Water heater advice

[OVERKILL]

So, my (not a rental) 15 year old hot water tank is weeping. I've suspected it was on its way out for a while now, since, despite being 50 gallons, it runs out of hot water pretty quickly. I got a consult from a well known installer (handles the Home Depot contracts) and he recommended a huge (199K BTU) tankless unit, which is about 3x the price of a high efficiency power vented gas tanked unit (what I have currently).

HOWEVER

I also, due to the storm damage, now have 200A service in the old Century home and the electrician put in a 240V breaker for an electric hot water tank on the chance I went that route in the future.

House is ~100 years old, one kitchen, one bath, though we plan on adding a second bath at some point. We do lots of laundry, dishwasher runs daily.

Anybody have experience with this, and which way did you end up going? My wife is keen on the tankless option, but I'm less keen about spending that much money without there being a very clear advantage to doing so.

 

[2005jettatdi]

I would go with a regular gas water heater or, since you have the breaker for it, a hybrid electric heater. Of course, a hybrid water heater will not work in a closet. Mine is in the garage.

 

[JeffKeryk]

I love our Noritz tankless. Small size, uses less juice and endless supply. Uses less energy in our filthy expensive energy state!
The main negative is, the 1st shower in the morning waits for hot water, and my house is small with the kitchen and baths close to the water heater. As others have posted, make sure your gas line size is sufficient,
I chose the Noritz for 2 reasons: Made in CA and my company's head of facilities highly recommended it.

I've had it for years. I bet the current models are even better. Sure the initial cost is higher, so there's that. I paid my plumber friend to help install due to the exhaust requirements. The tankless was part of my long term plan to fix/upgrade everything while I was working in preparation for retirement.

I say go for it @OVERKILL

 

[hemitom]

They are code on new builds around here ! ( tankless )
I am not sold on them my daughter has a tankless she doesn't get hot water any faster than I do to the taps, I believe hers is 200k as well kicks on every time the hot water tap is touched which is as designed . I just don't see them living a long life ?
Also you may need to put in a larger gas line

 

[rstcso]

I recently replaced my gas water heater with a similar model made by Bradford-White. I got about 15 years out of it, having purchased it from a plumbing supply company for $233 at the time and installing it myself. Since I'm getting older, I didn't want to try installing a new one again, so paid about 10x more for this one. My neighbor's son owns a plumbing company and he gave me a deal compared to all the other quotes received.

On the tankless water heater, is your gas line of sufficient size to support that many BTUs, or will it need upgrading? I looked into the tankless option years ago and would have had to install a larger gas line.

 

[AZjeff]

What's your water like? People here claim tankless water heaters don't last long here due to the minerals making deposits inside. There are cleaning procedures that apparently can be quite involved. Might check that.

 

[Danno]

I have used both systems. Current one is a new build propane fired tankless that supplies hot water and in floor heating. It works well enough. If you want hot water faster, just turn on 2 or more taps in the room you're in - washroom, hot water tap and shower. That works for tank or tankless.
One idiosyncrasy is if you just turn on a tap (kitchen as an example) for a few seconds with tankless, it will start the boiler flame and ramp up. My learning is to have the tap on cold and only use hot if you are planning to use it for more than 30 seconds, otherwise don't bother.
It was interesting showing my wife this, had her listen to the tankless while i did a 4 second run of hot water. Tank ramped up, but of course no hot water. Just not enough time to get warm at the tap. She understood...I think.

 

[burbguy82]

This is a complex question. I will IM you my phone number if you want to discuss. To much typing. I am in the USA.

Edit: I cannot IM you, so if you want IM me.

 

[ripcord]

I have used both systems. Current one is a new build propane fired tankless that supplies hot water and in floor heating. It works well enough. If you want hot water faster, just turn on 2 or more taps in the room you're in - washroom, hot water tap and shower. That works for tank or tankless.
One idiosyncrasy is if you just turn on a tap (kitchen as an example) for a few seconds with tankless, it will start the boiler flame and ramp up. My learning is to have the tap on cold and only use hot if you are planning to use it for more than 30 seconds, otherwise don't bother.
It was interesting showing my wife this, had her listen to the tankless while i did a 4 second run of hot water. Tank ramped up, but of course no hot water. Just not enough time to get warm at the tap. She understood...I think.

If she did understand, she forgot already. All the women in my house still think the furnace works faster when you turn it all the way up... even after the color crayon worksheet and puppet show demonstration.

 

[tbm5690]

Tankless vs tank is a question of demand. With one bathroom I'm guessing a tankless is not necessary. I'm guessing based on climate a hybrid electric won't work as it is likely installed inside the house and not in the garage. On gas vs electric, what is your utility price comparison between the two? Another factor is the political climate in your country or province regarding NG use, whether or not that could change rates and/or availability in the foreseeable future.

 

[Zee09]

First ascertain why your old unit is crying and forget the tankless...

 

[carviewsonic]

Our NG tankless heater is 4 years old and works great. We’re never out of hot water, no matter how much demand there is. There is a short wait for hot water to reach the second floor upstairs bathrooms for morning showers, but I think it has more to do with the distance from the utility room than the tankless heater.
I’m not sure if there’s any difference in ‘time to heat’ performance between the new electric vs gas tankless heaters.

 

[walterjay]

No correct answer here. However in my experience there is no savings with a tankless in the long run. May possibly cost more due to more complexity of repairs if needed. If your main goal is to have uninterrupted hot water for long showers and baths than the tankless will give you that.

 

[Rob_Roy]

I just installed a hybrid water heater and it is meeting the needs of a family of 4 with 2 bathrooms and a lot of laundry and dishes. So far it seems to be using about 3 kWh per day and keeping the basement a bit cooler.

 

[brandon9715]

This may be an interesting point to look into. Depending on your electrical provider, look into if they have a “water heater” electric rate plan. I moved into my house last year and the prior owner decided to go that route. I didn’t like the idea of the power company being able to turn off my water heater up to 4 hours a day, but the electric cost is half of the regular rate, and I don’t even notice. For electric resistive hot water I pay $12/mo or less.

 

[Lyman]

Don't tankless water heaters need more maintenance? I have a cheap conventional water heater, and it works great. It's 15 years old now, and I still haven't touched it.

 

[walterjay]

Don't tankless water heaters need more maintenance? I have a cheap conventional water heater, and it works great. It's 15 years old now, and I still haven't touched it.

Yes they should be acid cleaned every couple of years.

 

[gfh77665]

Getting 15+ years out of a conventional heater would make it an easy choice for me.

 

[Rand]

I'd go standard gas(power vent or not)

You could always upsize if you think you need more hot water.

There should be both bigger tank options and bigger "fast recovery" burners.

ie 75gal tank with 75k btu burner vs 50gal tank with 40k btu burner.

 

[LDM]

Probably 7-8 years ago my 50 gallon water heater started weeping at the bottom. Looked into tankless but it would have been a huge cost as my current vent was not up to spec for a tankless heater. I ended up just buying a regular 40 gallon gas water heater as gas is what was the old one was. As it is only me and my dog I don't really use that much water and didn't need a large water heater to keep up with my demand.

I would check to see what the cost of the venting will be first. For me it would have been a few thousand $ just for the venting and then I still would have had to buy the tankless heater, which would have been around another $1k. If not, either a gas or electric tank heater will work fine to replace what you currently have and you won't have to upgrade the vent.