Tankless water heater?

[Rat407]

The reason for mounting outside is because this is for a condo unit that we own and there is very little storage space inside and would loose what little we have inside. But after reading this and just the fact of peace of mind not to freeze when it does get cold, We are going to install inside. This also makes it easier from what I can tell to service, ie once a year flush and being able to connect to the lines below the unit do do so as well as replace/clean the inlet water screen. If outside and wrapped up with insulation then I would have to take that all away to do the yearly flush. Thanks for all the information and advice.

 

[north star]

Respectfully responding, but, IMO, tankless water heaters are NOT the way to go.
If the water filter screen gets clogged, the unit will not operate. Also, there are
circuit boards on all of the tankless WH's ( i.e. - $$$ ). Also, just because it markets
the instantaneous supply of hot water, does not mean that it is cheap to own. A gas
supplied tankless WH will increase the consumption of "fossil fuel natural gas or
propane" at an enormous rate. Electric type, tankless WH's consume a VERY large
amount of electricity to provide that "instantaneous demand".

If it is feasible for you, I recommend to have a traditional, storage tank type of
WH installed indoors, with a pressure expansion tank, and two (2) separate drain
lines installed properly. One (1) drain line is strictly dedicated for the pressure relief
valve and the other drain line is for the "required", properly sized drain pan.

 

[walterjay]

A tankless heater rep told me tankless heaters do not save money in the long run and the only reason to have one is because you need an endless supply of hot water.

 

[Rat407]

A tankless heater rep told me tankless heaters do not save money in the long run and the only reason to have one is because you need an endless supply of hot water.

Respectfully responding, but, IMO, tankless water heaters are NOT the way to go.
If the water filter screen gets clogged, the unit will not operate. Also, there are
circuit boards on all of the tankless WH's ( i.e. - $$$ ). Also, just because it markets
the instantaneous supply of hot water, does not mean that it is cheap to own. A gas
supplied tankless WH will increase the consumption of "fossil fuel natural gas or
propane" at an enormous rate. Electric type, tankless WH's consume a VERY large
amount of electricity to provide that "instantaneous demand".

If it is feasible for you, I recommend to have a traditional, storage tank type of
WH installed indoors, with a pressure expansion tank, and two (2) separate drain
lines installed properly. One (1) drain line is strictly dedicated for the pressure relief
valve and the other drain line is for the "required", properly sized drain pan.

We have one at our current house and we go through a 100lbs tank propane once a year. Not much consumption I would think. The tankless is the only appliance that uses it. Not to mention my wife likes to use the large bath/whirl pool tub and so no issues filling it up. We had one at our last house and it was 15yrs old when we sold the house and never had an issue with it. We were very lucky I guess.
It was hooked to the 500 gallon propane tank since we heated with propane as well.

The other place we are wanting to install one doesn't have the room for a full size tank, currently only as a 40 gallon tank up under the stairs that got to the second floor. Not much room under there.

 

[JWC86]

My house was built with one and not enough space in the utility room for a tank so we’re stuck with it. I don’t mind it honestly. The flush is simple to do, I do it once or twice a year. Only cost me a gallon of vinegar and maybe 15min of my time.

Not ever running out of water (even with 3 girls in the house) or ever having to think about is someone else showering when you go to take one or if the dishwasher or wash machine is running is very nice.

Cons are it does take a long time to get hot water to some of the sinks.

If I were to build a house I would probably still go tankless but have a couple of the small heaters before the common sinks.

My unit is 12 years old and going strong, no idea how long they are suppose to last.

 

[snarl]

This is the tankless we have
https://www.navieninc.com/products/npe-150s2

 

[mdoan300]

Don't put it on the outside of your house.

It's a very common install TX and there's usually a lot of stories about it when they get a cold snap.

Yep, early on in my community, the builder installed them on the outside, with the reason being proper ventilation (natural gas heated). Ours is on the west exterior and it’s a wind tunnel when it’s windy. Add approaching freezing temps and it’s a recipe for frozen pipes. To mitigate, we drip the hot water faucets enough to flow water, but not enough to turn on the water heater.

Later, the builder switched to installing the tankless water heater either in the garage or up in the attic with ventilation ducting.

 

[mk378]

have a couple of the small heaters before the common sinks

Yes, small electric point of use heaters on bathroom sinks are a nice luxury that actually is not expensive. They can make sense no matter what the central heater is. Recirculation has a significant operating cost to run the pump and heat loss from the pipes.