Going to have to replace my water heater soon.....I want to go tank-less...so many contradicting things on the web....who has one and how do you like it?
They're all over Germany! When we visited our daughter there... I said when our water heater goes we're gonna' replace it with one.
I am interested in these, too. Haven't heard anything bad about them, but I haven't been around them that much either.
I have one and I really like it. There is a thread that BJE80 started a while back that has lots of replies, I'll try to dig it up. It is nice from the aspect of, I don't pay to keep my tank hot all day/all year. We have propane fired Rinnai, I can run two showers at once with a very very minimal loss in water pressure. It doesn't take up much space at all. If it were me, I would make sure it was installed on an interior wall (the people that built this house apparently didn't realize that would have been a good idea). We are on a well so we have a dual filter station and the Rinnai has a filter also. They recommend they flushing the unit at least once per year which is super easy to do, just need a couple of buckets. http://forums.bowhunting.com/water-cooler/46347-tank-vs-tankless-water-heaters.html
I think the info in that thread is antiquated? The price of TWHs is no where near what was quoted ...for residential use, anyway
We run a few Rinnai heaters and a few other brands. I plan to replace all tank heaters as they expire or we remodel. Any negatives you can find are far outweighed by all the positives.
I've had mine since 2007. Not a single problem. My natural bill is so low all year that for about 8 months a year, my bill is essentially the utility charge fee. Since I shut off the pilot on my gas logs, I use almost no gas except for the furnace in the winter. Think about it. When you leave for work, the gas is not on. when you sleep the gas is not on. Its literally only on for showers, dishwashers, and maybe hot loads on the washing machine.This is minutes per day. I have two dishwashers and it can run both at the same time and showers no problem. Mine is mounted on the back of my house almost dead center. This saves on venting issues. If we lived in a colder climate(Im in NC) i would install in the garage and vent straight out of the wall. I think when they first came, plumbers tried to rake peopel over the coals with them. You can now purchase on amazon and see they are not much more then decent tank systems. The only potential issue can be venting due to higher flue temps. Mitigated by mounting outside, or direct venting with short runs with stainless pipe. I built homes for years and when I switched in new constrution to them, customers loved them as well.
I'm a contractor and this question comes up a lot. The price difference in tank vs tankless is about $2500 for a quality propane tankless. Yes you could go cheaper but I don't simply because we have to warranty it for 2 years. Outside of cost consideration, tankless on new construction would be my preferred way to go but each individual has to determine if the cost is worth it. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I really wanted to go this way when I was building the house, but back then the prices were still pretty high in comparison, and since we are all electric, the efficiency wasn't as good either. Hopefully by this time next year, I'll be heating my water with wood during the winter, and only relying on electric for the spring summer and early fall.
I don't see how thats possible. You are paying a "newness" tax for plumbers who don't install them often. A good quality tank is going to run 450-650. A good quality tankless is maybe 1000-1500. If you plan the venting correctly and dont get into long runs of stainless, you are still only supplying regulated gas, water inlet and outlet and a 110 plug. Which even power vents require on a tank system. It should be an even swap all things being equal.
To be honest I'm not entirely sure the exact breakdown - this was a price over the phone with the plumber, the comparison was with an electric water heater. This was about 11 months ago and out of curiousity I just called another plumber we use today and he said he ballparks about $1900 to cover the upgrade, so it is less today. He did say the one is uses runs about $1700 for the unit itself. You can definitely go cheaper but I've seen the cheaper ones operate and they are all but useless. One more thing, every plumber I talk to say gas is much better than electric when it comes to these units. If you were to run one on propane, then there may not be much for energy savings (assuming an alternate electric water heater). If it's natural gas then a much better return since it's so much cheaper than propane.
