tankless water heater replacement . $$$$

[macarose]

My water heater will always be gas. I bought a 50 gallon unit for around $65 to $85 on Ebay from a local scratch and dent place and 20 years later it's still going strong.

My stove and oven will always be a simple gas unit.

My furnace is closing in on 40 years. Don't know how the heck I'm going to replace it since it's a pretty simple compact unit.

My $200 dishwasher better last 20 years like the other one did. Fat chance. I know.

We have been in the same house since 1996 and other than the refrigerator, which my mom gave away to our neighbor when we temporarily moved out of state, we usually have either replaced our major home appliances once or not at all.

 

[supton]

My water heater will always be gas. I bought a 50 gallon unit for around $65 to $85 on Ebay from a local scratch and dent place and 20 years later it's still going strong.

My stove and oven will always be a simple gas unit.

My furnace is closing in on 40 years. Don't know how the heck I'm going to replace it since it's a pretty simple compact unit.

My $200 dishwasher better last 20 years like the other one did. Fat chance. I know.

We have been in the same house since 1996 and other than the refrigerator, which my mom gave away to our neighbor when we temporarily moved out of state, we usually have either replaced our major home appliances once or not at all.

Sounds like us. We like our gas stove and dryer. Dryer gets used a bit less than the washing machine, as we have space for clothes racks to air dry.

But our hot water is off our oil fired burner--but I'm in the Northeast, so my heating needs are different. Recirculating hot water for heat, so it makes for a nice compact system I think (well I didn't build it, came with the house, but still). If the burner goes I could see springing for a gas fired unit, but same idea.

We did remove the dishwasher though. Have a well and septic, so no water cost, and the dishwasher was getting old, and its removal made a great spot for trash and recycling cans. Not sure when the tab for buying a new sponge per week is going to equal a dishwasher, but I'm guessing it'll be a while.

I do worry about the fridge going, wife and kids seem to think an ice cube maker and cold water from the fridge is a "necessity" now. I'd rather have the cheapest fridge I could find instead... but I can commiserate, I've grown rather fond of having a garage now, but now I have garage doors and garage door openers to worry about. That's the problem with getting anything more fancy than you need, once you get that next step up, now you "always" need that step up.

 

[Fla]

Living alone I hate the idea of heating a big tank of water all day that doesn’t get used but this old tank keeps on ticking so I might as well use it till it dies.

It's not like boiling a big pot of water on the stove every day and then not using it and letting it get cold again. Your HW tank should be very well insulated and the hot water will remain in your tank and be ready the next time that you need some, without having to reheat it.

Completely agree with the last part of your statement. If you HW tank is working, you would never recover the installation cost of replacing it with another WH regardless of how efficient it might be. I have an 80 gallon tank but all the kids are gone and we don't use nearly as much HW so I just turned down the temperature to "barely adequate" so now the water is now "warm enough" instead of HOT.

 

[alarmguy]

An enterprising fellow could make a pretty good living just replacing water heaters. The going rate to replace a standard old 40 gallon gas is $2000 to $2800 around here.

I wonder what it cost to replace a tankless?

We replaced our 50 gallon gas 4 years ago (at most) cost was $1000 on Christmas even no less. So more or less the water heater was free compared to if I had tankless. As with tankless many people pay for a coil cleaning every year to 3 years plus the inconveinance of the water getting slightly colder until you do get the tankless heater cleaned. Never mind the wasted water waiting for the hot water.

I honestly do not think any energy savings takes place with tankless and if there is any at all, you will never get back the cost and maintenance of the unit. Lets say you wash your hands, turn on the hot water, your tankless heater fires up, you wash your hands in cold water because by the time the hot water makes it to the faucet your done washing your hands, so all day long the thing is firing up but the hot water not being used. Being its not insulated like a tank water heater the hot water cools down right away.

I mean, really, NG hot water is dirt cheap what is the supposed savings? Marketing for profitable mysterious water heater profits vs a tank with a gas burner.

BTW, I speak from experience I have had gas hot water heaters my whole life and now in our new home I have tankless. It's laughable all the water we waste and laughable every time I wash my hands or wash a dish or glass in the sink. Turn on the hot water, instantly the tankless heater fires up and by the time it starts to deliver hot water Im done washing what I needed too.

