snap, all the lines lined right up and just had to be screwed on. If I had changed over I would have had to rerun/reroute 2 water lines and a gas line.

 

[horn4life]

I need to do some research on these, i am thinking it might b e worthwhile to add in the kitchen when we remodel. Not as the main systme but just as a "booster" for the kitchen. the hot water heater is at the far end of the house and it takes forwever to clear the line and get really hot water to the faucet.

I understand that the efficiency is not really there for high water valume users, but I woudl think it might be OK to get a very small unit as a booster for the kitchen. Assuming of course you set the thing by temperature and that when the hot water started flowing from the conventional water heater it would cut back on energy consumption at that point.

Is that correct? anyone know for certain?

 

[NickDanger]

Good info guys.

 

[blacklab]

h4l
yes, they have a thermostat and regulate the amount of gas burned to maintain a certain tempetature of water coming out.

There are also small versions that install in/under your sink that provide instant hot water.

 

[hullabelew]

Ghost hit it right on the head. My brother bought a house that had one but is was installed on the outside of the house to get around the problem of the larger exhaust. That might be OK in South Florida but the first time the temps in North Texas fell to single digits, the pipes froze. We insulated the **** out of the pipes, then builts an insulated box to cover the pipes and he hasn't had any trouble. He said the fuel savings weren't really that noticeable.

I think the tankless ones would be great if you lived in a small condo and space was at a premium, but in a huge house, I just don't see the need. It also still takes a little time for hot water to get to one of his upstairs bathrooms.

 

[7Titles]

Benefits - endless hot water, no tank of water somewhere where it can burst, some savings, no pilot light, smaller size

This is not new technology, been used in Europe for decades, probably because they care about efficiency. Used in buses, RV's etc here.

Installation costs are the only reason not to use it.

 

[utgirl123]

my family just replaced all three of our water heaters with tankless ones...i would definately recommend them! The thing that i like about them is that you have endless hot water, and once you figure out what temperature you like for your showers, you can set the digital thermostat so that everytime you turn on the hot water it goes to that temperature... another benefit is that you dont have to worry about them breaking and flooding your house...oh and it also frees up closet space that was previously taken by the water heaters.

 

[Craigcito]

The Link

I have one of these and it works great.

edit: in the search box type Autocirc

 

[hablue65]

We built a house 18 months ago. The builder wanted to put in 2 water heaters, 1 of those in the attic. Having lived in my previous house a little over 10 years and installing 2 water heaters in that time due to the tank leaking. I told my builder there was no way in hell he was putting a water heater in my attic. I did some research and found a tankless water heater made by Rinnai. I had it installed on the outside of the house to prevent the 5" vent thru the roof. It also has an anti-freeze device that supposedly prevents the unit and exposed pipes to -20.

This particular unit provides 8.5 gallons of hot water per minute. Which is enough for 3 devices simultaneously. The distributor told me if I need more than that buy 2 and stack them side by side and it would double my GPM.

I have used this system for 18 months, I have never failed to have hot water when I needed it. There is not a pilot it has an electronic spark igniter. I would reccommend it if building a new house. As a replacement it could get expensive due to rerouting plumbing. This unit also requires a 3/4" gas supply line. Most conventional heaters require 1/2" supply lines.

FWIW I've been impressed with the way my unit operates.