Pros/Cons? I think we ran out of hot water once with our 50 gallon gas heater so having enough hot water is not that much of a problem. What should I get? Ours is on the Fitz............ I mean fritz.
My father switched to a propane on demand tankless hot water heater in his house and he loves the thing. Its wall mounted and works amazingly well he says. And ever running out is never a worry. Of course I had to shoot back at him with the " unless you run outta propane! " haha
Hopefully quite a few people chime in here. We're going to be building a new house later this year or next and I have been thinking about going tankless. How much more efficient are they? How hot does it actually get the water?
There is a setting on mine for the water temp I have mine about 3/4 of the way up and it's plenty hot. As for the efficiency it runs only when hot water is called for unlike a tank that runs when the water temp drops in the tank.
So how much less propane do you think you're burning Dan? Where we're moving there is no natural gas line as our driveway will be almost a half mile long. Our options are propane or electric.
We stayed in a building in New Orleans with tankless heaters a couple times on mission trips and they worked great unless too many people tried using the water at once causing the pressure in the building to drop. The system did not work properly then. That was the only negative I experienced. We were on the third floor. (From Wikipedia)
I've had a tankless unit in my house since 2002. It has worked flawlessly (Bosch Aquastar) I can't really attest to how much it impacted my gas bill, I had a rotten old 30gallon before I remodeled and went tankless. I live in a very small house, so space is at a premium (no basements down here, everything is at ground level, so closet space is where these things wind up) It hangs in my daughter's closet, and takes from about 10" of her upper clothes rod space. That beats the heck out of losing an entire closet to a tank water heater. Never running out of hot water is awesome. Between Mrs, daughter and I, we all like long showers, and it's nice to not have to worry about getting the cold one. One thing that a lot of folks complain about, is upgrading the flue pipe. A conventional water heater can get away with a 3", where a tankless will require a 5-6" flue. The double wall pipe is spendy by itself, then some poor sucker has to install it, add to that a larger roof penetration and/or roof jack, and it can be a PITA. I am very happy with it, and will not hesitate to buy another when I move to a bigger house.
Not sure of the numbers but my father says his is very efficient and he's completely happy with making the switch in every aspect. I just rent and am not a home owner yet but I'm sure that this is the way I'll go when I do own my own house.
Mines electric so I have no comparison. If I were building I would put an electric in for the kitchen and laundry and one for the bathrooms. Short runs and almost instant hot water to the source. Cheap and easy to install. I got mine in 06 and it's never missed a beat.
I had an electric one in my first house, installed in 05 just went out a few months ago. I replaced it with a tank because it was cheaper and it is now a rent house. I loved it when we lived there. Brandon T. www.cajuntiedowns.com
If I were building or replacing, I'd go tankless. Especially for a cabin or system on a well. We have both at the resort. For us it's great not having to heat water all the time, especially in the cooler times. I think they're about twice the cost of a tank, but with gas prices these days, it would have a pretty quick payback.
Dan, we only have propane as well, there isn't a NG line within miles of the house. We have a Rinnai and the thing is AWESOME. I can seriously run the dishwasher, washer, and two shower heads at the same time and never run out of hot water. Obviously, because it doesn't have a tank you don't have to pay to keep 40, 50 or more gallons of water hot all the time. Our unit has a digital setting that goes up/down with 5 degree increments. We keep it at 115. We run our dryer, water heater, gas fireplace (heat source) and stove off propane and it costs about $130/month for everything during the winter. Another note is that our basement wasn't insulated (is now) and it was always 42 degrees downstairs so that hurt the heat efficiency overall. We are paying $1.63/gallon for propane right now, during the summer it should be around $1.30. Our electrical bills are minimal during the winter (don't know about the summer just yet) and I don't expect them to be much different in the summer. Text me if you have any questions. Another bonus for the tankless is that you can put them wherever you want because they are so small. My whole unit is 13" deep and 22" tall and mounts to the wall. You never run the risk of having a rust hole in your tank leaking all over your house either (I've seen that happen).
Looks like tankless will be the way to go when we build. Can't I call anymore? Only text? What happened to those nights where we talked for hours?
I see now. You are jealous of mine and REMYNGTON so called bro-mance because you dont have yours anymore. It all makes perfect sense now.
Not so fast Danno. I'm going to speak from an installation and service view point. A regular water heater costs about $1000 to install with a plumber or heating contractor and since it doesn't take a rocket scientist to install one yourself you could save yourself about $300 or more and do it yourself. A tankless costs more than $2200 typically and I've seen quotes closer to $4000. So.. although this system is more efficient.. it still takes the average household like 15 years to recoup the losses between the two systems. Also.. from a service side.. the tank system has very little parts.. in fact they're almost idiot proof. About the only part that will need replacement on one of these if maintained regularly is a thermocouple.. and one can purchase one of these for all of $7 from Menards. Installation is relatively easy. However.. if you need to service your tankless prepare to bust out the wallet. Because of several of the complexities involved in making this unit more efficient you may be looking at a bill closer to $200-500 depending on the part. These little puppies have computer boards in them.. and yes.. I've seen them go broke. So.. as the advice of someone who has actually worked on and installed both products and if you were to speak with nearly any respectable installer of either product.. behind closed doors and off the record they would advise you to not go tankless.. to your face they want you to go tankless simply because they make more money that way. Tankless have a place.. but the average American household is not that place just yet.
Ya.. but you're only saving like $100 a year.. so take the fact it cost you so much more to install and you should break even in another decade. :p
Do you consider more than a decade a pretty quick payback. I just googled it and the average household will take 16 years or more to make up the difference.