SO it fired up, wasted that gas, created that carbon emission, wasted the water and I never got to benefit from any hot water. Just doesnt make sense to me.
With boring old fashion SIMPLE well insulated 50 gallon hot water heaters the hot water starts flowing right away, no delay.

Take a shower? I turn the tub faucet full blast in the bath tub while the tankless heater turns on and starts to get hot water to the bath room and then switch the faucet to the shower. I bet I waste more water then the water I use taking a shower!

 

[repairman54]

Tankless is a complicated appliance. My BF went through 2 Rinia (sp?) in 10 yrs. one in warranty and one just out with warranty repairs on both. NG fired units. Flow sensing switches are one of the issues. Ignition system second.
My electric 40 gal. tank out lasted both his tankless and still in service. Water softener in play.
Tankless is not worth the hassle and expense for just 2 adults. Insulate your hot water pipes.
Besides I can swap out the tank heater faster that it takes me to drive over to get a new one.

 

[Thermo1223]

I remember the days when I was a kid growing up in what was at one time a brand new home that my parents purchased in the 1950s. It had a tankless hot water heater which was a coil inside the boiler unit used to heat the house. I remember helping my dad run acid through the coil because every couple years if that long it wouldn’t heat the water properly because of slime buildup in the tubes from chemicals that they added to the public water supply to protect the public water supply pipes from corrosion. It was a well-known problem on Long Island, New York.
Fast forward two decades so everybody got standalone 50 gallon hot water heaters and now here we are couple decades later, going back to the same theory using tankless technology again with the tubes will get a buildup of slime overtime and stop heating the water properly and efficiently.

That isn't really a tankless, it was an indirect water heater. Pretty much all NE homes that used fuel oil for heat used a domestic coil. The idea was simple, one heating unit for both functions especially in the winter when the boiler was kept hot for heating the home anyway. They were not insulated very well so in the summer you did waste a lot of fuel just for hot water.

You are correct though, corrosion would inhibit flow and heat transfer so citric acid was used to clean it if memory serves. Now a days with low mass boilers and such you can basically still use one fuel but way better efficiency. My Dad's house had this system installed back in the early 2000's.

System 2000: Combined Heat and Hot Water Boiler [High-Efficiency Boiler]

Save Up to 40% on fuel bills when you upgrade your existing water heater and boiler, furnace to an Energy Kinetics’ HIGH-EFFICIENCY BOILER. System 2000 uses oil, gas, or propane and is great for fuel conversions; it also is proven to last for over 30 years.

energykinetics.com

 

[alarmguy]

That isn't really a tankless, it was an indirect water heater. Pretty much all NE homes that used fuel oil for heat used a domestic coil. The idea was simple, one heating unit for both functions especially in the winter when the boiler was kept hot for heating the home anyway. They were not insulated very well so in the summer you did waste a lot of fuel just for hot water.

You are correct though, corrosion would inhibit flow and heat transfer so citric acid was used to clean it if memory serves. Now a days with low mass boilers and such you can basically still use one fuel but way better efficiency. My Dad's house had this system installed back in the early 2000's.

System 2000: Combined Heat and Hot Water Boiler [High-Efficiency Boiler]

Save Up to 40% on fuel bills when you upgrade your existing water heater and boiler, furnace to an Energy Kinetics’ HIGH-EFFICIENCY BOILER. System 2000 uses oil, gas, or propane and is great for fuel conversions; it also is proven to last for over 30 years.

energykinetics.com

Yes, eventually everybody went from a combine system to separate gas hot water, heaters and separate gas hot water boilers

 

[walterjay]

The only benefit to a tankless heater is an endless supply of hot water.

 

[Thermo1223]

The only benefit to a tankless heater is an endless supply of hot water.

Which similar priced tank heaters can do as well. If money was no object I'd try and find one of these.

http://www.westinghousewaterheating.com/literature/wmktlit-53.pdf

 

[facility1]

use a 40 gallon electric heater,,(just for myself),set temp around 115f,,then say you shower after supper,,install a timer to kick on from 4pm to 8pm,or twice in a 24 hr period,depending on your preference