tankless water heater

[88gt]

does anyone here use a tankless water heater? i am building a house this year and would like opinions on them other than internet surveys...

 

[adsm08]

use what now?

 

[BigJohn76]

they are alright for little things like a sink, but i wouldnt use one for a shower or something like that.

we have one at the shop and at one of the barns, but they dont last long. we had one for the shower at the barns but we put in a tank because it was better. it doesnt get as hot but it is hot for longer.

 

[mjonesjr]

I really like them. They keep the utility bill down because they do not keep the water sitting there heated.

They are not much more than a standard water heater.

I would recommend to get one that will provide hot water to at least 3 points (every outlet that you have running with hot water counts as a point, shower, sink, washer).

 

[skippy]

I have one and love it,put it in myself.Sized properly,piped correctly they are awesome.

I first saw one when renting a apartment in Japan 35 years ago,worked great then and mine works great now.I am referring to gas fired,I can't speak to the little electric jobs that go under the sink.

The gas units burn at higher btu/hr input than traditional water heaters,so if the instructions say 3/4" gas line they mean 3/4" gas line.There are some slick units out there with fancy controls and seer ratings,do your home work.

Mine is installed in a three bedroom house,with no adverse effects.

 

[mjonesjr]

I wouldn't have anything except gas after living in an all electric home for the first 23 years of my life and then having my own home with gas. I will never go back.

 

[skippy]

I wouldn't have anything except gas after living in an all electric home for the first 23 years of my life and then having my own home with gas. I will never go back.

Ditto!

 

[chvlfrk]

Fyi:

My SIL has one that does the whole house and they LOVE IT!

They are a little PRICEY for me, gotta stay within the budget....

 

[Rangerman4158]

My dad put one in his house and he loves it he said that his power bill went down and he doesnt run out of hot water anymore

 

[MrE_Powers]

I talked to a plumber a for a while when my land lord had a new water heater installed and the guy said tank-less water heater have potential but he is waiting a few years for the reliability come up a bit.

 

[Will]

It probably depends on how hard the water is. My other house totally destroys a coffee maker in 2 weeks and we change the water heater elements every year and they have a 1/4" of white crust on them. And I vaccum ten pounds of the shit out of the bottom of the tank. Limestone country, you know. Definately get a water softener with it. I love having a water softener. Don't even need shaving cream anymore.

We have gas now, and it's good. But we now live closer to town too. My other house is very rural where no gas is available and we heated with wood primarily. I won't say I will never do without gas again because having gas means living near traffic and other houses. Even though I'm on 15 acres, i still feel like I'm in town. When I go out to the old house to work, I feel much more relaxed out there. This big city living with cars going by 500 feet from the house every 5 minutes is wearing me down.

And to think I once lived in a city of 10.5 million...

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I wouldn't have anything except gas after living in an all electric home for the first 23 years of my life and then having my own home with gas. I will never go back.

You just haven't lived in the right electric home...

For over the past two years now I have resided in a home that has no gas (there's none available here), so it's all electric. And actually, this winter and last winter we haven't had the fireplace or boiler going, we've been heating a 2,000 sf ranch off of a tiny little heat pump and the house stays at 68* year round with no hot or cold spots or drafts.

Oh, yea, the house was built new construction out of ICF block... basement and first floor walls are solid concrete wrapped with 2" of foam on each side and R-30 in the ceiling. It's wicked comfortable here and the electric bill here is less than the gas bill was at our old house (IIRC it was about a 1200 sf brick ranch) and I'm talking about the bill to keep it just warm enough to keep the pipes from freezing while it was up for sale.

We thought about a tankless water heater, but the electric ones just are not up to the task by themselves (although I've heard of people using an electric one in line with a small water tank, the tankless pre-heats water for the tank, but IMHO, that's a crazy way to do it). Since we don't have the option of gas (unless we stick a big propane tank in the yard), we had to go electric. So we stuck an insulated 80 gallon tank in the basement. The insulated tank takes less energy to keep the water warm and to heat fresh water. Of course, the tank is a little more expensive than the standard, but it's worth it.

 

[kimcrwbr1]

installer

Hi I install HVAC and have put a bunch of them in and there are some pros and cons the pros
allways have hot water never run out
depending on plumbing can run two or three things at the same time shower and wash clothes at the same time again depends on plumbing run 3/4 supplies and branch off to half close to each appliance or faucet evens out the pressures
you dont have a tank to keep hot when your not using it over time adds up alot

cons
If you use water alot it can be more expensive for instant hot you can put in a small holding tank and a pump in a loop to circulate again takes energy to keep the loop hot insulate pipes good.
taking long showers adds up
venting is real expensive locate it either in a box outside or on a wall close


buy a good one we install Rinnai and add a service valve kit we had a customer put one in so they could fill there hot tub and not have to wait to use it so It all depends what your lookin for and how far into your build you are as to what you can achieve. They have been around for some time now. Hope this helps you Kim

 

[Hopman]

If you get the right size, a conventional "tanked" water heater works jusy fine. Just get one with a good warrenty, easpecally if you have hard water, like my parents house does. (Yes I still live w/ my 'rents. No job = no money to move out!)

Anyway, our water is so hard, even with a softener, it ate though a heater in 7 years (one w/ a 9 -year warrenty!) When dad & I drained it, what came out of the bottom of the tanked looked like chocolate pudding.

Another tip, which my dad did, is install good ball valves (HD 1/4 turn shutoffs) and pipe fittings into the lines going to & from the heater. When you do have to replace it again, it'll make things simpler. Plus, the valve on the outlet (hot water) line will come in handy if you ever have to do any more plumbing around the house.

 

[88gt]

thanks to everyone for you opinion. i really appreciate it! the hous i am building is a 2.5 bath 4 bdrm home. so i would really need one for the master bath(other side of house from everything) 1 for the kitchen and half bath and one for upstairs bath. the reason i am looking into these is because electricity is high where i am live now and where i am goin to be living. Damn electric co-op!

KIM, i never saw anything about venting required on these units that i remember. everything is going into a utility room in the basement except maybe the upstairs unit which could go in the attic. i dont know yet, not that far along in the planning process. is it cost effective to have a small holding tank looped into the circuit?