Thoughts on tankless water heaters

[thastinger]

For the first time in my life after decades of owning homes we have a tankless water heater in our new home of 6 months old.
After living with it for 6 months I can say without doubt I prefer a 50 gallon water heater. We never ran out of hot water with a 50 gallon heater. It's maintenance free pretty much just replace every 10 to 15 years.

The tankless heater works fine in our new home but will REQUIRE as much as annual coil cleanings depending on your water supply.
As another commented, forget about ever turning on the faucet expecting hot water anytime soon. I do not think they save any money, I most likely run and waste more water than ever waiting for the hot water to wash my hands and actually just turn on the cold water for that and my toothbrush or else I am firing up the tankless heater only to turn off the water before I get any hot water *LOL*.
It's a well known brand Rannai and its not bad but I dont get the point of it when I can have 50 gallons of hot water ready for me all the time and not have to have the coils cleaned to maintain the hot water.

It is true that it saves space and that maybe important in some homes, including our new home, but if your someone with a basement I wouldnt replace a standard water heater with a tankless. For the cost and installation of the tankless and maintenance over ten years it would exceed replacing a standard heater every 10 years I would think.

To me, tankless is a cost saving measure for new home builders and a 50 gallon standard water heater is the new luxury.

Sooo, we're building new construction, single lot, our own well, custom home builder. The plumber recommended propane tankless to us, said the water eats up tank heaters even with changing out the anodes religiously. IDK, our tankless will be in the laundry room and vent to the outside.

 

[tbm5690]

No, you can't. You would be heating water nearly continuously doing that with a tankless. If you want that, get a tank heater.

Yes, this is becoming more common than not on tankless. Bridge valves are used in conjunction with the pump for truly on-demand hot water. You use less water in the end, and keep in mind heating more on a tankless is still more efficient than constantly heating 50 gallons in a large tank.

 

[SHOZ]

If you wrap your water heater with some of that reflective bubble wrap it will only come on once a day or so due to heat loss. Can you get 120F water out of them with 50F input?

 

[Nick1994]

Drain your water heater and put underneath it a water heater pan, then put a water alarm in it. It’ll squeal and send an alert to your phone and email. There’s a 3 pack for $40 on Amazon.

Amazon Link

 

[alarmguy]

Sooo, we're building new construction, single lot, our own well, custom home builder. The plumber recommended propane tankless to us, said the water eats up tank heaters even with changing out the anodes religiously. IDK, our tankless will be in the laundry room and vent to the outside.

Interesting and certainly will not contradict your plumber.

 

[alarmguy]

,,,and keep in mind heating more on a tankless is still more efficient than constantly heating 50 gallons in a large tank.

Im not convinced of this but either way if one considers have a tank and can afford the luxury. I mean, with a hot water bill of our 50 gallon tank water heater in 2022 at $20 to $25 a month in our previous home how much could one expect to save by having 50 gallons of hot water at their disposal in a foam insulated tank instead of a tankless unit? I figured MAYBE $5 a month and would have to put up with a delay in hot water.

Never mind the maintenance and expense of having someone clean tankless heater coils every year, nor the additional complexities that can break down. Let's not forget how many times a tankless fires up to provide hot water only to be turned off before the hot water arrives.
All I am saying it really comes down to personal preference, no difference than any other product but I do question the savings, if any and compare to the convenance of a standard heater. Dont forget you lose heat in a tankless every time the unit has to fire up and then cool down by turning on and off. SO someone turns on the hot water for even a minute to wash out a glass the tankless unit starts up heats up, then the used water cools down again, it also takes longer in cold weather.

I tend to agree with this report, if I tank hot water heater cost me $25 a month, I actually paid as low as $20. What was I going to save going tankless if anything considering maintenance and cost. Even a .gov report though touting the advantage of tankless DO state there is a low of efficiency every time the tankless unit turns on and off. The heated water gets cold again.

Brings me back to what is a luxury worth to the individual. Also the plumber above, seems to contradict what someone was told, hard water kills tankless heaters or better said must have the coils cleaned regularly.

https://www.consumerreports.org/app...rs-vs-storage-tank-water-heaters-a5291982593/

Not debating you but I was born to question assumptions without seeing the data

 

[4WD]

Yes, this is becoming more common than not on tankless. Bridge valves are used in conjunction with the pump for truly on-demand hot water. You use less water in the end, and keep in mind heating more on a tankless is still more efficient than constantly heating 50 gallons in a large tank.

With gas - not many would need a 50 …
we had a 40 raising kids - just a 30 now …
I‘ll never buy an all electric home …

 

[SHOZ]

My tank gas water heaters last about 25-30 years using a water softener. No way does it use $20 worth of propane a month just to maintain the heat. I use propane for water heating, cooking and heat (80%) and only go though 400 gallons a year at $1-$1.50 a gallon. Water heater sits in the attached garage. Gets down to the 40Fs in the winter but usually 50Fs out there.

Wrap that already foam insulated tank in some reflective bubble wrap. I was amazed.

 

[Donald]

Just a reminder that a Hybrid water heater, in the garage, does a wonderful job of keeping the garage cool. So, at least for hot locations, the hybrid water heater has a nice secondary benefit.

I wouldn't want one inside my home, if I were up North. As it would cool off the home during the winter. Remember, the "heat" has to come from somewhere.

A hybrid electric water heater has tax credits also.

 

[SHOZ]

My electric coop use to offer 80 gallon stone lined electric water heaters at some sort of discounted price if you went all electric.

 

[snarl]

check out

https://www.navieninc.com/

 

[Zee09]

State has a no cleaning required tankless heater now

 

[GR_CoB]

Traditional water heater sprung a leak after 18 years of service. Hasn't been flushed even once, so rusted out from the inside.
Bought a tankless heater (gas) on Amazon for $800. Easy DIY job to install. Plan to do Vinegar flush 1-3 times per year.
So far no regrets. Endless hot water. And gas bills are 30-40% lower than traditional tank water heater.

 

[SubieRubyRoo]

Advantageous for multiple users, large soaking tubs, etc. You can also install a recirculation pump to truly get unlimited hot water immediately after cracking open the faucet.

That’s still not true unless you’re looping an AWFUL lot of recirc water. It’s been a few years, so they may be able to activate at low flow rates, but my gas tankless didn’t even start heating water until like 2.0gpm or something like that. Then, you’re running the tankless a much larger % of the time to keep the loop hot. Seems like any money you’d save on water/sewage would be more than spent on energy, both for the pump and burned in the tankless.

Hot water recircs make sense when you’ve got the thermal mass of 40-80 gallons to buffer the thermal change. This minimizes the “make-up” heat that the tank will have to use to keep the full-house hot water loop full of warm/hot water.

You’d almost certainly be much better off overall (but more complex initially) to do smaller, point-of-use for the sinks, and use the whole-house one for shower(s) only. This way you skip heating the loop, and have minimal water waste at sinks before the water is hot for use.

 

[CDX825]

Can you get 120F water out of them with 50F input?

With ease.

 

[tbm5690]

Brings me back to what is a luxury worth to the individual. Also the plumber above, seems to contradict what someone was told, hard water kills tankless heaters or better said must have the coils cleaned regularly.

https://www.consumerreports.org/app...rs-vs-storage-tank-water-heaters-a5291982593/

Not debating you but I was born to question assumptions without seeing the data

I think your statement about what it's worth is key. My parents have a Navien tankless that not only provides the consumable hot water but circulates water throughout their entire slab. House is 1800sq feet all on one story, garage is an oversized 3 car and the entire thing is heated radiantly. The house of course has a normal GFA furnace as well but the garage's sole source of heat is radiant. During the coldest months here (highs in the negative temps) their garage is kept at 55, house is heated with primarily radiant (furnace ends up being almost like aux heat) and their gas bill is under $200. These things are pretty efficient for what they can do.

 

[wlk]

I have had several over the past 15yrs. Love and hate them. If in the shower only in the winter and the dishwasher/washer/faucet gets turned on hot it will cool/cold briefly but only in winter as the rise from cold ground water is tough to overcome but the space savings is worth it. Only wish mine was a gas heater and not electric but such is life.

 

[awguy]

Five years ago I was looking to replace our 50 gal water heater with tankless. After doing research I bought a Rheem Hybrid Heat Pump Water heater (50 gal). It uses 1/4 the electricity as a regular water heater.

I've been saving about $30 a month on our electric bill. Here in the Southwest I have saved $48 a month in the summer. The hotter it is outside the more efficient the heat pump. The cold air that comes out the side will not cool your garage (if that's where you keep it) but does cool me while I'm putting the house key in the door. In the winter I use a deflector so I don't freeze while opening the house door.

The heat pump is backed up by two 5000 watt heating elements but I've never used them. You could switch back and forth between the two if you wanted but it's not necessary. The app (or water heater touchscreen) defaults to favoring the heat pump.

I've also gotten a $300 federal tax credit. It's paid for itself a year or two ago. It has wifi and an app for your phone and comes with a leak detector for the bottom pan.

I installed it myself with copper pipe after watching a lot of You Tube videos.

I love it and would not consider tank-less anymore.

 

[benjy]

any heating appliance needs to be properly sized! i installed a stiebel eltron - german tankless after i installed my harmon hand fired coal stove because theres NO heat coming off it in the summer like when my boiler runs to only heat domestic hot water. the sensored tankless is piper of my boiler + when the boiler is on it preheats the water + the electric tankless sensor turns it on as needed depending on where set the temp dial on it. it takes little room mounted on my wall above the water closet + because i have a basement kitchen with the "bathroom" just behind it piping was short + EZE as was running the 220 circuit!!

 

[oil pan 4]

I had a gas tankless one lasted about 4 years, replaced it with a gas tanked hot water heater.
Tank water heaters are better.
They will last 20 to 30 years if you change the sacrifical anode.